Sophomores finished the year with a group installation of a book. Each section of the course designed their own volume and presented that volume in a classroom on the 2nd floor of The Design Center. See the assignment on the course website.
Lecture: Bahia Shehab
Bahia Shehab is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, political activist and historian whose work focuses on the interaction and intersection of modern identity and ancient cultural heritage. Her imaginative combination of calligraphy and Islamic art history produced cutting edge, beautiful, impactful street art during the Arab Spring and continues to inform her work as an educator and designer.
Having always been concerned with identity and preserving cultural heritage, she investigates art history to reinterpret contemporary Arab politics, feminist discourse and social issues. Her culturally oriented work enables her to use history as a means to better understand the present and find solutions for the future.
Bahia believes that art may be employed for the purposes of social change and has explored this phenomenon through her artwork, which focuses on socially charged themes such as the Arab identity and womenâs rights. Her research is largely concerned with understanding the Arabic letters and has been preoccupied with Arabic calligraphy in much of her work. Her work has been displayed in exhibitions around the world and she has received several awards and recognition for her achievements.
Glen Cummings on design in the public realm
Designer Glen Cummings, founding partner of the New York studio MTWTF, will present a cross section of projects that engage, and aim to shape, the public realm through signage, maps, publications, exhibitions and digital media.
âFor designers each public project is a chance to learn how some part of a complex âcity machineâ works, and perhaps an opportunity to give things a little push, or kick, in a good direction.â
Project clients will include: The City of Newark, NJ; Brookings Institution; Participatory Budgeting Project; Design Trust for Public Space; Brooklyn Public Library; The State of New York; Center for Urban Pedagogy; Humanities Action Lab; Columbia University in the City of New York.
In the above panel discussion, hear students and instructors provide background and context to their projects from the spring elective, Newly Formed. The online discussion was held on July 18, 2021, in association with Is a Gallery's 2021 summer exhibition, ZZZZZZZZZZZ: Excavating Form Within Design Education RISD Graphic Design. See photographs of the exhibition on the gallery website.
Browse our Fall 2021 electives
The goal is to be back on campus this fall with a lineup of hybrid courses. These courses are available for registration starting in June.
Fifth-year double major Cathy Park presented her Senior Degree Project in the GD Commons and as a Zoom presentation. Also see Cathy's Commencement 2021 undergraduate student address about how she and her peers have challenged racial bias, and lays out a plan for confronting systemic injustice on the road ahead.
See work from the MFA class of 2021 on the RISD Grad Show website
Seniors created video trailers to promote their semester-long Degree Projects. Degree Projects included an optional in-person exhibition and 30-minute Zoom presentation.
See research projects from Anther Kileyâs spring elective, Critical Issues Studio
Sunho Lee (MFA 2023) created a film-title inspired sequence in response to a countdown assignment in Ron Pearlâs Motion Design elective. See more of Sunho’s work.
Refresh Memory by Amy Choi (BFA 2021) was created in this past springâs Computational Poetics course, taught by Kathy Wu. See more projects in the course reader.
Revisit this past springâs Code Lab featuring video and text demos
A selection of posters from Nancy Skolosâ elective Reframing the Poster was up in the GD Commons in early May.
Color & Collaboration: A collection of Risograph prints [from various departments] was visible on the first floor of The Design Center in early May. Curated by Bryson Lee and Alejandro Molestina.
In conjunction with the Boston Center for the Artsâ exhibit Combahee’s Radical Call: Black Feminisms (re)Awaken Boston, MFA candidate ZoĂ« Pulley designed a zine of the first published version of the 1977 Combahee River Collective Statement. The newspaper is available as a PDF download. Hear from ZoĂ« and others about the project on BCAâs YouTube channel.
Presentation by RISD GD MFA alumni Tatiana Gómez and José Menéndez. How to aim to build strength, confidence, and trust in our communities through design by doing what you can with what you have? Part of the 2021 MFA Biennial.
Visit the custom made Senior Show website to see student work
Clara Balaguer joined us as part of the âremoteâ 2021 Spring Speaker Series. See other lectures on our Vimeo channel.
Below: zzz by Everett Epstein (MFA 2021), from the spring 2021 course, Newly Formed