Families Weekend
Held in October, our annual families event offers visitors abundant chances to connect with students, faculty and staff, and to explore studios and galleries. Throughout Families Weekend you’ll experience what makes RISD so special.
A lively fall tradition
Families Weekend events invite parents to see studios up close, speak with faculty, attend demos and exhibitions, and visit with their students. RISD Craft, a juried sale that takes place on Saturday, brings people together to showcase what’s happening at RISD.
We reserve a limited number of rooms at nearby hotels, motels and B&Bs for guests attending Families Weekend. Accommodations in the area fill up fast, so be sure to book in advance via our campus travel portal.
October 18–20, 2024
All families are welcome to join us on campus this October for a fun, activity-filled weekend. From getting a look inside our studios and sharing a meal at The Met to learning about student and family resources and more, this is a unique opportunity to experience life at RISD firsthand.
Keep an eye out for details, including a schedule of events and registration, coming later this summer.
2024 Schedule
October 18
Friday Events
12–4 pm
RISD Museum Sketching Sessions
Location: RISD Museum, 20 N. Main Street
12:30–4:30 pm
Office Hours at Financial Aid, Registrar's Office and Career Services
Location: 20 Washington Place
1–2:30 pm
Family Photos
Location: Chace Center Lobby
2:30–4 pm
Stick It Together: A Collage Workshop
Create your own compositions from vinyl letters, colorful tape, photos, text, and paper scraps.
GD Commons. 31 Canal Street, Providence RI, 02903
3–4 pm
Gallery Talk at the RISD Museum: Listen!
Location: RISD Museum, 20 N. Main Street
4–5 pm
Inside the Studio Panel
Guest speaker: Clement Valla, Professor of Design and Dean, Division of Experimental and Foundation Studies Location: Metcalf Auditorium, RISD Museum, 20 N. Main Street
6:15 pm
Brown RISD Hillel Shabbat Dinner
Brown RISD Hillel welcomes all families to join them for a special Families Weekend Shabbat Dinner. Families are invited to services at 6:15 pm followed by dinner at 7:30 pm. If you would like to attend the dinner, please lease rsvp here.
Location: Brown RISD Hillel, 80 Brown Street, Providence, RI 02906
October 19
Saturday Events
10:30–11:30 am
Outside the Studio Panel
Guest speakers: Sara Rothenberger, Associate Dean of Students, and Ray Quirolgico, Vice President, Student Life
Location: Metcalf Auditorium, RISD Museum 20 N Main Street
10 am–2 pm
Family Dining at The Met
Location: The Met Dining Hall, 30 Waterman Street
10 am–12:30 pm
Hands-on session: Silk Screening with Maxime Jean Lefebvre
Location: Benson Hall, Rm 306, 235 Benefit Street
10 am–2 pm
Fleet Library at RISD Annual Book Sale
Location: 15 Westminster Street
10 am–4 pm
RISD Craft
Location: Benefit Street, between Waterman and College Streets
10 am–5 pm
Open Studios
Studio locations and times vary. Please see the full schedule below.
12–4 pm
RISD Museum Sketching Sessions
Location: RISD Museum, 20 N. Main Street
1–2 pm
Putting the Studio into Practice: An Alumni Panel.
Guest speakers: Manan Narang MFA 18 Furniture Design, Lindy McDonough 08 Industrial Design and Jordan Seaberry 14 Painting.
Location: Metcalf Auditorium, RISD Museum, 20 N. Main Street.
1–3 pm
Drop-in Letterpress Printing Demonstration
Location: RISD Design Center, Rm 301, 30 N. Main Street, 02903
1–4 pm
Nature Lab Open House
Location: 13 Waterman Street
2–4 pm
Family Photos
Location: Chace Center Lobby
3–4 pm
Life After the Studio: A Career Services Presentation
Location: Metcalf Auditorium, RISD Museum 20 N Main Street
4–5 pm
RISD Galleries & Exhibitions Tour
Various locations
5:45–7 pm
Families Reception with RISD President Crystal Williams
Location: Grand Gallery, RISD Museum, 224 Benefit Street
October 20
Sunday Events
10 am
Farewell Brunch at The Met
Location: The Met Dining Hall, 30 Waterman Street
Families Weekend Open Studios
Get a peek inside our studios during families weekend.
October 19
Open Studios
Open studio times vary, but many take place from 11 am through 2 pm. Please see details below. Please note that these offerings are subject to change.
APPAREL DESIGN
Canal Street Studios, 189 Canal Street
11 am–12 pm
Gwen van den Eijnde, Department Head, will be present to give a tour of the Apparel building
11 am–2 pm
Sarah Guérin BArch 99 will be present and give a demonstration in Apparel.
Time to be announced
Knitting demonstration by Ji-Hu Park 25 AP
Department representatives Liam Rounds and Minwoo Oh will be present to usher guests.
ARCHITECTURE
Bayard Ewing Building (BEB), 231 South Main Street
11 am–2 pm
Open Studios.
National Organization of Minority Architects and American Institute of Architecture Students (NOMAS/AIAS) led building tours.
Gallery will be set up to accommodate student’s thesis project ideas.
FILM/ANIMATION/VIDEO
RISD Auditorium, 17 Canal Walk
7–9 pm
FAV is hosting activities in the Blue studios, room 125, where students are screening past junior/senior shows on the projector, doing a Bolex & DSLR camera demo, interactive open media projection, and a showcase of the stop motion room (Rm 126). Students will also offer mini tours of the Auditorium building and Market House throughout the event.
FURNITURE
Metcalf Building Alley, 7 North Main Street
11 am–2 pm
Steam Bending Demonstration
GLASS
Metcalf Building, 14 North Main Street
10 am–2 pm
Ashley Harris MFA 21 GL and Karin Forslund MFA 19 GL demonstrating various hot glass techniques in Metcalf 411 (Glass Hot Shop)
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Design Center, 31 Canal Walk
11 am–2 pm
Lois Harada 10 PR, demo of letterpress in the TYPE SHOP (DC301)
Woods-Gerry House, 62 Prospect Street
10 am–5 pm
Graphic Design Triennial Exhibition
ILLUSTRATION
Weybosset Street Studios, 159 Weybosset Street
10 am–3:30 pm
Room 305
Associate Professor Jaleen Grove will be hosting a screening of the Norman Rockwell Museum's live online symposium on MAD Magazine; drop-ins welcome, and will have a large display of historic illustrated magazines, books and ephemera; and examples of students' research posters. She will also show some Illustration Studies research projects and publications of her own.
Illustration Studies Building (ISB), 55 Canal Walk
11 am–2 pm
Room 205
Figure Drawing Workshop
This workshop led by Associate Professor Nicholas Palermo is designed to help participants at any level of ability and can be applied to drawing any subject in the visible world. We will begin with a slide lecture that reveals the classic principles of drawing as found in Western master drawings from the 16th through the 21st centuries.
This will be followed by a figure drawing demonstration showing precisely how to implement the principles and procedural steps of visual investigation shown in the master drawings.
Finally, participants will have the option to practice drawing the figure or observe others drawing. Feedback with one-on-one demonstrations will be offered to reinforce effective implementation of the principles introduced earlier in the workshop.
12–5 pm
ISB Gallery
Illustration Department Annual Faculty Exhibition
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Industrial Design (ID) Building, 161 South Main Street
11 am–2 pm
ID will have all shops open for visitors with monitors available to share samples of student projects. Department tours will be available and course descriptions will be posted in studios for people to contextualize the work.
There will be demos in the Electronics Lab as well as Digital Fabrication demos in the 3rd floor CAD Lab.
ID gallery will have an exhibition available for viewing, “How We Work: Speculative Futures”. Student work from ID Advanced Design Studio taught by Hannah Chung and Cutter Hutton 99 ID.
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
Bayard Ewing Building (BEB), 231 South Main Street
11 am–4 pm
Open Studios on the sixth floor.
JEWELRY + METALSMITHING
Metcalf Building, 14 North Main Street
11 am–2 pm
J+M Metals Club plans to do a demonstration and there will be student work up in the hallway.
PAINTING
Memorial Hall, 226 Benefit Street
10 am–4 pm
Gallery open to the public with the “Back Again” faculty show
Sophomore painting a day show which includes work by senior sculpture students.
12–4 pm
Printmaking activity mono printing utilizing oil paints and ink to make one of a kind prints
PHOTO
Illustration Studies Building (ISB), 55 Canal Walk
12–4 pm
Giant Pneuhaus Camera Obscura with Erik Gould, ISB Lot
PRINTMAKING
Benson Hall, 235 Benefit Street
11 am–1 pm
2nd Floor, Room 206
Monotype and Color Workshop
In this workshop Oded Daniely 25 will focus on monotypes and oil-based painting through the printing process. In the shop every participant will produce a series of monotypes, he will use different tools such as brushes, brayers, and alternative materials for the painting process. Each one will develop his prints with special attributes, gestures, and a special color palette.
Additionally, Fine Art Prints and Merch made by students from the printmaking department will be available for purchase. Cash or Online payments are accepted. Such as Venmo and PayPal
TEXTILES
Metcalf Building, 14 North Main Street
12–2 pm
Jacquard machine demonstration
College Building, 2 College Street
12–2 pm
Textile department tours and student artwork
October 19
Graduate Studies Open Studios
1–4 pm
Graduate students will be present in their studios throughout the duration of Open Studios. Below is a breakdown of the buildings and the graduate departments they house.
ARCHITECTURE
Bayard Ewing Building (BEB), 231 South Main Street
JEWELRY & METALSMITHING
CERAMICS
FURNITURE
Metcalf Building, 14 North Main Street
DOWNTOWN OPEN STUDIOS
Weybosset Street Studios, 159 Weybosset Street
2nd Floor: Landscape Architecture
4th Floor: Illustration
RISD Center for Integrative Technologies (CIT), 169 Weybosset St
6th Floor: Interior Architecture
5th Floor: Graphic Design, Textiles
4th Floor: Digital + Media
3rd Floor: Interior Architecture
2nd Floor: Industrial Design
Fletcher Building, 212 Union St
6th Floor: Photography, Sculpture
5th Floor: Glass, Printmaking, Sculpture
4th Floor: Glass, Printmaking, Sculpture
3rd Floor: Painting
2nd Floor: Painting, Printmaking
Please note that some studios are mixed across floors
Contact us
Alumni and Family Relations is here to help you navigate your student's RISD experience. Email us at families@risd.edu or give us a call at 401 454-6656.