In Junior Research Studio students will be guided through a series of experiences and encounters in the community, at large that help them understand the local manifestations of larger systems. Along the way, we will ask questions and learn inquiry methods that enable an understanding of how these encounters, the conversations they spawn, and assigned readings we take on help anchor, shape, and guide the aesthetic, material, and media choices we make in our artwork. A continuation of the use of research methods in the context of a studio setting is exercised individually and in groups. Reflection is used as a tool for development. Students are challenged to explore relationships between chosen materials, subject matter, processes, and display in order to establish research practices that help them make the work they want to make.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Sculpture Seminar II: Visual and Critical Literacies is the third sequential course in the Sculpture curriculum centered on research and coordinated with the content of the major studio courses. These research courses are designed to excite student learning through the practice of critical and engaged pedagogy in art history, material histories, research methods, representation, and what “counts” as artist research. Course content has been selected precisely to support the understanding of how critical literacy impacts a creative practice. De-material practices like reading, thinking, moving, and speaking can merge with, bend around, and twist through material practices.

Sculpture Seminar II: Visual and Critical Literacies is an intermediary level course which follows Junior Research Studio where students have learned about field research and the local manifestations of larger systems. The design of this seminar is to facilitate and support the study of themes relevant to art practices and conversations today. Through a series of readings, films, classroom discussion, group, and independent work, students learn to contextualize myriad discourses using the frames of art history, critical theory, philosophy, ethics, and politics. In this studio-centered seminar, students will develop critical literacy that is applicable to their working practices and the attendant process of using materials to make meaning. This course supports discourse around the formation of the artist in an effort to figure out meaningful strategies for the development and maintenance of sustainable artistic and intellectual practices.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Sculpture Seminar II: Visual and Critical Literacies is the third sequential course in the Sculpture curriculum centered on research and coordinated with the content of the major studio courses. These research courses are designed to excite student learning through the practice of critical and engaged pedagogy in art history, material histories, research methods, representation, and what “counts” as artist research. Course content has been selected precisely to support the understanding of how critical literacy impacts a creative practice. De-material practices like reading, thinking, moving, and speaking can merge with, bend around, and twist through material practices.

Sculpture Seminar II: Visual and Critical Literacies is an intermediary level course which follows Junior Research Studio where students have learned about field research and the local manifestations of larger systems. The design of this seminar is to facilitate and support the study of themes relevant to art practices and conversations today. Through a series of readings, films, classroom discussion, group, and independent work, students learn to contextualize myriad discourses using the frames of art history, critical theory, philosophy, ethics, and politics. In this studio-centered seminar, students will develop critical literacy that is applicable to their working practices and the attendant process of using materials to make meaning. This course supports discourse around the formation of the artist in an effort to figure out meaningful strategies for the development and maintenance of sustainable artistic and intellectual practices.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

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

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

This interdisciplinary studio-seminar explores artistic practice beyond traditional exhibition spaces, focusing on public art as a collaborative, site-responsive, and audience-driven form. Drawing from socially engaged practices and ambitious public commissions, students will examine how artists, designers, and curators build careers that engage broad publics, with an emphasis on imagining and shaping more just, sustainable, and future-oriented civic spaces.

Developed in partnership with the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, the course invites students to develop public art projects that may be realized on the Greenway at the culmination of the semester. Students will draw inspiration from local contexts, case studies, historical precedents, and dialogue with guest artists and curators. These projects provide hands-on experience with the full lifecycle of public work—from concept through fabrication and presentation.

Course topics include proposal development, artist selection processes, fabrication, project management, stakeholder engagement, and public art administration, with attention to working with civic partners, navigating approvals, and designing for durability, safety, and public interaction. Using Providence and Boston as living laboratories, students will engage with sites, institutions, and collaborators, including the Greenway’s curatorial and production teams.

Co-taught by Katherine Cooper (Director of Academic and Creative Partnerships at RISD) and Audrey Lopez, Director & Curator of Public Art at the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, the course emphasizes contextually grounded, socially engaged work and offers an alternative to the commercial gallery pathway, encouraging students to develop practices aligned with their own values.

Note: While the course focuses on proposal development and prototyping, a select group of students will be invited to further develop and realize their projects for potential installation on the Greenway in 2027.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

This course is open to graduate students only. Please contact the instructor for permission to register.

Elective