Faculty Stories

black and red exhibition poster
Echoes of Jim Crow

An interactive on-campus exhibition brings to life the civil rights movement and ongoing struggle against racism and segregation in the US.

Portrait of RISD faculty member Katia Zolotovsky
Designing with Living Systems

New Assistant Professor Katia Zolotovsky shares her passion for biodesign with RISD students.

the logo for the radio station WBUR
Chris Taylor’s Hyperrealistic Glass Creations

Faculty member Chris Taylor MFA 02 GL speaks with WBUR about his work and experience on the Netflix reality series Blown Away.

SEI Faculty Fellow Ernest A. Bryant III leads a virtual workshop digitally inhabiting a bronze head from Ife, 2020
​Breaking with Convention

SEI Faculty Fellow Ernest A. Bryant III challenges students to find new meaning in the images that surround all of us.

Wall of plants
New Professorship in Sustainability

A generous gift helps RISD bring art and design to bear on the future of the planet.

Portrait of a Boy (detail), a 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting from the RISD Museum’s collection
Recasting the Dutch Golden Age

SEI Fellow Jane’a Johnson studies violence, visual culture and how race is reflected in archives and museums.

Photograph of a stream by Associate Professor Jennifer Prewitt-Freilino
Positive Psychology

Students in a liberal arts class developed by Associate Professor Jennifer Prewitt-Freilino practice techniques for improving well-being and building resilience.

Detail from a still life in progress by first-year student Suwen Han 24 EFS
Still Life with Zoom

Faculty member Claudia Bitran inspires students in her virtual painting class to take risks and mix mediums.

Graffiti that reads "Decolonize"
Decolonizing Pedagogies at RISD

Faculty, curators and librarians come together for a semester-long seminar on decolonization that builds on the institution’s commitment to advancing social equity and inclusion.