Bowen Galleries

several artworks installed in a home exhibition space near a set of stairs

Located inside the President’s House, Bowen Galleries consists of two unique experiences: Bowen Project Space, a blank canvas for presenting large-scale installations, and the more expansive Bowen Suite Gallery. These spaces call for guests to interact with the kinds of ambitious student work that emerges from RISD studios.

Bowen Suite Gallery

The Bowen Suite Gallery provides students with the opportunity to share their work with visitors through invitation-only events. Exhibitions change annually.

2026–27 exhibition

Prima Materia
student-curated exhibition
opens May 21, 2026
on view through May 2027

show title on the wall in the President's House

About the show

“Prima Materia,” Latin for “first matter,” is the ubiquitous starting material for alchemical practice. Alchemy is a proto-scientific practice of transmuting less valuable metals into gold, seeking the essence of the universe and achieving immortality. The practice has never belonged to one civilization, having traveled from the Hellenistic Egyptian and Chinese traditions through the Arabic and European worlds, so it carries the combined curiosities of alchemists across space and time, united in their refusal to settle for the world as it is. In this exhibition, Prima Materia looks at works of art that materially suspend belief. We propose alchemy not as a metaphor, but as a framework for understanding artistic practice as a site of continuously transformed negotiation.

Melted glass assumes the warmth and shine of skin; canvas holds the weight of a body; thread is no longer the beginning of a textile, it is the making of a landscape. Alchemy is what a brush is to a painter, what a chisel is to a sculptor, and what a torch is to a jeweler: a tool. In Prima Materia, alchemy is a tool across disciplines, the gesture that exists between the artist and the material. Alchemy is activated by the artists’ touch as well as in the amalgam of works within the space.

The artists showcased in Prima Materia come from this historic lineage of unrelenting curiosity for transformation. Current RISD students bring their own inherited histories, materials, and fantasies to a practice that has always thrived at the edges of official knowledge.

Bowen Project Space

Bowen Project Space offers a 20-foot blank canvas for selected students to present murals, digital prints and other large-scale installations. Centrally located within the house, the space invites transformation via installation and visitor engagement.

a student discusses a blue and white, large-scale QR code artwork to a gallery visitor

a blue and white QR code runs along a white hallway wall toward an open door leading toward a sunlit window

students use their phones to interact with a blue and white QR code mural printed on a white hallway wall

small QR codes visible inside larger blue and white QR code printed on a white hallway wall

image

Current exhibition

QR Bulletin Board
installation by Min Hyuk Ji BArch 24

three small blue QR codes situated in the white spaces of a larger QR code

About the current show

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“Influenced by my architectural studies, I like to begin my process with a critical examination of space, which frequently serves as both the central subject and primary medium in my work. This exploration leads me to identify spatial constraints, where I delve into the frictions and capacities between various materials and mediums, often uncovering creative solutions.

My ideas often start as playful and seemingly absurd; yet upon deeper contemplation, they often reveal their potential for meaningful opportunities. I particularly enjoy this juxtaposition, balancing a whimsical attitude with the conceptual underpinnings of my project, creating works that are not only aesthetically engaging but also meaningful.”

— Min Hyuk Ji BArch 24

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“Transformation is defined as a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance. Ranging from the scientific to the spiritual realm, transformation can take on a myriad of forms and can have a different meaning for every individual.

QR Bulletin Board addresses the concept of transformation on multiple levels. Utilizing anamorphic projection, it transforms the viewing space from one that is too narrow for orthogonal viewing into a space where one can observe the piece from either end of the hallway, as well as up close.

By featuring a QR code, it transforms the viewing experience from physical to digital in nature. The mural itself transforms as you get closer to it—from afar it is clearly a singular large-scale QR code, but as the viewer approaches the wall it transforms into an array of small QR codes amidst large-scale abstract forms.

Finally, by utilizing a QR code that leads to the work of all RISD students, it transforms a solo exhibition into a democratized, all-inclusive retrospective of the work of the entire student body. This large-scale wall mural pushes the boundaries of artistic expression through its use of technology, which is something we are constantly exploring at Calico Wallpaper.”

— Rachel Cope 03 SC (guest curator and creative director/founder of Calico Wallpaper)

Location and contact

Please note: The space is not open to the public; visitors are required to have an appointment or invitation.

Bowen Project Space
132 Bowen Street
Providence, RI 02903
president@risd.edu

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