The devoted RISD alum led a multidisciplinary, project-based spring course in which students created a cozy, inclusive space within her exhibition in progress.
Student Workers at the RISD Museum Help to Create Welcoming Experiences
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Ever since RISD was founded 150 years ago, the college and museum have enjoyed a unique symbiotic relationship in which students are encouraged to apply their talents and studio skills to the museum’s galleries, helping to create inviting, educational experiences for visitors. Students have access to a wide range of paid opportunities to work in the RISD Museum, from summer internships to graduate assistantships to work-study jobs and post-graduation apprenticeships, contributing to every department within the museum.
“There’s some measure of student engagement behind almost everything the museum produces,” says Director of Creative Production Jeremy Radtke. “The level of work RISD students create is astounding, and their contributions have really pushed us and make the museum so much more interesting.”
Applying their skills to real-world projects, students take on meaningful responsibility and practice creative collaboration and problem-solving, building readiness for successful careers in curatorial practice, education, conservation, registration, and more. Working alongside the museum’s experienced curators, educators, designers, and other professionals, they help transform scholarship into engaging experiences that connect diverse audiences with the museum’s collection and exhibitions.
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Students working in curatorial departments, for example, conduct research and write interpretive text that shapes how visitors experience the collection. Recent grad Willa Sheehan 26 PT, who began her tenure at the museum as a Theory and History of Art and Design (THAD) fellow in Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, put her visual literacy and critical thinking skills to work writing label copy for objects on view in the museum, including Blue Bra, a painting by fellow alum Ruth Dealy MFA 73 PT.
Illustration alum and Mellon Intern Zimo Yang 26 IL worked as a curatorial intern in the Asian Art department last summer, conducting research, providing translations, and organizing information in the museum’s database in preparation for The Artistry and Reunion of Two Surimono Albums, an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints now on view.
The following fall, the museum commissioned Yang to design characters inspired by imagery in the exhibition that help demonstrate the process of Japanese woodblock printing and are integral to the exhibition. After creating a series of sketches, she completed the illustrations using a soft, subdued palette. “My personal work often uses brighter colors, so this experience helped me find a balance between maintaining my voice as an artist and fitting the tone of the show,” she says.
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Another project led by student workers was created specifically for the museum’s youngest visitors. Arts educator and intern Claire Meagher MA 25 and designer and Spalter Teaching Fellow Agnes Liu 26 GD collaborated on a new guide for K-12 students that encourages kids to relate objects on view to their own life experiences. The piece encourages them to “explore in your own way, investigate what you are drawn to, ask lots of questions, and record what you experience.”
Students working with Radtke’s team also contribute to exhibition design, environmental graphics, audio and video production, and print and digital marketing. New grad Saachi Mehta MFA 26 GD, who recently earned a master’s degree in Graphic Design, worked as a graduate assistant in the museum for the past two years. She designed the exhibition identity and design system for Natchiq | Onkeehq | Isuwiq: Indigenous Artists Honor the Seal, utilizing the silhouette of a seal drawn from one of the objects in the show as a graphic treatment.
“The exhibition brings together Inuit prints, drawings, and carvings alongside contemporary textiles, photographs, and installations by Alaska Native and Inuit artists,” says Mehta. “I developed the title lockup and extended it into a full visual system that honors the specificity and weight of the exhibition’s subject while remaining flexible enough to carry across signage, print, and digital applications.”
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Mehta also created a new map to guide visitors through the museum’s labyrinth of buildings and galleries. Through numerous iterations, she refined the design to balance clarity with visual accessibility. “Projects like this that require significant research and development and a lot of iteration are perfect for student employees,” Radtke notes. “We always consider how the project fits into the student’s academic trajectory and career goals.”
Mehta’s map is part of a larger wayfinding project the museum has been focused on for the past year or so. She and fellow graduate assistants Andrea Mato MFA 26 GD, Barbara Cutlack MFA 26 GD, Gerald Sastra MDes 27, and Lucy Pham MFA 26 GD took the lead on envisioning a comprehensive system incorporating new maps and guides, environmental graphics, directories, monitors, and wall vinyl that is currently being implemented by museum staff.
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The kind of out-of-the-box thinking they applied to their work also played a role in Ways of Looking, the museum’s recently introduced welcome space. It features drawing prompts and other tools that encourage visitors to engage with work on view throughout the museum and beyond.
Audio pieces featuring makers, curators, scholars, and museum guard/illustrator/RISD alum Jen Corace 96 IL help put art and design in context for visitors. Sastra worked with staff on the exhibition’s layout and experiential design concepts along with designer Disha Dharesh MID 26 and video producer Carson Evans MFA 18 GD, who was one of the museum’s first apprentices.
“The contributions students make to the museum are truly top quality,” says Deputy Director of Audience Experience & Learning Kris Wilton. “We’re so grateful for the creativity and rigor each of these exceptional students within our teams brings to their work and to the visitor experience.”
Simone Solondz with Alexandra Poterack / photos courtesy RISD Museum
July 31, 2026
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