Liberal Arts News

faculty member Max Pratt throws a sample-collecting bucket into the Blackstone River
New RISD Seminar Created as Part of Research Partnership with Hyundai Motor Group

Students in an interdisciplinary fall course learn to observe the living world in search of design strategies grounded in planetary health.

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Esther Pressoir Is the Coolest Artist You’ve Never Heard Of

Hyperallergic reviews book about the 1923 RISD alum by art historian and RISD faculty member Suzanne Scanlan.

the sun illuminating a RISD flag on a summer day
Nine Accomplished Artists, Designers and Scholars Join RISD Faculty

The new hires round out RISD’s Architecture & Design, Experimental and Foundation Studies, Fine Arts and Liberal Arts divisions.

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A Furious, Forgotten Slave Narrative Resurfaces After Nearly 170 Years

RISD faculty member Jonathan D.S. Schroeder, the scholar who rediscovered the narrative, said he hopes the book will restore fugitive and abolitionist John S. Jacobs to history.

students wearing waders use nets to collect biological samples from a pond
RISD Students Use Scientific Fieldwork to Inform Their Art and Design Projects

A team of science educators encourages students to see themselves as integral parts of the natural world.

a view into the towering canopy of trees at Saint-Gaudens Park in New Hampshire
Witness Tree Project 2023 Explores Community and Commemoration via New Hampshire Site

RISD students create evocative objects out of black willow, Japanese lilac and red oak from Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.

Mithu Sen points dramatically at something outside of frame
Kirloskar Visiting Scholar Mithu Sen Brings Lingual Anarchy to RISD

The New Delhi-based conceptual artist challenges the conventions of language, sexuality and marginalization.

historic photo of little-known Snowtown neighborhood in 1800s Providence
RISD Students and Local Researchers Shine Light on Rhode Island’s 19th-Century Snowtown Neighborhood

The once-vibrant, multiracial Providence community was razed in the 1800s to make room for the railroad and the Rhode Island State House.

students sketching under tropical trees
RISD Students Explore Unique Ecology of Hawai’i Island

A Wintersession global studies course led by Lucy Spelman and Andrea Dezsö considers the important role that artists and designers can play in environmental conservation.