our.risd.eduOur RISD

Close Caption Close Archived tumblr (2011–2019). At our.risd.edu we shared what we loved about our truly amazing community of artists, designers, thinkers and makers. Alchemist by Fuse Switching It Up To consolidate our stories and bits of info about the RISD community on fewer platforms, we’ve stopped posting to this blog. Keep tabs on what’s going on in studios and with faculty and alumni through the stories we post in the NEWS + EVENTS section of our primary website and @risd1877 on Insta. images top to bottom: Aleksandra Azbel MArch 14 integrates methods of hand weaving into her architectural practice and has won a Fulbright to work in Sri Lanka this year Architecture students installing an urban rain garden they designed for a neighborhood in Providence new grad Julie Benbassat 19 IL earned welcomed recognition this spring #risd #risd alumni #risd students 21 June 2019 15 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 15 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/185749394409/switching-it-up Copy New Issue of XYZ Now Available The spring/summer issue of RISD XYZ is reaching most alumni and other readers this week. Focused on various interpretations of the notion of freedom, it features Martine Gutierrez 12 PR on the cover—as Tlazolteaotl ‘Eater of Filth,’ just one of the Aztec Demons she created for a solo show called Indigenous Woman , which is also the focus of one of the feature stories. Throughout the magazine you’ll find stories about members of the RISD community who show through their work and choices in life what creative freedom means to them. In one piece, Jaime Wolfond 13 FD talks about changing course with his startup to give him the freedom to design again, while in another octogenarian painter Maurice Burns 72 PT ( above ) explains how he has always put freedom in the studio above all else. And take a moment to read some of the other interesting freedom-focused stories that surface in this issue—from the Listen commentary from Emma Shapiro 10 PT (on pp 8–9) to pieces by Ken Carpenter 75 Arch and Paula Martiesian 76 PT (pp 66–67), Doug Morris 85 GD (p 71), Lina Sergie Attar MArch 01 (p 89) and Ricker Winsor 77 PH/MFA 78 PT (pp 96–97), among others. Contact risdxyz@risd.edu if you’d like a copy of the magazine . #risd alumni #risd xyz 5 June 2019 13 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 13 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/185388577584/new-issue-of-xyz-now-available Copy Totems to Trash In a spring Architecture studio called Trash , Professor Gabriel Feld invited students to consider the long history of humans generating disposable stuff—dating back to Monte Testaccio, which, as he puts it, was “nothing but a gigantic pile of garbage from imperial times—big enough to rival the legendary hills of Rome!” Since our tendency to produce ever more trash hasn’t diminished in millennia, Feld prompted students to consider: “What’s in it for us architects?” In mid May those participating in the studio produced an interesting installation in RISD’s Market Square as the last of four group projects during the semester. The primary materials in the totems to trash included discarded commercial fishing nets from the port town of Galilee, RI filled to bulging with thousands of plastic bottles. Leading up to the final project, students combined research, design and construction in exploring questions about the possibilities of trash from the perspective of architecture. #risd students #risd architecture #risd sustainability 24 May 2019 14 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 14 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/185112641444/totems-to-trash Copy Grad Show Opens Tonight Grad students have been buzzing in and out of the Rhode Island Convention Center since Sunday—getting ready for the big graduate thesis exhibition that opens this evening (May 22) from 6–8 pm. With 214 students exhibiting, the Grad Show is by far the biggest one of the year organized by Director of Campus Exhibitions Mark Moscone 88 PR and his team. Students and staff build intimate gallery spaces within the massive 28,000-sf hall and then fill it with phenomenal work, creating a marvelous experience for the thousands of visitors who come to the show over its 10-day run. The exhibition is free and open to the public and is on view at the Convention Center from 12–5 pm daily from Thursday, May 23–Saturday, June 1. #risd students #risd graduate programs #risd exhibitions 22 May 2019 8 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 8 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/185061671584/grad-show-opens-tonight Copy Random RISD Backstage at Collection 19 on Saturday, May 11. Read more about it . photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH #risd students #risd apparel design #risd collection 19 #random risd 14 May 2019 11 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 11 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/184879885939/random-risd Copy Flight of the Camels by Literary Arts + Studies Professor Mike Fink I saw this recently on the brick wall overlooking Gil Franklin’s Daybreak sculpture and the wee Beach where students gather on a nice day to sketch and chat: a couple of pigeons perching on a Camel cigarette logo with a flock of doves migrating underneath. By the time I had gone to fetch my old-time camera, it had vanished. But eventually I found out that first-year student Connor Kay 22 PT created this salute to the Middle Eastern dromedary as part of an assignment to make use of a commercial sign. It’s also a nod in the direction of the RISD Pigeon Club (there’s a dovecote on the terrace around the corner and I served as the group’s original faculty advisor). My late dad was profoundly dedicated to the cult of Camel cigarettes, and when my office was across the street in Carr Haus I used to display such logos as the newborn chick for Bon Ami and the original Old Dutch cleanser with its stylized silhouette (in the good old days before you had to replace anything “old” with the word “new”). I even placed my pop’s white-wall tire in my balcony window. So kudos to Connor, with hopes that he chooses one of my classes come September. #risd faculty 10 May 2019 9 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 9 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/184783383604/flight-of-the-camels Copy Random RISD photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH #random risd 7 May 2019 9 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 9 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/184720662664/random-risd Copy Escapism On Thursday (May 2) Alex Rosenberg 06 GL will be scaling the exterior wall of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia as part of the opening reception for the 2019 series of art installations at the historic site. Titled A Climber’s Guide to Eastern State Penitentiary or, Eastern State’s Architecture and How to Escape It , the project also includes a display of traditional climbing gear made from materials available inside the prison prior to its closing in 1971. Several other pieces on view center around the history and practice of environmentally conscious “clean climbing.” A glass artist whose practice extends to interdisciplinary investigation across mediums, Rosenberg lives in Philadelphia and says that his latest project “aims to provoke discussion about conservation and preservation between nature and artifice in the built and ‘natural‘ worlds.” #risd alumni #risd glass 1 May 2019 8 notes Facebook Twitter Google + 8 notes https://our.risd.edu/post/184575439339/escapism Copy Sketching Sound Last Sunday (April 28) the Main Gallery at the RISD Museum was alive with students making music and art at the same time. Called Sketching Sound , the annual event brings together Music majors from Brown, who perform chamber music surrounded by classical paintings hung salon-style, and RISD Illustration students, who make sketches as they listen and absorb the ambiance. “Activating all senses can inspire new approaches to creating art,” says longtime Illustration faculty member Lenny Long MFA 83 PR ( above right ), who has been spearheading the event for the past few years. Students work on a drawing for only as long as each musical piece is played, and a...