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06.19.08 | issue #39

masterful thesis exhibition

This year’s Graduate Thesis Exhibition at the Rhode Island Convention Center was as eclectic and provocative as ever, mixing both super-high- and ultra-low-tech pieces in a variety of media. As a Providence Journal review pointed out, the show also featured works touching on diverse figures in popular culture and history, from conservative political provocateur Ann Coulter and philosophical giants Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. Click here for a slideshow of the exhibition itself and images of student work.

new vp for institutional engagement

Earlier this month President John Maeda announced the appointment of Elizabeth Garvin as RISD’s new vice president for Institutional Engagement. She has worked at MIT for more than 20 years, but had never met or worked with Maeda during his tenure there. In her new position, Garvin will focus on helping alumni, parents and friends of the college to engage with RISD in meaningful new ways.

commencement '08 video clips

Check out these videos of RISD’s newest alumni and see what keynote speaker Laurie Anderson had to say to them.

from alumni relations

Please plan to join us on Friday, September 12, when John Maeda will be formally welcomed as RISD’s 16th president. His inauguration ceremony will be held at 5:30pm in the First Baptist Church (75 North Main Street), followed by a festive block party and campus celebration from 7-9pm at Market Square.

This just in from Rick Shnitzler BArch ’66 in Philadelphia: MTV is looking for digital artists to compete in Engine Room, “a series of creative challenges using HP computers.” You've got to apply by the end of this month, and if selected, will be competing from mid July through mid August.

This summer the Alumni Relations Office is busy working with regional club leaders to plan activities for the coming year. New ideas and initiatives are welcomed, so if there's an event or networking opportunity you’d like to see get off the ground in your area, please contact Director of Alumni Relations Christina Hartley ’74 IL to open the discussion.

RISD alumni get their time in the sun at the RISD Southern California Alumni Biennial 2008, which takes place at the Tinlark Gallery from June 21-25 (reception on June 21). Curated by Molly Barnes, the show represents an outstanding array of work from 13 majors by alumni who graduated over four decades.

If you haven’t already been contacted by Harris Connect, the company working to update our database of contact information for alumni, you probably will be in the next month or two. Please respond to their request for information so that we’re able to keep our alumni networking information accurate and up-to-date. A new alumni directory is in the works for publication in January 2009.

look around

If you’re in Manhattan this summer, check out Playing the Building at The Battery Maritime Building, an installation by former Talking Heads lead David Byrne ’74 [Foundation Studies]. “[Playing the Building] only exists, and comes to life, when the public participates in it,” he told Newsweek.

As part of Gay Pride Month and Providence’s own Pride Festival on June 21, artist, designer and RISD Assistant Professor Liz Collins ’91 TX/MFA ’99 will stage KNITTING NATION PHASE 4: PRIDE. Over the course of six hours, a team of machine knitters will reconstruct the original rainbow pride flag. Even if you can’t make it to the event itself, Collins is looking for responses to a single survey question: How do you feel about the rainbow flag as a symbol of gay pride and why?

Surprise, surprise! The protagonist of Between Something and Nothing, the latest film by director Todd Verow ’89 FAV, just happens to be a student at RISD. Gay City News calls it “a poignant and moving autobiographical drama” and applauds his other “outstanding films” Vacationland, Frisk, Anonymous and Bulldog in the Whitehouse.

Eight student-designed prototypes created in a Furniture Design studio sponsored by CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements were recently showcased in Designer’s Days, a four-day event on innovative design in Paris. Five other student designs from the Swarovski studio will be added to these eight and featured in Habitat Valencia, a designers’ showcase running from September 23-27 in Valencia, Spain.

on campus

On June 5 The RISD Museum opened a stunning suite of new galleries on the third floor of the Radeke Building in what had most recently been office and storage space. Sandra Wheeler and Alfred Zollinger BArch ’90 of Matter Practice designed the “striking series of platforms and display cases...as sleek and stylish as any of the work on display,” according to Providence Journal art critic Bill Van Siclen.

Students in Graphic Design recently worked on a new identity system for the Martha’s Vineyard [MA] Museum, presenting their various rebranding proposals to the Communications Committee of the museum’s Board of Directors. Click here for more on the studio.

e-views is produced by RISD's Division of Communications + Design and is e-mailed to readers monthly. Questions? Comments? Send a message to risdviews@risd.edu. Alumni with other questions should contact Director of Alumni Relations Christina Hartley '74 IL or call 401 454-6794. If you would like to receive e-views at a different e-mail address, please update your information here.

(C) 2008 Rhode Island School of Design

Thank You

Open Poe(t)

Leslie Fontana x Mark Drew

Joe Gebbia's CritBuns