Though most of her work focuses on the changing landscape and areas “off the map,” Emily Cornell du Houx’s practice covers a wide range of mediums and processes, from writing to photography, object making and commercial design. She has a BA in English from Amherst College, where her writing earned her the Gregg Armor Award for creative nonfiction, and an MFA from RISD in Sculpture. Her thesis piece, Kraken, a 14-by-10-foot, tornado-like mass of wound string based on unknown areas of early maps, has spawned a series of short stories, including “Sink Hole Tourism,” recently published in Storm Cellar. In 2014, Cornell du Houx co-founded the Solon Center for Research and Publishing, which works to develop arts and literary programs in rural Maine. The non-profit grew out of a collaborative project with the publisher Polar Bear & Company, where she has been an editor and designer for many years.
Cornell du Houx has been developing curriculum at RISD that integrates writing into a studio-based practice. She examines the many ways that writing can aid creativity, how it can act as a process tool as well as a medium for reflection and idea generation. Her work in this area started with an ACP grant and subsequent yearlong fellowship to study undergraduate, studio-based writing. She has worked with emerging artists in the SEAF program, as well as teaching thesis and degree-project writing in the departments of Furniture Design, Textiles, Industrial Design and Jewelry + Metalsmithing.
Cornell du Houx is currently finishing her first novel and preparing for a residency at Eagle Hill, where she will develop a body of work that explores the intersection of photography and object making to communicate a sense of the shifting subterranean landscape – namely caves, mines and aquifers.
Courses
Spring 2024 Courses
FD 247G-01 - GRADUATE FURNITURE DESIGN SEMINAR
LevelGraduate
UnitFurniture Design
Subject Furniture Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
FormatLecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
FD 247G-01
GRADUATE FURNITURE DESIGN SEMINAR
LevelGraduate
UnitFurniture Design
Subject Furniture Design
PeriodSpring 2024
Credits3
FormatLecture
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: W | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PMInstructor(s): Emily Cornell Du HouxLocation(s): Washington Place, Room 237Enrolled / Capacity: 10Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The graduate seminar is a forum for discussion and research outside of the studio setting. Through a series of topical investigations, lectures and presentations, students will explore current design issues, professional practices, directions, and developments within the field, and other topics that will help to formulate the basis of the graduate thesis work.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. First preference is given to Graduate Furniture Design Students.
Times: W | 1:10 PM - 2:40 PMInstructor(s): Emily Cornell Du HouxLocation(s): Washington Place, Room 237BEnrolled / Capacity: 15Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is the second half of the Furniture Design Senior Seminar begun in the fall semester. This seminar is a forum for discussion, research and writing that is coordinated with the parallel studio course and is intended to help seniors develop a theoretical and intellectual framework for their Degree Projects. The primary deliverable is the Degree Project Report. The seminar format will encourage the content to be student driven, based on their studio work and responsive to changing contemporary concerns. There will be assigned weekly readings including student selected texts and related short writing assignments to guide the discourse along with regular presentations of students' research and studio processes to guide the development of the longer writing that will constitute the Degree Project Report. The primary objective of the course is to provide a structured experience for seniors to develop coordinated skills in research and writing in a practice-based discipline. The underlying purpose of the course is to engage students in critical discourse regarding design thinking and new perspectives on design practice so that each student can communicate an informed and original point of view on their own creative practice. This seminar is intended to increase exposure to design theory and provide students with skills necessary to articulate an effective intellectual basis for their studio practice through writing, research and making.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Furniture Design Students.
Times: W | 2:50 PM - 4:20 PMInstructor(s): Emily Cornell Du HouxLocation(s): Washington Place, Room 237BEnrolled / Capacity: 15Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is the second half of the Furniture Design Senior Seminar begun in the fall semester. This seminar is a forum for discussion, research and writing that is coordinated with the parallel studio course and is intended to help seniors develop a theoretical and intellectual framework for their Degree Projects. The primary deliverable is the Degree Project Report. The seminar format will encourage the content to be student driven, based on their studio work and responsive to changing contemporary concerns. There will be assigned weekly readings including student selected texts and related short writing assignments to guide the discourse along with regular presentations of students' research and studio processes to guide the development of the longer writing that will constitute the Degree Project Report. The primary objective of the course is to provide a structured experience for seniors to develop coordinated skills in research and writing in a practice-based discipline. The underlying purpose of the course is to engage students in critical discourse regarding design thinking and new perspectives on design practice so that each student can communicate an informed and original point of view on their own creative practice. This seminar is intended to increase exposure to design theory and provide students with skills necessary to articulate an effective intellectual basis for their studio practice through writing, research and making.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Furniture Design Students.
