Seniors will complete their final portfolio works in this studio. Seniors will design and execute a final degree project. The degree project will be individualized according to student interest.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

This course explores the animation medium as a tool for community engagement, documentary storytelling and advocacy. Working closely with local organizations, students will produce animated works around themes that are rooted in Providence. With an emphasis on co-creation and participatory models of production, the semester will culminate in a screening that is open to the public. Students will also develop a deeper foundation of research practices, pre-production methods, creative collaboration strategies, time management, event promotion, and production pipelines.

Elective

This senior level course focuses on the design of unique interpretation of apparel design. The senior collections are a culmination of their skills and an exploration of their design vision. Originality, problem solving, and an organized design process are defined as essential elements of a successful degree project collection. Seniors refine and build their portfolios. Projects are aimed at enabling students to express a diverse but cohesive design vision.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $1,000.00

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

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

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 six-credit course is designed to provide the necessary production time for the realization of the Degree Project, culminating in a well-organized and installed public exhibition of a project or body of work in the department's Red Eye Gallery. The Degree Project must be approved by photography faculty and accompanied by a written Degree Project Thesis. Attendance at all departmental visiting artist lectures is required.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Photography

This is a seminar class for the senior printmaking student. The course addresses practical topics related to becoming a professional artist after graduation. Topics include:

1. professional content development as applied one’s CV, artist statement, website, and social media promotion.

2. class discussions about galleries, museums, graduate programs, auction houses, and grants.

3. examination of marketing channels for today’s artist.

4. introduction to business skills and professionalism as appropriate for the art world.

Professionals from related fields will be invited to the class to share their expertise and experience. 

Major Requirement | BFA Printmaking

In this course we examine individual studio practices in depth through collecting, drawing, and writing. We approach writing as a mutable medium, one that can be built up, torn apart, cobbled together, patch-worked, polished, shined, exploded, and altogether constructed in a way that is not dissimilar to the way an object emerges in the studio. We examine the ways that writing as a part of making can spark ideas for visual work, enrich subliminal visual narratives, connect ideas that may seem disparate, collect a wide variety of sources in a small space, act as a place for reflection, and ultimately be an active and integral part of making. In the process, we will unearth themes that permeate students' artistic work in a way that forges future paths for creative exploration while protecting some of the mysteries that are particular to an embodied practice. Students will begin to develop a personal vocabulary that parallels the richly developed language of their visual work, laying the foundation for their Senior Degree Project. The primary aim of this class is for students to develop a better understanding of their own practice and its context through writing and archiving influences and inspirations, laying the conceptual foundation and establishing a specific theme for the spring semester Senior Degree Project Report.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

In this course we examine individual studio practices in depth through collecting, drawing, and writing. We approach writing as a mutable medium, one that can be built up, torn apart, cobbled together, patch-worked, polished, shined, exploded, and altogether constructed in a way that is not dissimilar to the way an object emerges in the studio. We examine the ways that writing as a part of making can spark ideas for visual work, enrich subliminal visual narratives, connect ideas that may seem disparate, collect a wide variety of sources in a small space, act as a place for reflection, and ultimately be an active and integral part of making. In the process, we will unearth themes that permeate students' artistic work in a way that forges future paths for creative exploration while protecting some of the mysteries that are particular to an embodied practice. Students will begin to develop a personal vocabulary that parallels the richly developed language of their visual work, laying the foundation for their Senior Degree Project. The primary aim of this class is for students to develop a better understanding of their own practice and its context through writing and archiving influences and inspirations, laying the conceptual foundation and establishing a specific theme for the spring semester Senior Degree Project Report.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

The primary focus of the Senior Sculpture Degree Project is to cultivate and hone a cohesive body of work for your FINAL degree thesis exhibition. Building upon your existing professional practices foundation begun in the fall, and establishing greater autonomy around production timelines and critical discourse, this semester features an emphasis on open studio time and individual meetings that honor your individual tempos and creative workflow. Also implemented this semester is the In-Process Critique format. This critique schedule is in place for you to self-identify key moments for strategic feedback leading up to your exhibition. The first half of the semester will prioritize the Woods Gerry Senior Exhibition and time for studio work/studio visits alongside In-Process Critiques. The second half of the semester will be structured by a range of projects to prepare you for post-graduation artistic and professional practice. You will have the choice of either an artist talk or skill share to build context and guide deeper conversations around your work. These moments of the course are intended to give students the chance to present their work and research to the wider community.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

The primary focus of the Senior Sculpture Degree Project is to cultivate and hone a cohesive body of work for your FINAL degree thesis exhibition. Building upon your existing professional practices foundation begun in the fall, and establishing greater autonomy around production timelines and critical discourse, this semester features an emphasis on open studio time and individual meetings that honor your individual tempos and creative workflow. Also implemented this semester is the In-Process Critique format. This critique schedule is in place for you to self-identify key moments for strategic feedback leading up to your exhibition. The first half of the semester will prioritize the Woods Gerry Senior Exhibition and time for studio work/studio visits alongside In-Process Critiques. The second half of the semester will be structured by a range of projects to prepare you for post-graduation artistic and professional practice. You will have the choice of either an artist talk or skill share to build context and guide deeper conversations around your work. These moments of the course are intended to give students the chance to present their work and research to the wider community.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

In the Senior J+M Degree Project students focus on a clearly defined, individually chosen, subject of inquiry for 12 weeks. Seniors are required to take full responsibility for the evolution and articulation of their creative practice. Two faculty serve as DP advisors, meeting weekly with students, to discuss and facilitate the progress of their work. Although seniors are required to be self-reflective in identifying the individual impulses and motivations in their work, emphasis in review and discussion begins to shift from the voice of the personal to that of the greater collective, context, and role of the audience. The DP culminates in an exhibition at Woods-Gerry Gallery on the RISD campus. Graduation requirements include: CV, professionally documented digital portfolio, artist postcard, and artist/degree project statement.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

Building on the methods of research and synthesis learned in Junior Sculpture: Research Studio, this is an intensive semester designed to strengthen students’ knowledge of professional practices for maintaining a creative practice past graduation. Students will develop a packet of materials which include a portfolio of work, artist statement, resume, and artist CV. This course will advance their research into a range of opportunities specific to the discipline of sculpture and their own individuated practices. 

 
Each week students will be introduced to a variety of resources and skills necessary in preparing for upcoming and future opportunities such as residencies, granting organizations, graduate schools and fellowships. Additionally, topics of exhibiting works in various spaces such as galleries (artist-run, for-profit, university, etc.), museums, alternative art organizations and public art venues will be presented. There will also be workshops for preparing project budgets, archival storage of work and formatting for digital organization. This seminar aims to give students a strong foundation for professional practices prior to their final semester at RISD so they can focus on their body of work in Senior Degree Project and feel prepared to graduate.   

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Building on the methods of research and synthesis learned in Junior Sculpture: Research Studio, this is an intensive semester designed to strengthen students’ knowledge of professional practices for maintaining a creative practice past graduation. Students will develop a packet of materials which include a portfolio of work, artist statement, resume, and artist CV. This course will advance their research into a range of opportunities specific to the discipline of sculpture and their own individuated practices. 

 
Each week students will be introduced to a variety of resources and skills necessary in preparing for upcoming and future opportunities such as residencies, granting organizations, graduate schools and fellowships. Additionally, topics of exhibiting works in various spaces such as galleries (artist-run, for-profit, university, etc.), museums, alternative art organizations and public art venues will be presented. There will also be workshops for preparing project budgets, archival storage of work and formatting for digital organization. This seminar aims to give students a strong foundation for professional practices prior to their final semester at RISD so they can focus on their body of work in Senior Degree Project and feel prepared to graduate.   

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Senior Studio is a 12-week intensive experience where you conceptualize, develop, and execute a project that reflects your unique vision and career aspirations. Unlike traditional coursework, this studio is entirely self-directed, allowing you to explore areas that interest you most while building skills directly applicable to your future goals.

Note: Senior Studio uses an application process that has concluded for the Spring 2026 semester.

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

Senior Studio is a 12-week intensive experience where you conceptualize, develop, and execute a project that reflects your unique vision and career aspirations. Unlike traditional coursework, this studio is entirely self-directed, allowing you to explore areas that interest you most while building skills directly applicable to your future goals.

Note: Senior Studio uses an application process that has concluded for the Spring 26 semester.

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

Studio: Design promotes multidisciplinary studio experimentation across an array of media and processes. Students explore the organization of visual and other sensory elements in order to understand perceptual attributes and the production of meaning. Using various methods of expression, students may create objects, spaces, and experiences that demonstrate their analysis of composition, color, narrative, motion, systems, and cultural signification. Assignments allow for inquiries into scientific, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, technological, and political topics. Critical and experimental utilization of design principles, which underpin all of the arts, are emphasized. Students are guided through progressive investigations, in which the act of seeing is amplified by the study of physiological and cognitive factors that generate perception. Examined subjects are taken through stages of representation, abstraction, and/or symbolic interpretation to reveal essential communicative properties.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA

Studio: Design promotes multidisciplinary studio experimentation across an array of media and processes. Students explore the organization of visual and other sensory elements in order to understand perceptual attributes and the production of meaning. Using various methods of expression, students may create objects, spaces, and experiences that demonstrate their analysis of composition, color, narrative, motion, systems, and cultural signification. Assignments allow for inquiries into scientific, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, technological, and political topics. Critical and experimental utilization of design principles, which underpin all of the arts, are emphasized. Students are guided through progressive investigations, in which the act of seeing is amplified by the study of physiological and cognitive factors that generate perception. Examined subjects are taken through stages of representation, abstraction, and/or symbolic interpretation to reveal essential communicative properties.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA

Studio: Design promotes multidisciplinary studio experimentation across an array of media and processes. Students explore the organization of visual and other sensory elements in order to understand perceptual attributes and the production of meaning. Using various methods of expression, students may create objects, spaces, and experiences that demonstrate their analysis of composition, color, narrative, motion, systems, and cultural signification. Assignments allow for inquiries into scientific, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, technological, and political topics. Critical and experimental utilization of design principles, which underpin all of the arts, are emphasized. Students are guided through progressive investigations, in which the act of seeing is amplified by the study of physiological and cognitive factors that generate perception. Examined subjects are taken through stages of representation, abstraction, and/or symbolic interpretation to reveal essential communicative properties.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA

Studio: Design promotes multidisciplinary studio experimentation across an array of media and processes. Students explore the organization of visual and other sensory elements in order to understand perceptual attributes and the production of meaning. Using various methods of expression, students may create objects, spaces, and experiences that demonstrate their analysis of composition, color, narrative, motion, systems, and cultural signification. Assignments allow for inquiries into scientific, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, technological, and political topics. Critical and experimental utilization of design principles, which underpin all of the arts, are emphasized. Students are guided through progressive investigations, in which the act of seeing is amplified by the study of physiological and cognitive factors that generate perception. Examined subjects are taken through stages of representation, abstraction, and/or symbolic interpretation to reveal essential communicative properties.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA

Studio: Design promotes multidisciplinary studio experimentation across an array of media and processes. Students explore the organization of visual and other sensory elements in order to understand perceptual attributes and the production of meaning. Using various methods of expression, students may create objects, spaces, and experiences that demonstrate their analysis of composition, color, narrative, motion, systems, and cultural signification. Assignments allow for inquiries into scientific, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, technological, and political topics. Critical and experimental utilization of design principles, which underpin all of the arts, are emphasized. Students are guided through progressive investigations, in which the act of seeing is amplified by the study of physiological and cognitive factors that generate perception. Examined subjects are taken through stages of representation, abstraction, and/or symbolic interpretation to reveal essential communicative properties.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA