Rhode Island School of Design’s 2014 'Annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition' to Open at the Rhode Island Convention Center on May 16

The thesis work of 173 students completing graduate degrees from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) will be on display in RISD’s 2014 Annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition at the Rhode Island Convention Center from May 16 – 31, 2014. The exhibition includes work by graduate students in Architecture, Ceramics, Digital + Media, Furniture Design, Glass, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture, Jewelry + Metalsmithing, Landscape Architecture, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture and Textiles.

The exhibition, located in Hall A of the Convention Center in downcity Providence is free and open to the public daily from 12-5 pm (9:30-6 pm on May 31, the day of RISD’s Commencement), with a public opening reception on May 15 from 6-8 pm.

The work selected represents the culmination of each student’s experience in RISD’s dynamic and diverse graduate programs. The 28,000-square-foot space will be custom-constructed, with more than 1,500 linear feet of walls forming a network of smaller galleries. This arrangement provides students generous space, allowing each the opportunity to showcase multiple pieces, or large installations from their individual thesis work – the results of two or three years of research, experimentation, critical thinking and production.

An online gallery featuring images and statements of students' final thesis projects, enabling viewers to gain insight into the thinking and process behind the work. The portfolio section will go live in May at www.risd.edu/thesis

A selection of work by second-year graduate students will also be showing at Sol Koffler Graduate Student Gallery at 169 Weybosset Street. The installation will open to the public on May 30 at noon and will remain on view through June 1 from 12-8PM.

About RISD’s Graduate Programs

The Division of Graduate Studies oversees RISD’s 22 master’s programs in 16 disciplines in the fine arts, architecture, design, digital media, and art education, and works to support a dynamic and interdisciplinary culture of advanced research, scholarship and critical making.

RISD offers courses and research opportunities for students to clarify their ideas, develop their work and deepen their commitment to creative practice. Graduate study at RISD also offers a community – one in which students care about each other and for each other’s work and development as artists and designers. This can be found both in the studio and classroom, but also in the myriad ways that graduate students take on leadership roles – in student government, in collaborative publications and projects, in research and as curators of exhibitions in the Gelman or Sol Koffler galleries.

Working with dedicated and accomplished teachers, visiting artists, designers, scholars and extremely perceptive peers,students are challenged and inspired by the questions involved in creating and analyzing new work. Students are encouraged to embrace the compelling dimensions and complex pleasures of art and labor, conviction and doubt that stimulate adaptive, proactive practices.

Graduate study at RISD is invigorating, challenging and demanding. It requires a deep commitment, the willingness to take risks and an openness to give and take. Through the work done here, students broaden their ideas and confirm their commitment to pursuing consequential work that affirms why art, design and culture do, indeed, matter to us all.

To learn more, visit: http://www.risd.edu/Academics/Graduate_Studies/

RISD’s graduate programs were ranked #1 in the nation in the recent U.S. News and World Report’s 2012 rankings of the best graduate schools for fine arts and design. The magazine collected data from more than 220 graduate programs to compile its findings.