Students in this course will investigate the specific physical structure of the human body, with the aim of producing drawings of greater structural and visual integrity and more fluid descriptions of movement and weight in the figure. We will proceed through the skeletal and muscular systems at a brisk but reasonable pace, learning names, points of articulation and the dynamic functions of each component of the body. Each weekly assignment will consist of a careful, descriptive drawing of an element of the skeletal or muscular system, and a 'dynamic' drawing in which that same element is shown in action in the living figure. We will also review the work of artists, both contemporary and historical, who have made vital artistic use of the elements of anatomical study. The course includes an optional field trip to the Brown University Evolutionary Biology Lab to draw from cadavers. There will be at least one written test on anatomical facts and terminology. The course culminates in a final project on the theme of 'A Human Ideal', exploring past concepts of idealized form in the figure in relation to anatomical reality and contemporary cultural perspectives.

Elective

The psychology of the client/user influences the design of the environment and the practice of interior architecture. This course will explore issues of anthropometrics (the study of the characteristics of the human body), ergonomics (the application of anthropometric data to design), and proxemics (the study of the effect of cultural/psychological factors on design). During the semester the student will gather facts about the interaction of the environment and a user's culture, gender, stage of life cycle, and physical characteristics. These ideas will be implemented in the design and construction of an object.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This course, taught by zoological medicine veterinarian Dr. Lucy Spelman examines how we interact with animals-both domestic and wild-and how, in turn, these interactions affect us. Each week we focus on a different species, working our way up the taxonomic tree from corals to gorillas. We study the animal's basic biology, including its anatomy, natural history, and ecology. We consider the role it plays in human society, including as companions, as food, and, as sources of medicine and spiritual inspiration. We study how human activity is affecting its health and the ripple effect on our own health. We explore how agriculture, climate change, emerging diseases, habitat loss, hunting, and trade are driving many species to extinction. In the process, we discover that while many human-animal interactions are positive, many more are problematic, and that although we have solutions for most of these negative interactions, we often fail to implement them. Examples include excessive antibiotic use in cows, the continued loss of wetlands threatening frogs, and, the increasing number of coyotes favored by urban landscapes. We explore some of the underlying reasons for this inaction. In their final project, students identify a problematic human-animal interaction and explore solutions.

This course is designed to encourage you to explore the range of biological complexity in the animal world, the many ways we interact with animals, both domestic and wild, and, the scientific basis of the interconnectedness of health. You will also have the opportunity to explore solutions for problematic human-animal interactions; it is possible to live in balance with animals if we make informed decisions. The material presented will challenge you to learn more about animal classification, zoology, ecology, food animal science, veterinary medicine, public health, and conservation biology. For your final project, you will research a problematic human-animal interaction, explore potential solutions, and create a work of art or design that inspires others to take action.

Elective

This course will focus on factors influencing the design of the interior environment through exploring issues of anthropometrics (the study of the characteristics of the human body), ergonomics (the application of anthropometric data to design), and proxemics (the study of the effect of cultural/psychological factors on design). It will be complemented by a study of acoustics as it relates to the relationship between the built environment and sound; predicting and designing for the acoustic performance of spaces, and executing acoustic measurements (impulse response, reverberations).

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course will focus on factors influencing the design of the interior environment through exploring issues of anthropometrics (the study of the characteristics of the human body), ergonomics (the application of anthropometric data to design), and proxemics (the study of the effect of cultural/psychological factors on design). It will be complemented by a study of acoustics as it relates to the relationship between the built environment and sound; predicting and designing for the acoustic performance of spaces, and executing acoustic measurements (impulse response, reverberations).

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course provides the prospective teacher with an extensive overview of child and adolescent development. It is designed to introduce the beginning teacher to the excitement of studying the individual through the childhood and adolescent years from a lifespan perspective. The course provides a framework for thinking about the developing child and adolescent in relation to the significant social environments of the MAT's life, including family, school, the peer group, the community neighborhood, the media, work, etc. It is the intent of this study to emphasize the reciprocal and dynamic interaction of the person and their environment. This course is designed and will be presented in a way that will relate theory, research and the principles of child and adolescent development in a pragmatic, holistic format.

Enrollment in this course is limited to Teaching + Learning in Art + Design Students.

Major Requirement | MAT Teaching + Learning in Art + Design

In this forward-thinking course, we will explore the potential of GPT-4 as a catalyst for extending and enhancing literary consciousness. As artificial intelligence reshapes the landscape of language and literature, we will consider how GPT-4, with its advanced generative capabilities, can serve as a creative collaborator in the writing process, pushing the boundaries of human imagination and storytelling.

Students will engage with a range of texts and theories to better understand the implications of AI in the realm of literary art. We will examine the ethical, aesthetic, and critical considerations of collaborating with AI, while also assessing how GPT-4 can help writers tap into new perspectives, styles, and techniques. Throughout the course, students will work on a series of creative assignments that involve both human and AI-generated content, learning to strike a balance between their own instincts and the generative power of the machine.

By the end of the course, students will not only develop a deeper understanding of the potential for human-AI collaboration in literature but also gain valuable insights into their own creative processes. They will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to navigate and contribute to the ongoing conversation surrounding the role of AI in language art. The course will culminate in a final project, which may be a creative work, critical analysis, or research paper, showcasing the student's engagement with the literary possibilities and implications of the GPT-4 era. Topics to be covered in this course include:

• The history of writing technologies and their impact on human consciousness

• The history and development of GPT-4 and the implications for literature and language art

• Strategies for effectively guiding and refining GPT-4-generated content

• Exploring different genres and forms of writing with AI assistance

• Ethical considerations in human-AI collaboration and authorship

• The future of collaborative writing with advanced AI systems

Elective

In 1994 NASA held the first of what became an annual contest for universities, colleges and secondary schools from around the world. The competition, then called the “Great Moonbuggy Race,” was based on the design and engineering hurdles faced by NASA when developing the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle, popularly called the “Moonbuggy”. The rover was first used on the Apollo 15 mission in July of 1971 and additional rovers continued to be used for the final two Apollo missions in 1972. Since then the Rover Challenge has brought together more than 10,000 students from all over the globe to develop new skills and learn more about space exploration, design and engineering.

Organized by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama, the Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) invites student teams to design, fabricate and compete on a lightweight, 2-person, human-powered vehicle, over a course that simulates many of the obstacles on the Moon or Mars. RISD’s first entry into the event, completed during the 2009/2010 academic year achieved remarkable results, finishing in third place in the college division and receiving the “Best Newcomer Award.” That first entry, designed as a part of an Advanced Design Studio, led to the creation of a club-based team – RISD Rover – to support continuing entries into the competition. This studio returns RISD Rover to its roots as a formal part of the curriculum in the ID department.

NASA describes the HERC as, an opportunity “for student teams to design, develop, build, and test human-powered rovers capable of traversing challenging terrain.” “The competition requires two students, at least one female, to use the student-designed vehicle to traverse a course of approximately one half-mile that includes a simulated field of asteroid debris, boulders, erosion ruts, crevasses, and an ancient stream bed. The challenge’s weight and size requirements encourage the rover’s compactness and stowage efficiency.”

This advanced design studio will work alongside the RISD Rover club to create a competition entry for HERC. Students in the studio will learn to design and develop composite structures, learn skills in pattern- and mold-making, discover the ergonomics of human-powered vehicles, design lightweight and efficient structures, work with carbon fiber, foam, aluminum, and other lightweight materials, all while designing an award-winning rover. At the end of the semester, the rover will be tested here at RISD, in preparation for the competition. There will be opportunities for students to travel to the Challenge to the US. Space and Rocket Center and Marshall Space Flight Center in April, to compete against rovers from around the world.Recommended Prerequisites: Good shop skills are important, Metals II is not required but recommended for this class.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

This course is designed to be a deep-dive into the liberatory archaeologies of racialized, gendered, and sexual memory(s) articulated by Xicanx, Latinx, Native American, and Africana scholars, artists, creatives, activists, and cultural workers that resist the epistemic regimes of antiblackness, colonialism, and white supremacy. Students have the opportunity to engage scholarly and artistic works that exemplify how Blackness rejects while simultaneously marking in many ways, the limits and logic of gender and sexuality, exposing the colonial underpinnings of "Man" and modern ideas of "human." This course focuses on monuments, maps, and archives as three distinct sites where antiblackness, colonialism, and white supremacy are both sanctioned and defied in the public sphere. Students will examine research from multiple scholars that troubles the assumption that becoming assimilated and included as "human" and "citizen" in the eyes of the State is progress for Black and Native communities. Using the Black Digital Humanities, students will demonstrate their comprehension and command of the thematic foundations of the course by creating their own narratives of memory and resistance via spatial visualization and/or auditory digital software.

Elective

In a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss and ecological change, this studio course will challenge students to rethink traditional human-centered design approaches and imagine a world where designers can actively contribute to the protection and survival of the flora and fauna around us. As a result of human activity, it is estimated that one in four species are at risk of extinction – but is it possible that we can halt these losses through creative design solutions?

Together, we will envision a more symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. We will investigate already existing interventions for threatened species and better understand how designers are tackling these challenging issues. We will study critical topics such as habitat loss, decline of bird and pollinator populations, and shed light on often-overlooked animals that play significant roles in our ecosystems. Through observation, research, and insights from guest speakers and field trips, students will begin to develop and prototype their own design projects that may include the creation of analogous habitats in urban environments, pollinator-friendly support systems, or protective interventions that allow for coexistence between humans and animals. Completed projects will reimagine what design can do in a more-than-human world!
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This class is designed to train students in the art of creature creation/design. Students will study animal anatomy and physiology with a focus on adaptions to meet specific environments. Following a structured process to design beasts for a variety of genres, the class will explore the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Also featured will be class discussion regarding the psychological implications of different aesthetic choices using existing creatures from film and literature as case studies.

Elective

Has the unfathomable diversity of insects ever fascinated you, but left you wondering where to begin? This is a basic course in entomology for the natural historian and artist. All orders of Class Insecta will be introduced, with both field and lab components whenever possible. Basic insect morphology and ecology will be covered for most orders, with opportunities for artistic rendition and use of both live and dead specimens as models. Students will learn basic insect anatomy and taxonomy for the identification of insects to order-level. Elements of insect ecology will infiltrate everything we look at, in both the field and the lab. Emphasis will be placed on the major orders (beetles, flies, butterflies/moths, etc.); the minor orders will be covered to varying degrees, but this can be adjusted according to the class consensus. Coursework will include field collecting trips, observation and drawing of specimens using a microscope, identification quizzes, and a course project that will emphasize the creation of materials for educational outreach. Additionally, students will finish with their own curated insect collection identified to order-level (or beyond, if student desires).

Elective

The Psychology of Aging provides an overview of human development from early adulthood through elderhood and death. Topics include behavior-biology interactions and perceptual, cognitive, and intellectual functioning. The goal of the course is to establish a basis for understanding the processes of change through which humans progress. We do this by reviewing the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of human development as it applies to others and ourselves.

Elective

The course examines the human experience of enslavement and bondage in Latin America.  Students will read about pre-Columbian forms of human bondage, the early modern Latin American enslavement and trafficking of Native and African peoples in various forms, and bondage as it existed after the independence movements in Central and South America and the Caribbean nations.   The course also will address current instances of labor bondage and human trafficking in the region in recent decades. The course will include lecture, discussion, and either group or individual research projects on the course topics.

Elective

Animals have enjoyed a prominent place in art for as long as humans have been creating it, beginning with the caves in Lascaux. Along the way they have figured prominently in myths fables and allegories, fulfilling symbolic roles in a wealth of picture books, and appeared as frequent players in visual metaphors employed by editorial illustrators. This course will provide opportunities for students to work within a variety of illustration genres, finding their own approach to working with representations of animal life. There will be in-depth exploration of creature anthropomorphism and its uses- from social and political satire to its capabilities in a wide range of storytelling methods. From JJ Granville to Spiegelman's Maus, to children's book greats like Richard Scarry and Arthur Geisert, the human-animal/animal-human is an enduring motif that will continue to be reinvented and expanded upon. Students will have the ability to channel projects and assignments towards formats of their choosing - including painting and other gallery-based practices, children's publishing, artist books, comics and zines.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

The course aims to create sufficient awareness of what yields life on earth, and a complementary biocentric view of the world. New ethical and critical challenges are continually presented to human society with the growth of material science and its implications for design; the course introduces sources and research references to assist with our understanding of these challenges. We explore aspects of human knowledge of living systems, providing a research-based approach to such topics as BioDesign; biomimicry in materials, processes, and structures; functional morphology and the cognitive phenomena of Biophilia. The 'affinities and aversions' we as humans have regarding natural living systems are in everything: from the spaces we inhabit to the metaphors we employ in order to understand complexity in general, including issues connected with health, recuperation and resilience. Using the recently extended facilities and resources of the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, faculty and graduate students together create opportunities to experiment, observe, and learn about the networked aspects of living systems, materials, structures and processes. Theoretical frameworks associated with the biology of living systems, the growth and formation of natural materials including the contemporary revolutions in evolutionary theory are introduced and examples discussed with visiting specialists.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $30.00

Elective

With widespread emphasis on the written word in a globalized Western society, it becomes easy to forget that writing is a relatively anomalous human practice. In Art Before Time, our focus will be on the visual, tactile, and kinetic practices of the deep past, and the epistemological methods (and their limitations) that we Moderns use to decipher and interpret the ancient traces left long before there were written records to document them. We will employ and scrutinize ethnographic analogy as a method for understanding the lifeways of our distant ancestors in the Pleistocene, while using experimental archaeology to form shared experiences that engage in the most persistent artistic traditions of our species. In so doing, we explore the changing place of human activity in ecosystems across the Northern Hemisphere, the origins and varieties of symbolic thought and the fluctuating roles of art and architecture in spiritual ecologies throughout a vast span of time.

Elective

Theories of NatureCulture is a graduate-level critical and cultural theory seminar with a focus on environmental justice approaches that lays the foundations for advanced study in the interdisciplinary field of nature-culture-sustainability studies, introducing students to vital topics, theories, and perspectives in the environmental humanities.

Why does mainstream US environmental thought conceive of nature and human culture as separate? Are they really a dichotomy? What does it mean to describe something as “natural”? What do the humanities and arts have to contribute to environmental studies and environmental justice? This iteration of Theories of NatureCulture asks students to engage with a variety of cultural production, including poetry, essays, short fiction, film, music, and critical theory to analyze how the concept of nature is represented in different cultural imaginaries, as well as the embodied and material consequences of its representations. The course will expand and complicate students’ understandings of environmentalism by asking them to carefully and thoughtfully engage with a variety of ecological modes of thought, including: queer ecologies, ecofeminisms, Black ecological imaginings, Indigenous environmental thought, anticolonial environmentalisms, eco-crip theory, and Black feminist ecologies, among others.

In this seminar, we will carefully read and discuss a range of texts centered on environmental issues and concepts. Our readings and discussions will be complemented by field trips, writing assignments, group projects, and site visits. Close engagement with theoretical material will enable us to consider how different styles and disciplinary practices encourage particular forms of comprehension and interaction with the environment. This course is open to all graduate level students and to junior, senior/fifth year undergraduate students, with priority given to those in the NCSS and other Liberal Arts concentrations pending seat availability.

Elective

In many ways, biodesign introduces a fresh paradigm for our era. It’s design with/for biology! As such, biodesign promotes new forms of collaboration with living organisms, whether they are naturally evolved or lab-synthesized. Biodesign de-centers the dominant, yet limited, focus on humans that human-centered design championed at the turn of the century. It also eschews biomimicry, as it does not expect organisms to teach us or provide us with learning opportunities, nor serve us as merely models for emulation. Instead, its design tenets are biological principles that are observable in nature. Things grow and evolve, and are interdependent, so the products of biodesign are not thought of as ends in themselves. They’re part of a broader system or ecology that design aims to complement, or even enhance. As a result, biodesign projects are inherently complex, requiring multidisciplinary collaboration amongst specialists and generalists, including designers. This semester, we will explore biodesign across various scales, from molecules and materials to products and environments, while engaging with key pioneers in the field. No scientific background is required to succeed in this class.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

In this course, we will create site-specific projections that breathe new life onto the built environment. Working in the lineage of street art and guerrilla performance, we will explore the relationship between art, public space and the communities we inhabit. How is projection a tool of public communication? How can light and movement reshape architecture and human behavior? We will research sites, understand their stories, develop creative interventions, build prototypes and work collaboratively to design ephemeral public installations.

Elective