This course approaches the development of machine knit fabrics and forms as one process, where aspects of form are developed along-side fabric patterns and structures. Students learn advanced construction techniques and knit structure drafting and shaping, in order to further develop their design processes and ideas for knits. Emphasis is placed on experimentation, careful consideration of materials, and research. Ideas about color, pattern, texture, drape, concept and working large scale are explored. Fully-fashioned garments are the primary three-dimensional forms to which students apply their ideas. Throughout the semester, students bring their experience of garment building and shaping, their range of knitting skills and techniques, and their ability to express ideas in knitting to a higher level of resolution. Hand knitting, embellishment, dyeing, printing, finishing, felting and other processes are encouraged and can be integrated into the fabric design and construction.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4820 and TEXT-4826

Elective

The course continues an established collaborative project between RISD and MIT, focused on the history of and recent advances in textile design and technology. Its goal is to introduce students from each institution to knowledge outside their primary field, and clarify the connections between them. RISD students participating in the class will bring their specific knowledge of woven and knitted fabrics and design fundamentals into group discussions and learn new skills in programming, physical computing and design of advanced fabrics. Participants will have opportunities to contribute to ongoing collaboration between the departments. 

The course trajectory will progress along two lines of inquiry: computation and fabrics. Providing a perspective on the rich heritage of fibers and fabrics on the one hand and the emergence of digital logic, electronic systems, and the role of software on the other. We will explore and develop appreciation for the design and engineering degrees of freedom in fiber and fabric materials as well as in circuits and software. The course is a first of its kind, setting the stage for the future of fabrics as computational environments, new products and new business models.

Elective

This project represents the culmination of a student's study in the Graduate Program. The design projects can encompass various textile fields in the areas of interior or apparel textiles. A specific architectural context, an area of apparel design, an investigation of a particular technique, or a visual design sensibility and language can provide a framework for the project. The work, executed using any established textile techniques or technique that a student has developed, should manifest advanced original concepts, high quality of execution, and a strong commitment to the field. Written documentation and analysis of the sources of the work, how it relates to the textiles tradition or larger field of art and design, and of the development of the project should accompany the studio work.

Estimated Cost of Materials: varies depending on student projects.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

This advanced knitting course investigates the design and creation of knit fabrics using specialized software and a computerized, industrial knitting machine. Students deepen their understanding of a wide range of knit constructions, learn new structures, and experience a different method of creating knit fabric and forms through weekly sampling work and then a final project that is a collection of fabrics for interior or apparel applications, or art pieces. The intended end use will guide students' pattern and material studies. Students are introduced to the knitting industry and exciting examples of contemporary and historical knitting and encouraged to forge new paths in the medium.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4832 and TEXT-4826.

Elective

In this course you will learn about the material properties and design possibilities of fiber. We will explore how sustainable design practices are integral to the eventual end use of textiles, be it as yardage, fully fashioned garments, interior applications, structural use, or sculptural material. Via case studies from regional and international sustainable designers, we will investigate fibers. As a guidepost for our syllabus we will learn about the 17 sustainability goals articulated by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. With our focus on the textile industry, this course will introduce the theory and practice of circular design, regenerative agriculture, TEK, biomaterials, and manufacturing processes with reduced environmental impacts. Lectures and readings will be enlivened with in-class experimentation, guest speakers, weekly design assignments, and a materials journal. Over the semester we will investigate opportunities and solutions for creating art with a more positive legacy for our planet.

Elective

This course focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging market, from the most innovative to the traditional, this course aims at providing an awareness of how one's own work fits into this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.

This course is a requirement for second-year Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

This course continues from Textile Seminar I and focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging textile market, from traditional work to the most highly innovative, this course aims to provide an awareness of how one's personal expression fits in to this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

This is a required senior-level studio taken in the semester prior to the Degree Project. Emphasis is placed on the development and definition of individual projects within the chosen context—Fine Art or Design—with a rigorous focus on concept development. Students' work may range from installations to two-dimensional pieces and fabric collections, utilizing various techniques and materials, including weaving, printing, knitting, or other improvised construction methods.

Estimated Cost of Materials: varies by individual project.

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

The student's project, designed in consultation with the faculty, can be in one of the textile areas or in combination with other disciplines at the school. The project, which will be evaluated by the faculty and visiting critics at the end of the semester, can entail a collection of designs or fine arts work representing the current conclusive state of student's work or an investigation of a new area. The level of concepts, skills, and commitment constitute a major part of the criteria in the evaluation of the work.

Mid-year graduates should seek department permission to fulfill 9 credits in Fall and Wintersession.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies based on use of advanced equipment; additional fees may incur.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This written portion of the Thesis Project helps students to analyze their working process and its results, as well as inform future work. While the length and style of the written thesis may vary, the paper should contain: an identification of the project goals and an analysis of the sources of inspiration; the context in which the work fits into the textile area and larger field of art and design; a description of the working process, techniques, and materials used and their connection to application and end use; and finally, an evaluation of the project. Accompanying the paper will be visual documentation of the project.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

Rugs and floor-coverings from different counties and cultures, both historical and contemporary, will be shown as examples of how material and design are developed within a cultural and functional context. This will serve as a foundation for students to develop their own vision and sources of inspiration. Each student will design and execute a woven rug intended for a specific use and/or space. Students will learn to set up the loom and will experiment with a variety of rugmaking techniques for both flat and pile surfaces. Exploration with a wide range of materials, from wool to reeds to plastics, are encouraged to find new solutions for each project. Special yarn dyeing techniques will be taught as a way to expand the range of color effects.

Elective

Rugs and floor-coverings from different counties and cultures, both historical and contemporary, will be shown as examples of how material and design are developed within a cultural and functional context. This will serve as a foundation for students to develop their own vision and sources of inspiration. Each student will design and execute a woven rug intended for a specific use and/or space. Students will learn to set up the loom and will experiment with a variety of rugmaking techniques for both flat and pile surfaces. Exploration with a wide range of materials, from wool to reeds to plastics, are encouraged to find new solutions for each project. Special yarn dyeing techniques will be taught as a way to expand the range of color effects.

Elective

Starting with making their own screens, students in this introductory course will learn various stencil making and printing of repeats using water based dyes and pigments. In addition to considering the screen a tool merely to reproduce an existing design from paper, students are encouraged to think of it as a flexible means for creating totally new designs through experimentation at the print table.

Elective

Students work independently to develop ideas, materials and processes in preparation for the spring semester degree and thesis projects. The work is self initiated and self directed. Students meet as a group on a weekly basis.

Please contact the department for permission to register. Enrollment is limited to Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA, MFA Textiles

Transitional spaces are areas that exist between different environments, states, or land uses. Dynamic and liminal, they are shaped by a diverse array of factors, from climate change to gentrification and urban redevelopment. In this 4-week course, students will explore various transitional spaces in Mexico City and its surroundings to create a series of experimental short films that reflect on the evolving nature of these environments, their impact on local communities, and the broader socio-environmental phenomena at play. Simultaneously, they will engage in critical thinking about the changing urban landscape by engaging with readings and films dealing with questions of borders, Third Spaces, human-nonhuman interaction, colonial histories of photography and filmmaking, capitalist and decolonial ideas of time and space, nature of being, and cyborg and other feminist ontologies. 

Born and raised in Mexico City, Associate Professor of Design (EFS) Adela Goldbard has deep roots in the city's artistic landscape. Having developed her career in this vibrant metropolis where she continues to actively engage with its contemporary arts community, institutions, and initiatives. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at prominent venues and galleries across the city, including Casa del Lago, Centro de la Imagen, Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, and Galería Enrique Guerrero. Goldbard’s extensive connections with artists, scholars, curators, gallerists, and critics in Mexico City will be invaluable for the proposed course, as many would be eager to contribute to its success. The co-teaching by Ijlal Muzaffar will prove invaluable for exploring how change is imagined, controlled and subverted in peripheral spaces. Ijlal holds a PhD in architectural history of modernism in the Global South and has published extensively on politics of Third World development and globalization in the post WWII era. His recent book, Modernism’s Magical Hat: Architecture and the Illusion of Development without Capital (University of Texas Press, 2024) charts how different modes and mediums of imagining change, from architectural design to film and photography, make only certain ways of imagining the past and the future appear natural and viable while erasing all others.

This course is a co-requisite. Students must also register for IDISC 1565 - *MEXICO: MEXICO CITY: EXPERIMENTAL FILMMAKING AS RESEARCH - SENSING TRADITIONAL SPACES.

Registration is not available in Workday. All students are required to remain in good academic standing in order to participate in the Wintersession travel course/studio. A minimum GPA of 2.50 is required. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course. Also in cases where Wintersession travel courses and studios do not reach student capacity, the course may be cancelled after the last day of Wintersession travel course registration. As such, all students are advised not to purchase flights for participation in Wintersession travel courses until the course is confirmed to run, which happens within the week after the final Wintersession travel course registration period.

Elective

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA