This course sustains the search for personal, idiosyncratic visual direction. Printmaking applications are refined, experimentation is engaged and study incorporates group discussion, readings and critical writing related to texts provided and visits to libraries, museums and galleries. In addition, students will update the resume created during the previous semester, an artist statement will be written, cover letters and employment/grant applications will be addressed at regular intervals throughout the semester. Installation and presentation of work created will be analyzed as a critical component. At the end of the semester, students will discuss their current work in oral/powerpoint format as it relates to personal research of historical and contemporary art/artists. Critiques, group and individual will occur each week and an outside guest critic will be engaged for mid-semester and the final critiques.

Open to Junior Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Printmaking

What is the curatorial imperative? By incorporating curation into studio practice, artists understand the context for placing new combinations into the world. Collecting, archiving and critical analysis of source material will develop a philosophy of stewardship. Central questions about printmaking as a crucial core for many disciplines that incorporate the relation between matrix and formed object, layers, reversals, positive and negative and replication of original and appropriated media will provide a structure. The state of print publishing, art fairs and current curatorial literature will inform ongoing discussion.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

Students in the graduate printmaking program will utilize graduate level research and scholarship as an impetus for growth within studio practice. Investigation into historical cycles of printmaking will be fostered through assigned texts and exploration of primary resources available at RISD, especially The RISD Museum. A dialogue stemming from intensive studio work will be developed in varied formats by faculty, visiting artists and peers throughout the semester.

Open to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

This course will introduce students to contemporary letterpress printing. While keeping the broad historical role of letterpress printing in mind, the course will allow students to use the various incarnations of letterpress printing to further their own work. The focus of the course will be learning to print, and print well, how to troubleshoot on the Vandercook proof press, and exploring how the different approaches, processes, papers, and techniques effect and direct the finished work. The course will begin with an overview of letterpress printing history and its relation to the evolution of typography, and its major impact on, and reaction to, societal change. We will first focus on setting and printing from handset type, and more traditional image making techniques (read: Linocuts!), and then introduce digital images through the use of polymer plates. Once the basics of the process have been covered, the focus will be on students using the techniques and processes to further their own work, and the creation of a final project using any of the techniques as appropriate to the piece.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

This course will introduce students to contemporary letterpress printing. While keeping the broad historical role of letterpress printing in mind, the course will allow students to use the various incarnations of letterpress printing to further their own work. The focus of the course will be learning to print, and print well, how to troubleshoot on the Vandercook proof press, and exploring how the different approaches, processes, papers, and techniques effect and direct the finished work. The course will begin with an overview of letterpress printing history and its relation to the evolution of typography, and its major impact on, and reaction to, societal change. We will first focus on setting and printing from handset type, and more traditional image making techniques (read: Linocuts!), and then introduce digital images through the use of polymer plates. Once the basics of the process have been covered, the focus will be on students using the techniques and processes to further their own work, and the creation of a final project using any of the techniques as appropriate to the piece.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

This course will focus on book binding methods including, but not limited to stab binding, Coptic stitch, variations on the pamphlet stitch, drum leaf, and books sewn through the fold. Through weekly demonstrations and assignments, students will acquire skills in both adhesive and non-adhesive binding as well as basic box making techniques. The course places a focus on facilitating individual practice in the form of books, and the integration of binding methods learned in class into one's personal artistic process. At the end of the semester, students will have thorough understanding of the anatomy of books, how to make them, how to plan and execute their own design, and where to acquire materials and tools. There will be opportunities to view books from the RISD Special Collections and critical discussions surrounding the functions of book making in contemporary practice.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $175.00

Elective

Make you own paper for printing or three-dimensional constructions in this hand on experimental studio course in making paper. Curriculum will include: paper specifications, basic sheet formation, Japanese Plant fibers, recycled materials, paper modules and screens, along with paper structures for installation based work.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $175.00

Elective

This course primarily involves the search for a personal, idiosyncratic visual statement. Juniors will refine technical application, engage in experimentation and study historical/contemporary artists and movements as the course progresses from scheduled project orientation to more independent bodies of work involving printmaking and its combinations with other mediums. Installation and presentation of work created will be analyzed as a critical component. This course will encompass oral discussion and presentations. Critiques will be frequent, in individual and group format including a group mid-term critique and end of semester critique that includes an invited, guest critic. In addition to the visual component of the course, instruction in seminar form will comprise visual artist professional practice methods that involve resume, cover letter, and employment application. Presentation of work in gallery, museum and professional interaction formats will also be part of the course.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Major Requirement | BFA Printmaking

What is the place of printmaking in the art-world and the world at large today? Central questions about printmaking as a crucial core for many disciplines that incorporate the relation between matrix and formed object, layers, reversals, positive and negative, the replication of original and appropriated media will provide a structure. The state of print publishing, art fairs and current critical literature will inform ongoing discussions, research, and presentations.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

This class will utilize relief as a means of developing personal imagery. Wood engraving, reduction and multi-block techniques shown. The responsibility of direction, and problem solving will shift to the student as initial assignments proceed into more independent projects. Individual critiques will occur throughout the term, at mid-term and final week.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

This course is a requirement for Sophomore Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Printmaking

This course provides the printmaking major the opportunity to work closely with Printmaking faculty on a concentrated and advanced basis beyond study in a print elective course. Focus on the development of printmaking related work prior to the Degree Project, relying primarily on individual and group critiques, will culminate in the Degree Project Proposal-foundation for both the Written Thesis and Degree Project body of work that is the focus of Spring Semester for senior printmakers.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Open to Senior Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Printmaking

Building on the students pre-existing experience with the materials and process of etching, this course will focus on advanced intaglio practices and methodologies. Primary techniques covered will include experimental copperplate etching, polymer-plate processing/printing, and various other unique plating approaches that utilize aspects of other print-processes and tools; monotype, relief, and screenprinting. The plate, or printing-surface/matrix, will become as important as the printed image or multiple. Assignments will be guided by prompts that require students to push the plating material to new and unexpected places, and to begin to consider ways in which the plate figures in as finished work. The two main course projects, a midterm and final, will both be self-directed.

Elective

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of Western relief printing through a series of hands-on projects that explore both traditional and contemporary approaches. Students will engage with a wide range of woodblock printing techniques—including chiaroscuro, reduction, multi-color printing, and digital processes such as laser cutting—while also experimenting with alternative substrates and unconventional materials.

Relief printing will be examined within both Western and Eastern historical contexts, considering its evolution and continued relevance in contemporary art practice. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between form, process, expression, and meaning, encouraging students to develop a personal and experimental approach to image-making

Estimated Cost of Materials: $175.00

Elective

Engraving requires a single tool - the burin - to make intaglio prints of astounding clarity. The engraved line is unique in its brilliance and energy. A skilled engraver has complete mastery of every aspect of line, allowing a great range of expression from the most delicate linear shading to visceral gestures that stand our in relief when printed on the paper. Students will learn tool sharpening, image development, techniques for transferring designs to copper, burin use and special printing requirements. Emphasis will be placed on development of a personal language of marks appropriate to individual artistic needs. Museum visits and a master copy will provide inspiration for contemporary expression through an analysis of great engravings from the fifteenth century to the present.

Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00

Elective

The Degree Project involves a semester of guided, but essentially independent study to test the student's ability to design and successfully complete a substantial, comprehensive body of work. A Degree Project Proposal is submitted at the end of Wintersession in February. Each senior's body of work is ultimately presented in a Printmaking Degree Project Exhibition in the Woods-Gerry Gallery at the end of the semester. In addition, this course works in tandem with last semester's Senior Degree Project: Seminar topics. Accordingly, a Degree Project Final Folder is also submitted containing, DP Proposal, Final Statement, Resume, Artist Statement, and images of Degree Project work. It is important to note that the Printmaking Degree Project follows grant procedure, thus, its potential value to the graduated senior with a Printmaking BFA degree in the professional realm.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Enrollment is limited to Senior Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Printmaking

Strategies for analysis and documentation are presented and discussed as students combine their research and reflections on their own evolving production into an illustrated, written thesis that organizes, focuses, and articulates their ideas. Artist's books, online publications and other formats will be explored. Intensive support for development and production of the thesis in relation to studio practice will be given.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

Graduate Print I will focus on the notion that Printmaking (and its constituent processes/techniques) are a hub within the visual arts. Students will experiment with a multitude of print processes that branch from drawing (a logical creative starting-point between Printmaking and Painting), and form extensions into the mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, and even video. Processes covered will include; drawing fluid/screen filler, screen monotype, image transfer, drypoint intaglio, and various other forms of monoprint. Assignments will require experimentation with each new technique and projects will require the individual exploration of these techniques and application to each students' personal studio practice. Demonstrations, presentations, and group/individual critiques will supplement all work time.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Open to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

Graduate Print I will focus on the notion that Printmaking (and its constituent processes/techniques) are a hub within the visual arts. Students will experiment with a multitude of print processes that branch from drawing (a logical creative starting-point between Printmaking and Painting), and form extensions into the mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, and even video. Processes covered will include; drawing fluid/screen filler, screen monotype, image transfer, drypoint intaglio, and various other forms of monoprint. Assignments will require experimentation with each new technique and projects will require the individual exploration of these techniques and application to each students' personal studio practice. Demonstrations, presentations, and group/individual critiques will supplement all work time.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Open to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to intaglio printmaking, with a primary focus on developing technical skills and image-making abilities. Students will explore traditional and contemporary approaches to intaglio processes, including drypoint, hard ground, soft ground, and aquatint. Through hands-on demonstrations, guided studio practice, and individual experimentation, participants will learn how to translate their visual ideas into prints with depth, texture, and tonal variation.

The class will emphasize technical proficiency, process-based learning, and creative problem-solving through the printmaking medium. Students will build a body of work that reflects their understanding of the materials, tools, and expressive potential of intaglio. Instruction will be supported by group discussions, critiques, and visits to print collections and exhibitions.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

The aim of this course is to introduce relief printmaking and its deep historical contexts and evolution over time, in order to develop visual narratives that speculate on reality and form forward-thinking/conjecture. Referencing graphic novels, works of speculative fiction, and contemporary artists and researchers working across disciplines, we will gain insight into the diverse visual languages used to navigate uncharted territories and uncertain phenomena. How can contemporary visual storytelling influence realities and inform futures? We will explore relief printmaking in its physical and theoretical contexts and its role in dissemination of information, mass production, digital media and contemporary culture.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $125.00

Elective