RISD Students Tap into Creative Communities at Fine Arts Portfolio Review 2025

In late April as RISD’s spring semester was drawing to a close, many students preparing to graduate with degrees in the fine arts participated in the Fine Arts Portfolio Review, an annual RISD Careers event connecting current students with industry professionals. Among the more than 150 participating students, many sought jobs in the arts, some hoped to line up an artist residency or gallery exhibition, and others just wanted real-world confirmation that their portfolios are telling the story they intend to convey. 

“This event helps students translate their studio experiences to the professional world,” says RISD Careers Director Kevin Jankowski 88 IL. “Navigating the fine arts ecosystem and lining up first exhibitions, grants and residencies is really challenging, and we hope that events like this demystify the process.”

Grad student Jess Skyleson MFA 25 DM enrolled in RISD’s Digital + Media program after working as an aerospace engineer for more than a decade and then getting diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. “I’m new to the art scene and just learning how to connect with folks,” they explain. “When I was going through chemo, I fell in love with writing poetry and began conducting workshops with other survivors, caregivers and medical providers that combine poetry and art. One of the portfolio reviewers I met with described my interests as ‘social practice’ and connected me with organizations, residencies and fellowships specific to that emerging field.”

Graduating photographer Ethan Brossard 25 PH already has a job lined up at an archival photographic print service just outside of New York City and used the Fine Arts Portfolio Review as an opportunity to explore the arts scene in his soon-to-be new home. “I created a PDF version of my portfolio and got a lot of cool feedback and advice about where and how to network,” he says.

One of the people Brossard connected with is Avery Willis Hoffman, founder of the interdisciplinary arts production company Avery Productions, based in East Greenwich, RI. “This was my first portfolio review at RISD, and I was super-impressed with the students’ artistic skills, focus and ability to discuss their work,” she says. “One thing that came up again and again was the importance of representing yourself well online and organizing your portfolio so it captures people’s attention right away.”

Rebecca Harvey, executive director of the ceramics-focused Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, also participated for the first time. “I’ve been working hard to make sure we have a range of experiences at the Bray, so I was looking for depth and breadth,” she says. “Not surprisingly, the work I saw at RISD was really good, and I was pleased to see exploration around and across boundaries.”

Harvey met with close to a dozen Ceramics students, including grad student Anna Rasmussen MFA 26 CR whose main goal in attending was to get a sense of how different organizations like to see work documented and organized. Rasmussen was delighted that Harvey responded so positively to her work. “She seemed to understand all the things I’ve been trying to say, and her feedback was really affirming,” says Rasmussen. “Eventually I hope to land my dream residency at the Bray.”

Senior Maithili Chaturvedi 25 PT has summer and fall residencies lined up in NYC but is looking for connections, conceptual advice and opportunities to show her paintings. “I met with RISD Careers in January, and they encouraged me to send out as many applications as I possibly could,” she says. “I got accepted into two residencies in New York and one in Vermont, which will begin in February.”

Chaturvedi has recently hit her stride as a painter, working in oil on velveteen and focusing on the women of Bollywood (based in her hometown of Mumbai). She recently had work on view in Los Angeles as part of a group exhibition at Rajiv Menon Contemporary, but she still appreciated the advice she got about approaching gallerists.

“It’s hard to approach people at a gallery without seeming like a vulture,” she says with a laugh. “One of the people I met with suggested that I go to opening nights, meet with the artists showing, set up a mutual studio visit and then ask them to introduce me to the gallerist, which sounds like a good idea.”

“It’s nice to know that people are still looking out for younger artists,” she adds. “My studio at RISD is such a safe place, and all the Painting professors talk to you like you’re a person and not just a student. They’ve set the standard high.”

Top image: A Wedding I Never Went To (2024, oil on velvet, detail) by Bollywood-obsessed painter Maithili Chaturvedi

Simone Solondz / images courtesy of the artists
June 26, 2025