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 RISD Celebrates John Maeda’s
Presidential Inauguration: September 12
On Friday, September 12, John Maeda will be officially inaugurated as the 16th president of RISD. At the 5:30pm ceremony at the First Baptist Church in America, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT’s Media Lab, will deliver the keynote speech. A block party and celebration will follow at nearby Market Square. Prior to assuming the presidency at RISD on June 2, Maeda served as associate director of the Media Lab and taught at MIT.
 Inauguration details
John Maeda
Chace Center Gives Students
Museum-Quality Exhibition Space
When the 43,000-sf Chace Center opens on September 27, the new mixed-use facility will provide the regional community with a welcoming front door to RISD. It will also give students new spaces for creating and exhibiting their work in close proximity to the RISD Museum’s own vast collection of art and design. The Chace Center expands the college’s academic resources with new 2D Foundation Studies studios on the fifth floor and two student galleries on the second floor, where all students will have the opportunity to exhibit their work. “The new Gelman and Dryfoos galleries will provide students a beautiful new space adjacent to the museum where they can test out their ideas about exhibitions by curating the work of their peers,” notes Provost Jessie Shefrin. “In addition to its educational value, this new space promises to be a gathering place for the exchange of ideas among both undergrad and graduate students working across different disciplines at RISD.”
The Chace Center
Swarovski Studio Designs Tour the Globe
Inventive and dazzling pieces by Furniture Design students are featured in a series of exhibitions taking place in several countries over the next three years. Created in a studio partnership with CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements, the furniture and accessories all feature Swarovski crystals used in unexpectedly modern ways. The student designs debuted at the 2007 International Contemporary Furniture Fair; they began their foreign tour last month at the Designers Days event in Paris and will next be on view from September 23-27 at Habitat Valencia in Spain. Swarovski is organizing and underwriting the exhibition cycle and is also publishing a book about the student designers and their work.
Swarovski sponsored research studio
Fusion Arts Exchange Brings International Group to RISD
RISD is hosting a group of talented students from around the world for the second offering of the Fusion Arts Exchange, a program developed by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For several weeks in July and August, students from Argentina, Finland, Jordan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea and the US will bring their diverse perspectives to RISD as they engage in coursework, residencies and dialogue exploring the role of digital media in global culture.
Fusion Arts Exchange
Students Propose Innovative Design for
African School
As creators and keen observers of their own cultures, RISD students also look beyond their immediate surroundings in search of opportunities to apply their problem solving and design skills to global needs. For instance, a trip to Tanzania in 2007 inspired Laura Sussman [RISD ’08, Interior Architecture] to team up with Elliott Olson [RISD ’09, Architecture] to design a new eco-sensitive dining hall for a village secondary school at the request of the school’s headmaster. Guided by Interior Architecture Professor Liliane Wong, they proposed a plan for a 3,200-sf open-sided pavilion that can be built by the school children themselves for $15,000. Wong and the designers are currently investigating grant funding to make the dining hall a reality.
School Improvements in Tanzania
RISD Students Design Identity for
Martha’s Vineyard Museum
In preparation for the launch of its capital campaign, Martha’s Vineyard Museum partnered with RISD’s Division of Architecture + Design for help with a new visual identity system. Nine students spent a semester working with professor Ootje Oxenaar on design concepts and applications suitable to the needs of the museum, which focuses on the island’s history and culture. After reviewing the designers’ varied proposals, a museum committee singled out three students for honors: Design Distinction went to Ronit Cyjon [RISD ’08, Graphic Design] and Jessica Walsh [RISD ’08, Graphic Design], and Highest Design Distinction was awarded to HRH Prince Carl Philip of Sweden (studying anonymously at RISD for the year), whose lighthouse design concept was selected for further development.
MVM identity studio
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© Rhode Island School of Design 2008
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