The Urban Ecologies core studio introduces students to the city as a designed environment with an emphasis on sustainability, giving them the tools to work through impressions, analysis and design operations as ways to understand the relationship between naturally formed and culturally constructed landscapes and strategies for urban ecological development. Students confront the design of housing as a way to order social relationships and shape the public realm and attack the problems of structure, construction, access and code compliance in the context of a complex large-scale architectural design.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture

In this junior studio students are presented with the idea of using metal to develop furniture forms. While the primary metal used to investigate form is mild steel, properties and techniques are also presented that apply to stainless steel, aluminum, copper, brass and bronze. Students become proficient in TIG welding, and are introduced to arc welding, spot welding, gas welding, brazing and soldering. Basic structural properties of steel are investigated through a series of short projects designed to inform students of the appropriate forms and applications. Basic and more advanced fabrication techniques, metal surface treatments, as well as metal finishing are also topics of class demonstrations.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

The poster has been an archetypal graphic design format since the late 19th century when lithographic printing technology came of age and captured the imagination of artists, bringing their vision into Paris streets. This course will invite you to explore future possibilities and contexts for the poster-as paper and as screen-building on its singular capacity to transform ideas into iconic picture planes; and examining the dynamics of typography and image, both still and in motion. Prompts will progress from individual posters, to sequences, to site-specific installations that explore the potential for interactive discourse in public space. Studio assignments will be supported with presentations and readings about poster history and contemporary poster design.

Elective

Web as Medium 1 is an introduction to creating communicative media for the web, from both conceptual and technological perspectives. Through engaging in readings, student-led presentations, and projects, students will explore cultural, social, and historical contexts around network technologies, and discover the Internet's potential as a space for social exchange and independent expression. Throughout workshops and hands-on exercises, students will learn fundamental design principles as well as a basic understanding of HTML/CSS/Javascript. Studio projects will guide students in exploring methods for conceptualizing, designing, and developing websites. While outcomes won’t always prioritize practicality or strict functionality, the emphasis lies on cultivating a poetic understanding of design and the Internet as mediums for critical research and action.

This course explores theories and practices of community-engaged pedagogy in art and design education, and the development of a conceptual framework for studio-based teaching and learning in community settings. The course introduces an approach to pedagogy that explores the complexities of community engagement to include social and political considerations of community-engaged practice; historical considerations for community partnerships; and pedagogies specifically designed for heterogeneous groups in a variety of community settings. Students examine these complexities through observations in community learning spaces, academic and public scholarship, reflection, and developing a community-engaged teaching philosophy. 

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

Major Requirement | MA Teaching + Learning in Art + Design

This hands-on experimental course will give students the opportunity to investigate a wide range of hot casting methods. The class will focus on exploring and innovating with a variety of mold materials: sand, CO2, refractory, wood, metal, organic and found molds. Hot glass ladle casting will be our primary working technique. Demonstrations will not linger on the technical but rather, will function as a catalyst for students to engage in an aesthetic and/or conceptual dialogue with technique and material. Both the studio process and the information presented in this class will encourage collaborative as well as individual work. This class will permit a deep investigation into the process of casting and into the innate properties of glass.

This course is open to non-majors. Email the instructor and Department Head jointly to request permission.

Elective

This course is an interactive lecture class. A series of distinctly varied individuals active in the field of jewelry will be invited to make presentation about their professional development. These diverging presentations are intended to offer a catalyst to stimulate questions, and encourage group discussion. Among the subjects to be presented are: individual studio practice, designing for industry, gallery connections, non-profit opportunities, partnerships, global opportunities, curatorial and journalistic prospects, wide world of the web, post graduation educational options, support systems for RISD alumni, residency prospects, and technology as resource for design and production. Students will be asked to keep an active journal of weekly observations and fulfill 3 class assignments connected with their ambitions and career interests.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This seminar is for graduate students who are preparing their written thesis. Within the context of this writing-intensive course, we examine the thesis form as an expressive opportunity to negotiate a meaningful integration of our visual work, how we think about it, and how we wish to communicate it to others. In support of this exploration, weekly thematic writing sessions are offered to open the imaginative process and to stimulate creative thinking as a means of discovering the underlying intelligence of our work. In addition, we also engage in individual studio visits to identify and form a coherent 'voice' for the thesis, one that parallels our actual art involvement. Literary communications generated out of artists' and designers' processes are also examined. The outcome of this intensive study is the completion of a draft of the thesis.

Elective

This is a hands-on studio course focusing on three-dimensional object making, primarily working with wood as a medium. We develop an integration of intuitive approaches and structured processes through direct engagement with the materials. In addition to guiding the student through the various technical hurdles encountered as the projects unfold, an equal stress is placed on the development of the ideas and intent - and those ideas successfully expressed through the materials and its manipulation. At critical times, a slide presentation is given, followed by a general, open discussion on the relevant topics and how they relate to the class.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Non-majors may enroll pending seat availability. Students may use the 'Request Course Section Prerequisite Override' task to request permission to register for the course.

Elective

The material qualities of textile design and fabrication refer to our relationship to all aspects of the physical and tangible world. While computation has long been responsible for pushing the traditional techniques of textiles to high levels of mechanical industrial expression, digital sensibility and know-how of digital technologies are now increasingly seen as means to push the frontier and very definition of fabric. Parallel advances in digital fabrication and the invention of smart materials now allow for added dimensionality and functionality in fabric, and computation is a key interface for material exploration. In this course, students will learn to modulate the performance and behavior of fabric through its geometry and other systems of continuous structural surface within a computational framework. This course will provide students with the opportunity to push the boundaries of fabric design across disciplines and studio practices.

Estimated Cost of Materials: varies by individual project.

Elective

This seminar addresses key critical theory and socio-political aspects of illustration practices from a historical perspective. Reading, discussion, and meaningful integration of ideas into studio writing and activity are goals of the course. Class will meet two times per week including supported research times in various special collections and the library. Faculty determine the content of the seminar each term, balancing attention to issues defined by the expertise and interests of the graduate cohort and subjects of relevance to the field and professional practice. Theorists of special concern to contemporary illustration practice will be highlighted; statistics and technical information about communication media will illuminate how art objects have circulated in their own eras. Critical reading, writing, and presentation will be assessed.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $75.00

Major Requirement | MFA Illustration

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 seminar connects sophomore Sculpture majors to significant parts of the ever-expanding discipline of contemporary sculpture. Over the semester the class will explore how methods of artistic production, materials of artistic transformation, and practices of makers participating in various artistic movements have created and sustained the conversations so integral to contemporary sculptural practice. Through a series of film screenings, assigned readings, slide talks, and discussions, students will gain a familiarity with the historic events and trajectories that continue to produce associative canons and relational movements, forming the foundation of their chosen discipline. The course trajectory is coordinated with topics covered in Sculptural Practices I and II and Sophomore Sculpture: Studio I.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

This seminar connects sophomore Sculpture majors to significant parts of the ever-expanding discipline of contemporary sculpture. Over the semester the class will explore how methods of artistic production, materials of artistic transformation, and practices of makers participating in various artistic movements have created and sustained the conversations so integral to contemporary sculptural practice. Through a series of film screenings, assigned readings, slide talks, and discussions, students will gain a familiarity with the historic events and trajectories that continue to produce associative canons and relational movements, forming the foundation of their chosen discipline. The course trajectory is coordinated with topics covered in Sculptural Practices I and II and Sophomore Sculpture: Studio I.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

This introductory metalsmithing course blends technical instruction with an investigation of design and concept as it relates to ornament and function. Students develop confidence and proficiency with the basic skills of forming non-ferrous metal. Specific techniques that will be covered are raising, forging, finishing non-ferrous metals, sawing, filing, drilling, sanding, polishing, annealing, surface embellishment, planishing and patination. We will also cover safety in the studio, proper hand-tool care, and the physical properties of metal. It is the goal of this course for students to gain an understanding of metal as a material and a broad understanding of the field of Jewelry and Metalsmithing. Assignments will build on each other and become more challenging throughout the semester. Each project given will rely on technical, formal and conceptual development. Classroom discussions, demonstrations and visual presentations will focus attention on traditional technical skills, design considerations, and the breadth of this exciting field.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

History is a powerful tool; a basic understanding of the history of design and familiarity with important design movements and designers is essential for thorough design work. By examining the work of other designers, we are better able to identify our own interests and concerns, and avoid repeating mistakes that have been navigated in the past. This lecture-based class will present the history of Industrial Design in a way that links it to today's studio work, and offers connection points to link past innovation and design activity with future design success. The lectures present a chronological overview of the profession of Industrial Design and its antecedents. Topics discussed will include major design movements, significant designers, manufacturers, and design-related companies, innovations in technology and material use, the development of sales, marketing, and user-focused designing, and the history of design process. Coursework includes extensive reading, in-class presentations based on independent research, projects, and writing.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

History is a powerful tool; a basic understanding of the history of design and familiarity with important design movements and designers is essential for thorough design work. By examining the work of other designers, we are better able to identify our own interests and concerns, and avoid repeating mistakes that have been navigated in the past. This lecture-based class will present the history of Industrial Design in a way that links it to today's studio work, and offers connection points to link past innovation and design activity with future design success. The lectures present a chronological overview of the profession of Industrial Design and its antecedents. Topics discussed will include major design movements, significant designers, manufacturers, and design-related companies, innovations in technology and material use, the development of sales, marketing, and user-focused designing, and the history of design process. Coursework includes extensive reading, in-class presentations based on independent research, projects, and writing.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course will wrestle with the mercurial and ever-evolving subject of Time-Based art. What is Time-Based art? Is it simply art with durational elements that unfold over the course of the work? Is it art that depends on time to define itself? Is it art that can only exist within the confines of regulated space? Is it art that stands firmly in the aftermath of what preceded it? Is it art that keeps time, wastes time, witnesses time, changes time, rearranges time, or records time? In this course, we will explore and welcome work being made under the broad umbrella of Time-Based work, such as: documentary photography, video art, experimental film, performance art, recorded happenings, social practice, and sculpture made with temporal dimensions. The course will operate as a studio course, with students being asked to present work for critique regularly, as well as weekly discussions of historical and contemporary investigations and demonstrations of Time-Based art.

Elective

Typography III is the culmination of RISD's typography sequence, with an emphasis on typography and contemporary display platforms. Advances in software and hardware have created new opportunities for how language is written, sequenced and accessed. Projects in this semester depend on altered states, where the content, composition, and context all are potentially at play. Students will continue to develop proficiency in designing for static compositions while extending the meaning and voice of that work across multiple platforms. Students will have ample opportunity to further shape their perspective and individual voice in relation to contemporary typography. This is a studio course, so some class time will be used for discussions, most of the time we will be working in class, often on a computer. There is an expectation that students work both individually and in groups and be prepared to speak about their own work and the work of their peers in supportive and respectful ways. A laptop and relevant software are required.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graphic Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Graphic Design