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WILL I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET FACULTY DURING THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS? | | CAN A PAINTING GRAD TAKE COURSES IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS? | WHAT ARE THE STUDIOS LIKE? | | HOW MUCH CONTACT WITH THE NEW YORK ART WORLD WILL I HAVE WHILE AT RISD? | ARE THERE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAD STUDENTS TO TEACH AT RISD? | IS THERE A SPECIFIC STYLE OF PAINTING PROMOTED AT RISD?
WILL I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET FACULTY DURING THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS?
If you are a finalist for our program you will be invited to come to RISD for an in-person interview with a team of Painting Department faculty members. You will be asked to bring actual works that you can show and discuss with us. There is also the opportunity to talk with current grad students and get their take on things. In addition, tours are offered to see the studios and RISD as a whole.
CAN A PAINTING GRAD TAKE COURSES IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS?
We have strong majors at RISD – but with permeable borders. Part of what makes RISD exciting is the mass of talent assembled between our own faculty and Brown University’s. Many students seek expertise and guidance beyond their own departments; some take courses, while others meet with and/or ask a professor to visit their studio for a crit. Your grad advisor can help you to find the right opportunities and conversations. Note: Brown’s academic calendar has different start and end dates than ours, but students who are motivated manage to take diverse courses suited to their personal research.
WHAT ARE THE STUDIOS LIKE ?
A few years ago the grad program in Painting moved to the Fletcher Building — a few short minutes from our departmental offices and undergrad studios and classrooms. The downtown graduate center and studios offer very generous spaces with good natural light and there is also a large public gallery for graduate student work on the first floor. The facilities house graduates students from other departments such as Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Textiles and several design disciplines, so you will naturally meet people from other departments. These studios are also in close proximity to restaurants and nightspots in downtown Providence.
HOW MUCH CONTACT WITH THE NEW YORK ART WORLD WILL I HAVE WHILE AT RISD?
Trips to New York are scheduled as part of specific required courses. For instance, you might visit the studios of five or six different artists as part of the drawing class that Painting MFA candidates take in their first semester. These trips allow students to learn firsthand about what it is like to be a practicing artist in New York City while giving them a taste of the larger professional art world. It is also common for the New York-based faculty to meet their students in the city for gallery and museum visits. It takes roughly an hour to get to Boston and just over three to get to New York, so each city is accessible as a day trip. If you are eager to visit Chelsea or see a particular museum exhibition, you will find that you are not alone. RISD grads often organize their own trips to Boston or NYC on the weekends. In addition, the majority of the visiting artists and critics who come to campus hail from New York City.
ARE THERE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAD STUDENTS TO TEACH AT RISD?
Yes. All of our grad students have Teaching Assistantships (TAs). Working with a number of experienced faculty members during your two-year program offers amazing experience that will serve you well in later years if you apply for teaching positions. This also gives you an opportunity to meet and get to know some of the approximately 150 undergrads in our department. This is a huge asset as they are as talented a bunch of young artists as you would find at any school. Many of our second-year grad students go on to interview for teaching positions at the annual CAA (College Art Association) meetings and do very well. Alumni are employed all over the country. There are also chances to teach a course completely on your own during Wintersession of your second year. These six-week courses are assigned competitively based on syllabi and course descriptions that you create. The kSheridan Center at Brown also offers training in teaching, and most of our grad students take part in its fascinating programs.
WILL I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET FACULTY DURING THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS?
If you are a finalist for our program you will be invited to come to RISD for an in-person interview with a team of Painting Department faculty members. You will be asked to bring actual works that you can show and discuss with us. There is also the opportunity to talk with current grad students and get their take on things. In addition, tours are offered to see the studios and RISD as a whole.
IS THERE A SPECIFIC STYLE OF PAINTING PROMOTED AT RISD?
The graduate Painting program at RISD is committed to assisting each student in developing his or her own vision. To that end, you will find an enormous diversity of painting styles and interests among the various art practices of the full-time and adjunct faculty. This wide range of formal and conceptual approaches is bound together by a shared passion for the craft and history of painting.
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