Studio: Drawing is pursued in two directions: as a powerful way to investigate the world, and as an essential activity intrinsic to all artists and designers. As a primary mode of inquiry, drawing is a central means of forming questions and creating knowledge across disciplines. Through wide-ranging drawing approaches, students are prompted to work responsively and self-critically to embrace the unpredictable intersection of process, idea and media. To pursue these larger ideas, the studio becomes a laboratory of varied and challenging activities. Instructors introduce drawing as a dynamic two-dimensional record of sensory search, conceptual thought, or physical action. Students investigate materiality, imagined situations, idea generation, and the translation of the observable world. Formal and intellectual risks are encouraged during a sustained engagement with the possibilities of material, mark-making, perception, abstraction, performance, space and time. As students trust the drawing process, they become more informed about its uncharted potentials, and accept struggle as necessary and positive; they gain confidence in their own sensibilities.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA

Studio: Drawing is pursued in two directions: as a powerful way to investigate the world, and as an essential activity intrinsic to all artists and designers. As a primary mode of inquiry, drawing is a central means of forming questions and creating knowledge across disciplines. Through wide-ranging drawing approaches, students are prompted to work responsively and self-critically to embrace the unpredictable intersection of process, idea and media. To pursue these larger ideas, the studio becomes a laboratory of varied and challenging activities. Instructors introduce drawing as a dynamic two-dimensional record of sensory search, conceptual thought, or physical action. Students investigate materiality, imagined situations, idea generation, and the translation of the observable world. Formal and intellectual risks are encouraged during a sustained engagement with the possibilities of material, mark-making, perception, abstraction, performance, space and time. As students trust the drawing process, they become more informed about its uncharted potentials, and accept struggle as necessary and positive; they gain confidence in their own sensibilities.

Enrollment is limited to first-year undergraduate students.

Major Requirement | BFA

For centuries, myth and folklore have shaped our understanding of the natural world, influencing how we relate to it. These narratives are often annexed by scientific essentialism, disconnecting the human experience from the natural environment. Storytelling, however, can reignite an emotional connection to nature and a deep sense of belonging, fostering a sense of kinship with the environment.'

In this hybrid studio and seminar course, students will explore the intersections of nature and storytelling. We’ll explore myths and folklore from different cultures and the work of different artists engaging with storytelling as a way of conveying knowledge about nature. We will also visit the Brown Conservatory and the RISD Nature Laboratory to converse with objects from nature, creating our own interpretations of these intersections into different visual outputs. We’ll experiment with visual communication forms, such as comics, zines, and posters, considering how these creative expressions play an important role in preserving knowledge that promotes ecological awareness and reinforces human connection with the natural environment. The course content is divided into 3 themes: storytelling, kinship, and communication. These concepts are intertwined, and we will explore them as singular concepts as well as the connections between them.

This course will be informed by the theory of Donna Haraway1 and Leslie Marmon Silko2, who actively think about the relationship between humans and nature from the experience of the body and Indigenous knowledge, respectively. In the same way, it will include examples of folklore and storytelling used to introduce people to engaging with more than human beings.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $150.00

Elective

In this class we compare and contrast various cities of the Global South and examine their relationship to the Global North. We ponder upon the valences and representations of the terms Global South and North, and examine the politics and processes of urban life. We understand global connections as we study the built environment, economies, and experience of cities such as Mumbai, Kunming, Sao Paolo, Bangkok, and Lagos. The course will explore the resonances between these cities and the kinds of challenges they face as they encounter rapid urban growth and renewal. We will ask: What do cities of the Global South tell us about urbanism and urbanization today? What formal and economic similarities do cities of the Global South exhibit? What forms of knowledge, activism, and contestation emerge from urban areas in the Global South? Like most courses in the History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences (HPSS) department, this course builds a critical understanding of diverse cultures of the world, raises ethical questions that arise as different groups interact, and develops an analysis of social situations in the world and highlights forms of power and inequity. Class texts will case study different cities and compare experience in cities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Modules in the class will discuss planning and the built environment, commodities and capital, informality and body politics, infrastructure and energy, as well as think through theory from the Global South. This is a discussion-based seminar and active in-class participation is required of all students. Class activities will include mapping sessions, group work, and discussions on films. This course will be taught in a hybrid format. The balance of in person and online teaching will be determined by the instructor in order to optimize pedagogy (in response to changing distancing and safety regulations and the COVID-19 comfort and safety levels of members in the course).

Elective

In this class we compare and contrast various cities of the Global South and examine their relationship to the Global North. We ponder upon the valences and representations of the terms Global South and North, and examine the politics and processes of urban life. We understand global connections as we study the built environment, economies, and experience of cities such as Mumbai, Kunming, Sao Paolo, Bangkok, and Lagos. The course will explore the resonances between these cities and the kinds of challenges they face as they encounter rapid urban growth and renewal. We will ask: What do cities of the Global South tell us about urbanism and urbanization today? What formal and economic similarities do cities of the Global South exhibit? What forms of knowledge, activism, and contestation emerge from urban areas in the Global South? Like most courses in the History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences (HPSS) department, this course builds a critical understanding of diverse cultures of the world, raises ethical questions that arise as different groups interact, and develops an analysis of social situations in the world and highlights forms of power and inequity. Class texts will case study different cities and compare experience in cities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Modules in the class will discuss planning and the built environment, commodities and capital, informality and body politics, infrastructure and energy, as well as think through theory from the Global South. This is a discussion-based seminar and active in-class participation is required of all students. Class activities will include mapping sessions, group work, and discussions on films. This course will be taught in a hybrid format. The balance of in person and online teaching will be determined by the instructor in order to optimize pedagogy (in response to changing distancing and safety regulations and the COVID-19 comfort and safety levels of members in the course).

Elective

This course explores the impact of artificial intelligence on illustration through a blend of theoretical interrogations and practical workshops. Students will examine how AI disrupts traditional workflows and challenges established artistic practices. Key topics include: AI tools and techniques for artistic production, the displacement of artists, the environmental impact of computational processes, the role of language in illustration, and philosophical debates surrounding art and design. 

Grounded in hands-on learning, participants will engage with current AI tools and techniques ranging from AI embedded in existing software, Large Language Models, text-to-image models, and Generative Adversarial Networks. The course emphasizes developing a critical formal language to assess and promote artistic practices that exceed machine-generated outputs. By the end, students will be equipped to navigate and shape the evolving landscape of AI in illustration with informed, innovative perspectives. Students will need a laptop computer; no programming experience is required.

Elective

This is a course about artists as collectors, collecting strange, wonderful stuff, and turning it into art. Each week you’ll experiment with gathering and organizing material from the world, recording sounds, photographing textures, scanning found objects, and then remix them into your own creative work. Along the way, you’ll get opportunities with hands-on with tools like audio recording, scanners, cameras, various printers, 3D and fabric printing, digital embroidery, and creative software such as Photoshop, Premiere, and 3D software. You’ll experiment with different ways to capture and organize your material. We’ll look at artists who treat archives as art, explore how collections shape culture, and invent new workflows that spark ideas. By the end, you’ll have your own evolving toolkit, an “asset library”, a cabinet of curiosity, to fuel any kind of work: video, sound, games, installation, design, painting, sculpture, collaborations, experiments, whatever you dream up.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

In this course, we will examine the diary and the obsessive observer. These themes will be framed as preliminary sources for creating a series of paintings. Instincts like documenting, revealing, unearthing, appropriating, intervening, spying, etc are all methods of cultivating meaning that will be investigated throughout the course. We will have discussions about different approaches to these sorts of ideas, and the different ethical dilemmas that accompany them. Importantly, we will consider ways artists gather information online and in public spaces, and ultimately where public and private may blur. Some artists we will focus on are Sophie Calle, Anais Nin, Adrian Piper, and Laurel Nakadate as well as artistic movements such as Fluxus, New Media, and other contemporary niches.

Throughout the wintersession, students will maintain a diary or journal that will guide them in making a series of 4 paintings. The coursework will include in-class exercises, alongside slide lectures, readings, and class discussions. Students will use the series of paintings and their journal to deepen existing interests in their practices.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $100.00

Elective

Practitioners in the Environmental Humanities (EH) engage in disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research in the humanities to think about representation, meaning, value, ethics, and power in relation to environmental questions, issues, and crises. EH offers a capacious umbrella under which to gather inquiry in anthropology, art and design, critical animal studies, cultural studies, film studies, history, literary studies, philosophy, and visual studies, among other disciplines, methodologies, and modes. In this course, Environmental Humanities Research Seminar, students will engage in independent, liberal arts-based research in the environmental humanities in order to contextualize, extend, and/or refine an existing project or to develop a new project. The work under development could be either a liberal-arts based project or a studio-based project that would be deepened through liberal-arts based research. In addition to deep curiosity about one's subject matter, receptivity to the messiness of the research process, and a willingness to support other classmates in their research, this class requires excellent time management skills. Assignments will include: an annotated bibliography, reflective writing, a final paper, and a final presentation.

Elective

Building upon practices, techniques, and discourses covered in the first semester of the sculpture curriculum, Sophomore Sculpture Studio II will deepen existing fabrication skills while expanding knowledge into the realm of time-based and movement-based technologies and practices. This course encourages students to explore what matters to them and how to express those ideas while they experiment with hybrid and transdisciplinary working methodologies. 

As the semester progresses, assignments will guide students towards independent inquiries, focusing on both refining and expanding the context for their evolving artistic exploration. Readings, discussions, artist lectures, and research will elicit connections between ideas, narratives, histories, and personal work. Emphasis will be placed on material competency in plaster and casting, digital fabrication, and performance, providing a foundation for further research-based exploration. This will be augmented by Sculpture electives where students self-select into the areas they determine are most relevant to their artistic practices. 

This course is an opportunity to ask meaningful questions about the world—without always needing definitive answers. Throughout, students will be encouraged to take risks, make connections, and actively shape their educational path and burgeoning artistic practices with a focus on developing their individual voice.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Building upon practices, techniques, and discourses covered in the first semester of the sculpture curriculum, Sophomore Sculpture Studio II will deepen existing fabrication skills while expanding knowledge into the realm of time-based and movement-based technologies and practices. This course encourages students to explore what matters to them and how to express those ideas while they experiment with hybrid and transdisciplinary working methodologies. 

As the semester progresses, assignments will guide students towards independent inquiries, focusing on both refining and expanding the context for their evolving artistic exploration. Readings, discussions, artist lectures, and research will elicit connections between ideas, narratives, histories, and personal work. Emphasis will be placed on material competency in plaster and casting, digital fabrication, and performance, providing a foundation for further research-based exploration. This will be augmented by Sculpture electives where students self-select into the areas they determine are most relevant to their artistic practices. 

This course is an opportunity to ask meaningful questions about the world—without always needing definitive answers. Throughout, students will be encouraged to take risks, make connections, and actively shape their educational path and burgeoning artistic practices with a focus on developing their individual voice.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Join a community of thesis writers, whether as a first-year graduate seeking to unearth a direction for the Master’s written document or as a second-year graduate engaging the completion process. In an atmosphere that allows you to open up, “stretch out” in reflection, and dynamically gather in exchange, this writing-intensive seminar will enable you to explore relevant ideas, themes, core values, and conduct research in support of the inquiry process. Sessions involve scrutinizing various angles of your perspective as an artist/designer and to write from these angles to discover the emerging aspects of solutions that matter. Each class will suggest a specific theme or principle of inflection to precipitate what is needed for the work’s progress. Included will be several forms of writing: narrative essay, poetic formations, lists, annotation, review, extended caption, as well as several levels of research: bibliographic, archival, fieldwork, dialogue, interviews. Emphasis will be on maps of meaning that will be used as a way to further processes of ideation and understanding. At the conclusion of the seminar, you will have a conceptual focus for your thesis that is clearly formulated visually and verbally. The writings and insights from this time can then be used productively to further the breadth and depth of your ideas through open-ended exploration and self-generated work.

The Middle Ages were defined by translation, and at the hub of the interlingual and intercultural networks crisscrossing western Eurasia was the Greek-speaking civilization known today as Byzantium. In this class we approach literature of the medieval millennium (roughly the 5th to the 15th century CE) by focusing on the period's truly global best-sellers: works of fiction, mysticism, folktale, romance, and philosophy that were each translated multiple times from one language to another, and that enjoyed massive popularity in each new cultural setting. Instead of being viewed as an incubator of distinct "national" literatures, the medieval period becomes an opportunity to explore literary forms, themes, and universal human concerns that transcended linguistic, religious, and national borders. Texts studied include both works originally written in Greek as well as others that made their way from Persian, Arabic, Syriac, and Georgian into Greek, and then through Greek into other languages of the Near East and Europe. Readings include but are not limited to: Barlaam and Josaphat; The Book of Syntipas the Philosopher ("the Byzantine Sinbad"); the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius; The Alexander Romance; and John Climacus's Ladder of Divine Ascent. Assessments include a short response paper, midterm examination, and a final research paper.

Elective

This course introduces the students to methods, materials, and manufacturing processes that translate design activity into finished goods. A significant portion of downstream design activity is devoted to manufacturing issues - the techniques by which materials are selected, shaped, and then assembled. Students will be evaluated based upon success of weekly field study research assignments and a final exam.

Enrollment is limited to Junior Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Anyone following contemporary debates in architecture knows that there are as many definitions of architecture's disciplinarity as there are people who attempt to define it. In the current spate of publications on this topic, Mark Jarzombek declares architecture to be a failed discipline; Jane Rendell claims that architecture is a 'subject' subsuming several disciplines; Mark Wigley ruminates upon the prosthetic nature of the discipline to the sciences; Bob Somol and Sarah Whiting attempt to recover a Foucaultian disciplinarity in which norms, principles and traditions are supplanted by performative practice; Akos Moravansky argues that the disciplinarity of architecture resists the discursive approach embodied in post-1968 theory; Keller Easterling seeks the trapdoor into another habit of mind" by eschewing narrow categories of thought for more inclusive ones; Sylvia Lavin uses the analogy of the 'kiss' between an installation and the architecture that houses it as a model of architectural inter-disciplinarity as media interaction; and Hal Foster and Michael Speaks face off on the relative merits of design intelligence and critical distance. How can a student of architecture ever gain a foothold in this complex and confusing debate? At stake in the debates over disciplinarity is the question: how can we identify architecture's categories of knowledge, and how did the categorization of knowledge become a priority? This Disciplinarity seminar will historically situate the circumstances of architecture's emerging disciplinarity, and thematize it through three seemingly disparate but operatively identical lenses: the aesthetic, the historic, and the technological. Although the debates cited above appear unruly at first blush, fundamentally they aggregate around the relative merits of defining disciplinary categories of knowledge either too narrowly or too broadly, focusing either on architecture's autonomy or its extra-disciplinary appropriations. In addition to architecture's various categories of knowledge, the seminar will consider the influence of disciplinarity on our practices, considering how various classifications of architectural knowledge affect its techniques, standards, and formats of dissemination. From its Foucaultian framing to its current incarnations, Disciplinarity will unpack the construction of architecture's disciplinarity, and shed some much-needed light on what it means for architects to be disciplinary.

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

Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)

To effectively address complex problems and work with diverse teams, designers must become skilled at directing their efforts in the service of new outputs and outcomes. This three credit seminar will introduce students to various theoretical and applied frameworks for measurable action. We will investigate how seeking impact shapes design activities, and examine how to use evidence-based practices to assess the effectiveness of our work. The course will read across literature in the social sciences, international development, activism, social-practices, design and business. Students will engage texts with one another in critical discussions and individually through written analysis.

Elective

The second semester is a development of the ideas and work begun in the first. Students are available and pursue active contact with the faculty. Students also attend supplemental department presentations.

Major Requirement | MFA Ceramics

An exploration into form, process, and industry…

Casting is perhaps one of the oldest industrial practices still in use today. The process itself and designing for it have endured from ancient times. The same principles apply - those of draft, parting, flow, and shrinkage. These are the principles that will be covered academically in this studio.

More intuitively, you will investigate form - drawing on history, experience, tactile knowledge, and experience. Putting both academic knowledge and intuitive investigation into practice, you will design and build objects for the industrial cast iron production process. Working within this process will be just as much research, planning and iteration as it will be physical investigation and experimentation of material and form.

Iron will be the material to be cast for reasons of versatility, machinability, established relationships, and primal physical connection. One must not forget that iron is a part of us all. It comes from Space, and there is magic in it... That which comes from the stars runs in our blood, filling our veins. That magic flows within us.

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

This 3-credit course, offered by the Interior Architecture department, will investigate relationships between digital design processes and methods of fabrication using the CNC router. The focus of the course will be on materiality. The weekly fabrication of physical artifacts on the CNC router will be considered the primary means of knowledge acquisition. Tangible output is critical to gaining an understanding of real-world material behaviors and witnessing discrepancies between the digital and material worlds. The course will seek to exploit those discrepancies.

A sequence of three projects will incrementally develop skills with fabrication equipment, design software (Rhino3D/Grasshopper), and CAM software used to program toolpaths (VCarve). Basic software instruction will be given during class sessions. It is expected that students will locate outside tutorials as necessary to further their software knowledge. Project topics include investigating the expressive potentials of toolpaths as surface artifacts, and constructing assemblies that aggregate multiple elements. The final project will be a team collaboration, resulting in a full-scale architectural installation that affects spatial perception.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $40.00

Elective

This course will study the presentation of information in a designed environment: the exhibit. The theme, context, and conditions of this exhibit will be assigned. Study emphasis will be on integrative communication activity of all elements involved, e.g., time, space, movement, color, graphics, 3-D forms, objects, instructions, text, and constructions.

Elective