Graduate Program Coordinator:
Dean Snyder, Professor
phone: 401 454.6750
email: dsnyder at risd.edu

Department Head:
Ellen Driscoll, Professor
phone: 401 454.6631
email: edriscol at risd.edu

Sculpture Department
Rhode Island School of Design
Metcalf Building, 3rd floor
9 North Main Street
Providence, RI 02903 USA
phone: 401 454.6190
fax: 401 454.6191

>> risdsculpture.net

MFA candidates in Sculpture pursue a two-year professional course of study in a rigorous, challenging and supportive community of peers, resident faculty, visiting artists and critics. The department encourages students to realize their ideas through physical process and materials, with a focus on the growth of the individual as a creative person.

The Sculpture graduate program emphasizes a high level of production in an environment of strong critical dialogue. Graduate seminars serve as a meeting ground for students to address contemporary issues from all fine arts areas. The curriculum also allows for the opportunity to take elective courses across the full spectrum of RISD disciplines, as well as at Brown University. Offerings are further enriched by proximity to Boston and New York, which affords easy access to museums, galleries and visiting artists/critics.

Graduate students in Sculpture, Painting, Photography, Printmaking and Glass are given 24-hour access to private and semi-private studios in the Fletcher Building, a facility designed to promote interdisciplinary discourse. This building also offers critique spaces, a woodshop and a computer area for shared use. In addition, Sculpture graduate students have access to the foundry, woodshop and extensive metal fabrication facilities in the Metcalf Building, which houses the undergraduate program. The department’s full-time technician maintains a state-of-the-art ceramic shell foundry where bronze and aluminum are poured weekly. Wax-working, patina and rubber mold areas support the foundry, and the department also enjoys a working relationship with a nearby iron foundry.

Throughout the program of study, students are guided and challenged by a diverse and committed faculty. Visiting artists and critics, along with an active community of peers, also expose students to a wide spectrum of skills, philosophies and professional experiences. The department’s visiting artist program brings several outside professionals to campus each semester for lectures, studio demonstrations and critiques.

Degree candidates are reviewed at the end of each semester. At the culmination of the MFA program, students present a final written thesis and a body of studio work. This work is shown publicly as part of RISD’s annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition.