This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for both jewelry and small objects. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes. Lectures on historical and contemporary jewelry supplement, inform, and inspire students' work.

Elective

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for both jewelry and small objects. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes. Lectures on historical and contemporary jewelry supplement, inform, and inspire students' work.

Elective

Whether you work with pencil and paper or create drawings on the computer, the tools of a designer are all means by which you can define an idea, create a model, and make a finished piece of jewelry. This course begins with a series of design study assignments, in-class lectures, and technical instruction in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Using these tools, students learn the fundamentals of image manipulation, illustration, laser cutting, vector graphics, layering, and graphic editing on the computer. Play and experimentation with materials will be expected and by the end of the course, students will have an understanding of how the use of computers combined with handwork can create exceptional pieces of jewelry.This course will bring technology to the bench.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

Graduate J+M Thesis is a 9-credit course that meets twice a week with two different instructors. Each instructor evaluates students focusing on both studio thesis work and the theoretical concerns of the Graduate Jewelry 2 seminar. Graduate students select two advisors, for their thesis committee with J+M faculty to provide additional insight and support into their thesis work, as well as to foster other professional contacts. The final thesis requirements are a written thesis document, curriculum vitae, artist statement, artist book and professional portfolio. The resulting body of thesis work is featured in the Graduate Thesis Exhibition at the Convention Center in May. It is expected the Graduate J+M Thesis investigates unexplored territory, reveals personal idiosyncrasies and demonstrates a high level of artistic authorship and sophistication.

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

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course utilizes general and specific topoi to critically analyze the field of contemporary jewelry. Students will develop the ability to write and speak with precision and complexity regarding their own work and that of others. In the process, we will create a communal topography generated by a network of inquiry to aid in locating ourselves and objects. Students have significant latitude to incorporate individual interests in written assignments. Themes addressed include but are not limited to: cultural identity, material history, marginalization, and exhibition strategies.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

J+M Senior Seminar serves as a continuum to J+M Junior Seminar. This course focuses on ideas and theories that relate to a professional studio practice in a craft based media or methodology. The information presented in the course will reflect the historical and contemporary development specific to Jewelry + Metalsmithing and its relationship to the field of crafts at large as well as contemporary visual culture. Readings and class discussion will explore critical issues such as the role and responsibility of the artist in today's society, artistic authorship, context and representation, the relationship between the wearer and the audience experience, the body as content and site, etc.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

Spring seminar focuses on research, writing, and presentation as essential skills for both studio and professional practices. Emphasis is placed on the students' ability to locate, examine, and discuss their work within contemporary and historical contexts. Jewelry, along with objects of our discipline, will be considered through a variety of theoretical frameworks and cross-cultural and historical perspectives. Research, and the language that evidences it, is the foundation of this seminar. Various modes of writing are employed to mine, develop, and articulate ideas, and to further refine this information into artist statements, grant proposals, and presentations. Reflective writing will be practiced throughout the term in order to make sense of past work, clarify current work, and to formulate questions and ideas for work in the future. The term builds towards and culminates with a formal artist presentation. This is an opportunity to carefully consider and craft the language and the photographic representation that supports your work. The goal is to bring all of these things into alignment and to explore the symbiotic and poetic relationships between them.

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

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

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

This course is devoted to developing one's abilities to write and speak with precision and complexity, about one's own work and the work of others. We will examine trends and movements in contemporary art through the lens of critical theory. We will investigate what contemporary art can tell us about the relationships between history, images, and visual culture, subsequently developing the skills necessary to write about your work, what it articulates and argues, and the ideas and traditions from which it emerges. Each term will identify and address a new set of themes relevant to course content.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

The fall seminar concentrates on critical reading as an opportunity to locate, examine, and discuss your work within a broader field of inquiry. The additional objectives are to increase critical thinking, hone reading and writing skills, expand vocabulary, and build presentation skills. Woven into all of this is the understanding that research can be a valuable, if not essential, component of making - each informing and enriching the other. The focus of the spring seminar shifts to writing and presentation as an integral part of both studio and professional practice. Each spring brings a new team of guest instructors who introduce various modes of writing as a means to mine, develop and articulate ideas in a concise and authentic manner, and, to further hone that information into artist statements, written theses, and public presentations. Throughout the term writing will be the vehicle in which to move between private and public realms. This journey will begin with 'automatic writings' and culminate with your public artist presentations.

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

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In this studio, first-year graduates begin to recognize and develop personal areas of interest. Direction is given to bring structure to the exploration of various processes, materials, concepts, and formats. Weekly individual meetings focus on student's progress and response to assignments, as well as independent research.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In Graduate Jewelry 2, first-year graduates hone in on recognized personal areas of interest specific to jewelry from the Fall semester. Students are encouraged to embrace new studio habits in order for individualized working methodologies to become apparent. Faculty, work with students, to foster the strengths of their natural proclivities and problem-solve areas of personal sabotage. Critical to the success of this course, it is essential that first year students demonstrate a high level of self-direction, curiosity, and drive reflected through their bench work and independent research. Course content continues to focus around jewelry's power and potential as a platform and catalyst for dialogue.

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

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In this studio course, second-year students identify and pursue personally driven research. Weekly individual meetings and studio visits take place with the instructor, and also with scheduled first-year and second-year group critiques. Students are required to maintain a continuous record of their research and development through drawings, writings, samples, models, etc. Active participation in group discussions and critiques is mandatory.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for jewelry. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes.

Elective

This history of architecture course, co-taught by an architectural historian and an architect, introduces key ideas, forces, and techniques that have shaped world architecture through the ages prior to the modern period. The course is based on critical categories, ranging from indigenous and vernacular architecture, to technology, culture, and representation. The lectures and discussions present systems of thought, practice and organization, emphasizing both historical and global interconnectedness, and critical architectural differences and anomalies. Each topic will be presented through case studies accompanied by relevant texts. The students will be expected to engage in the discussion groups, prepare material for these discussions, write about, and be examined on the topics.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture, MArch: Architecture (3yr)

This history of architecture course, co-taught by an architectural historian and an architect, introduces key ideas, forces, and techniques that have shaped world architecture through the ages prior to the modern period. The course is based on critical categories, ranging from indigenous and vernacular architecture, to technology, culture, and representation. The lectures and discussions present systems of thought, practice and organization, emphasizing both historical and global interconnectedness, and critical architectural differences and anomalies. Each topic will be presented through case studies accompanied by relevant texts. The students will be expected to engage in the discussion groups, prepare material for these discussions, write about, and be examined on the topics.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture, MArch: Architecture (3yr)

Since its chance discovery millennia ago, glass has developed into an integral and ubiquitous part of daily life. Through lectures, student presentations and field trips to the RISD museum and/or local glass studios, this course is designed to introduce students to the various ways this quixotic material has been made, used, and thought about across time. This survey course employs a chronological format and methodologies of art history, history of science, and material culture to investigate the range of glass objects, formulae, and production methods in use since glass' earliest manufacture through the mid-twentieth century. We will also examine the broader social and cultural contexts in which glass was made and explore the following themes as they relate to the history of glass: mimesis, clarity, innovation, reflection, light, and science.

Major Requirement | BFA Glass

This course is an historical and critical study of the work of selected masters of animated film. A spectrum of animated film techniques, styles, national schools, etc., will be presented. The course will cover the period from the pre-Lumiere epoch to the end of the 1970's. The relationships between animated film and other visual art forms will also be studied.

Elective

This course, taught by a working professional actor/director with experience in stage, radio, tv and film, is centered on the belief that speaking skillfully in public is a way to self-discovery, self-improvement and self-confidence. It is also a tenet of this course that skillful public speaking is a fundamental element of a humane society. Students will deliver five major speeches, including self-written speeches of introduction, ceremonial speeches, informative speeches and persuasive speeches. The oral interpretation of literature will also be explored. Each class meeting will require every student's speaking participation in order to develop skills in the areas of voice, diction, managing speech anxiety, research and organization, use of microphones and video, and use of visual aids. The latter phase of this course will focus on concentration, credibility, and familiarity with argument, debate and parliamentary procedure. Attendance at each class is vital and mandatory; furthermore, students will be required to dress up for their presentations.

Elective

This course will examine personalities working in Europe and in North America as well as non-western regions in the period 1400 to 2009. Areas of study will include an examination of interior architecture related issues that will be studied in the context of their social, political, technological, and economic circumstances, as they pertain to the design culture of the period. Special emphasis will be given to interior additions and renovations and other interventions. Other areas of study will include the development of architectural drawing, and the way in which designs often evolved through committees, or ongoing consultations among patrons, designers, administrators, and scholars. Attention will also be given to design theory, and the doctrines relating to site, orientation, proportion, decorum, and the commercial design market. A general background in the history of art and design is desirable but not mandatory.

Open to Sophomore Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies