The annual RISD Careers event helps graduating students navigate the fine arts ecosystem.
Graduating RISD Students Garner Professional Advice at Fine Arts Portfolio Review 2026
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“I’m more interested in clarity of vision, curiosity, and commitment to process than technical perfection,” says Executive Director and Chief Curator Ysabel Pinyol Blasi of the nonprofit, New Jersey-based Monira Foundation. “I also pay close attention to how artists speak about their practices. The ability to articulate connections between research, material, and intention can reveal a lot about how deeply someone is engaging with their own work.”
Pinyol Blasi is discussing this spring’s Fine Arts Portfolio Review at RISD. Organized by RISD Careers, the annual event brings graduating students together with gallerists, curators, and artist residency managers looking for new talent.
“The Fine Arts Portfolio Review is always an exciting event,” says RISD Careers Associate Director Susan Andersen. “Participating students are on the threshold of their career journeys, and their meetings with reviewers help to shape their paths forward and build a network of ongoing connections and opportunities.”
The Monira Foundation was one of over 50 organizations to take part in this year’s event. Approximately 125 graduate and undergraduate students participated as well, including Sculpture MFA Pablo Cazares MFA 26 SC, who is looking for artist residencies and gallery connections.
One of the reviewers he spoke with gave him useful advice about showing sculpture. “She said that galleries, museums, and buyers appreciate boundaries—knowing where an object ends,” Cazares recalls. “Some of my pieces have sand spilling on the floor, or they disintegrate over time, and that’s part of the concept. In art school, we’re breaking those boundaries on purpose, but sometimes we lose track of where they were in the first place.”
“I found the Fine Arts Portfolio Review to be extremely useful,” Cazares adds. “It’s a great way to balance out really intense in-your-head studio practice—to come up for air for a bit and then dive back in.”
Fellow grad student Hanyi Wang MFA 26 DM is also applying to artist residencies for the coming year as well as jobs and internships working with practicing artists. “The nature of my work is tricky to convey through digital images because it’s very conceptual,” says the Digital + Media grad. “The reviewers I met with liked the images and detailed documentation in my online portfolio, but they advised me to write short descriptions explaining the concepts behind the work.”
“I’ve been learning a lot about the different paths FAV alums take and realizing that there’s no one correct way.”
Filmmaker Zoe Napurano 26 FAV says that her work is best presented using the short reels she has put together—one for her animation work and one featuring live-action film clips. She met with Liz Ferrill of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado with specific questions about whether filmmakers are a good fit for the artist residency program.
“Sourcing connections for film is different than finding paths for other kinds of art and design,” Napurano explains. “That’s especially true for the type of filmmaking RISD’s Film/Animation/Video department fosters: it shapes a director’s voice rather than preparing you for specific jobs in the film industry.”
After speaking with Ferrill, Napurano decided that such artist residencies could indeed be in her wheelhouse, and the conversation opened her up to looking at other residencies as part of her job search. “I’ve been learning a lot about the different paths FAV alums take and realizing that there’s no one correct way,” she adds.
Napurano says that she’s planning to stay in New England right after Commencement but will eventually go wherever the work is. According to portfolio reviewer Emily Chaplain of commercial printmaking workshop and gallery Pace Prints in New York City, the choice is clear for fine artists. “New York is the center of the art world,” she says. “I’m always amazed by how many art-world jobs are here. It’s a great place to meet people and build relationships.”
“The Career Center has helped me with everything... and I feel really solid applying for jobs and residencies.”
Textiles MFA Jenny Richie MFA 26 TX understands the importance of making connections and is planning to go further afield after graduating: to the Atacama desert in Chile. “North America sends a lot of textile waste to Chile,” the sustainability-focused artist explains. “Most of it gets dumped in the desert, and there are mountains of it! I’m doing an artist residency down there to work with local organizations trying to clean it up.”
Richie is hoping to teach in future and says that the support she has received from RISD is invaluable. “The Career Center has helped me with everything: my portfolio, my website, my artist statement, my CV,” she notes. “I feel really solid applying for jobs and residencies.”
Napurano agrees, adding, “I would definitely recommend portfolio reviews, especially for seniors. It makes sense to gather as much knowledge as possible about what opportunities are out there.”
Simone Solondz / top image: “Cardoon” by Hanyi Wang
June 22, 2026
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