Alumni Outcomes

Whether at work in their studio, as part of a larger organization, or in collaboration on urgent issues ranging from climate change to emerging technologies, our graduates make an outsized impact in every field that values original thinking and skilled makers.

 

Two lamps with metal fringe against a red wall.
A sculptural installation of twelve cast concrete figures in the mountains of Western Massachusetts.
Artist Tavares Strachan holding a bottle of ink in a studio.
Two lamps with metal fringe against a red wall.
A sculptural installation of twelve cast concrete figures in the mountains of Western Massachusetts.
Artist Tavares Strachan holding a bottle of ink in a studio.
Two lamps with metal fringe against a red wall.
A sculptural installation of twelve cast concrete figures in the mountains of Western Massachusetts.
Artist Tavares Strachan holding a bottle of ink in a studio.
Two lamps with metal fringe against a red wall.
A sculptural installation of twelve cast concrete figures in the mountains of Western Massachusetts.
Artist Tavares Strachan holding a bottle of ink in a studio.

By the numbers

alumni worldwide

32,000

countries represented

94

Regional Alumni Clubs

41

Profiles on LinkedIn

12,856

MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellows

11

Forbes "30 Under 30" Honorees

51

Fulbright Scholars

109

Kleiner Perkins Fellows

12

Rearranging industries

Coming out of every discipline at RISD, a number of enterprising alumni have an uncanny knack for charting new paths that connect culture and commerce. They see the future and evolve accordingly. 

Group of people dressed in red against a red curtain.
Airbnb billboard on top of a concrete building.
Alum Mel Ottenberg looks over a copy of Interview magazine.
Pregnant model walks in a runway show.
Image of sports paraphernalia on the ground with a squarespace logo.
A blacklit immersive art fun house type room.
Image of an iphone surrounded by the original suite of emojis.
Group of people dressed in red against a red curtain.
Airbnb billboard on top of a concrete building.
Alum Mel Ottenberg looks over a copy of Interview magazine.
Pregnant model walks in a runway show.
Image of sports paraphernalia on the ground with a squarespace logo.
A blacklit immersive art fun house type room.
Image of an iphone surrounded by the original suite of emojis.

Advocacy and activism

Documenting climate change at the ends of the earth, setting up NGOs to aid refugees in conflict zones, these alums are determined to pursue projects that matter and show how art and design can help create a more equitable world.

Print ephemera related to the history of Black Design in America.
Poster illustration by artist Shepard Fairey of a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf printed with the American flag.
Emily Winter in the Weaving Mill studio space.
A group of five children in a refugee camp playing a game.
Black and white photo of a projection of the word "Your Oldest Fears Are Your Worst Ones" on the side of a building.
The White House in rainbow floodlights to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Graphic painting in red and purple of Black man lying in fetal position.
Women in scuba like suit and glass head piece walking in front of the Mexican-American border wall.
Print ephemera related to the history of Black Design in America.
Poster illustration by artist Shepard Fairey of a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf printed with the American flag.
Emily Winter in the Weaving Mill studio space.
A group of five children in a refugee camp playing a game.
Black and white photo of a projection of the word "Your Oldest Fears Are Your Worst Ones" on the side of a building.
The White House in rainbow floodlights to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Graphic painting in red and purple of Black man lying in fetal position.
Women in scuba like suit and glass head piece walking in front of the Mexican-American border wall.

Material explorations

Natural autodidacts who look for the most original ways to bring their work to life, the following graduates navigate the edges of form and fabrication to make things you’ve never seen before.

A speaker and a chair made of paper pulp.
LED dsiplay of plant life in the middle of urban overgrowth.
Rending of a sculpture in silver and digital blue
Person using tablet to control the movements of a pink and white textile.
3D printed clay ikebana flower sculpture.
Red fabric sculpture of a room.
A speaker and a chair made of paper pulp.
LED dsiplay of plant life in the middle of urban overgrowth.
Rending of a sculpture in silver and digital blue
Person using tablet to control the movements of a pink and white textile.
3D printed clay ikebana flower sculpture.
Red fabric sculpture of a room.

Leading with sustainability

Making things comes at an inevitable cost to living systems. The creative impulses of these alumni are guided by a sense of stewardship—for their fields, for future generations, for the planet.

A translucent raincoat made of a bioplastic on a dress form.
Rendering of a futuristic home in purple light
Jonsara Ruth at left sitting on a table with her cofounder of the Healthy Materials Lab.
Entrance to the Broken Nature Exhibition
thousands of acres of land in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley creating a biodiverse carbon sink
Two beaded necklaces and a ring against a pale purple background.
Better Bin, a new design for trash cans in New York, on a street corner.
Photo of alumni Tara Gupta in a white suit jacket.
A translucent raincoat made of a bioplastic on a dress form.
Rendering of a futuristic home in purple light
Jonsara Ruth at left sitting on a table with her cofounder of the Healthy Materials Lab.
Entrance to the Broken Nature Exhibition
thousands of acres of land in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley creating a biodiverse carbon sink
Two beaded necklaces and a ring against a pale purple background.
Better Bin, a new design for trash cans in New York, on a street corner.
Photo of alumni Tara Gupta in a white suit jacket.

MacArthur Fellows

A total of 11 RISD graduates have been honored with the prestigious "genius grant" that supports the work of leading thinkers across many fields of art, science and beyond.  

Golden statue of a female figure with horns on the courthouse in New York.
Shahzia Sikander MFA 95 Painting/Printmaking

MacArthur Fellow Shahzia Sikander is from Lahore, Pakistan. Sikander pioneered the Neo-Miniature movement by transforming traditional miniature painting and, for the past 20 years, has worked to diversify contemporary art beyond its Eurocentric focus. Her recent sculptural work NOW was installed on the roof of the Appellate Courthouse on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

Photograph of Nicole Eisenman in a khaki jacket and red t shirt.
Nicole Eisenman 87 Painting

Eisenman was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2015 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has appeared in the Venice Biennale and in three Whitney Biennials.

Sugar Baby sculpture by Kara Walker MFA 94 PT/PR
Kara Walker MFA 94 Painting/Printmaking

Kara Walker works across media to explore the complicated and violent histories of race and gender in the United States. Her monumental-scale works in the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn and the Tate Modern in London are an evolution on themes she first began exploring through paper silhouettes.

On the move

Driven by momentum and a suspicion that there are more interesting ways to get from here to there, the following graduates are bringing creativity to the world of sport, transportation and beyond.

Artist Julie Mehretu on a race track with BMW sports cars in the background.
Sixth Street viaduct in Los Angeles by Michael Maltzan Architects
Picture of a man wearing a backpack with a pair of running shoes attached to it in a desert.
Cover of book entitled After All There Is No Finish Line, by Nike.
A set of three e-motorbikes painted in black, white and gray.
Render of NASA's Mars rover vehicle render on the surface of Mars.
Image of an amusement park ride lit up at night in pink and blue colors.
Tent with campers on the side of a mountain in the snow.
Artist Julie Mehretu on a race track with BMW sports cars in the background.
Sixth Street viaduct in Los Angeles by Michael Maltzan Architects
Picture of a man wearing a backpack with a pair of running shoes attached to it in a desert.
Cover of book entitled After All There Is No Finish Line, by Nike.
A set of three e-motorbikes painted in black, white and gray.
Render of NASA's Mars rover vehicle render on the surface of Mars.
Image of an amusement park ride lit up at night in pink and blue colors.
Tent with campers on the side of a mountain in the snow.

Storytellers

While the work of artists and designers has always been tied to narrative and documentary, the following alumni are finding fresh ways to convey unique perspectives on lived experience.

Bold quote against purple background over small magazine type.
Photograph by RaMell Ross of a church spire on the ground in a parking lot at night.
Photo of a unfolded paper featuring an illustrated column about the economy.
Puppet of a girl with blonde curly hair.
A still drawing in black and white from the interactive feature Reeducated featuring men in a detention camp.
Bold quote against purple background over small magazine type.
Photograph by RaMell Ross of a church spire on the ground in a parking lot at night.
Photo of a unfolded paper featuring an illustrated column about the economy.
Puppet of a girl with blonde curly hair.
A still drawing in black and white from the interactive feature Reeducated featuring men in a detention camp.

Award winners continued...

Beyond MacArthurs, our alumni have won Academy Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, Emmys, Caldecotts, Palmes d'Or and Guggenheim Fellowships, to name a few.

Painted illustration of a girl with pig tails against a patchwork background of browns and greens.
Oge Mora 16 Illustration

In 2019, Oge Mora won a Caldecott Honor, a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent from the American Library Association and an Ezra Jack Keats Award for her collage-style book, Thank You, Omu, inspired by her relationship with her Nigerian grandmother.

Image of the NXTHVN building in New Haven, CT by TenBerke.
Deborah Berke BArch 77

Deborah Berke is the founding principal of the New York-based architecture firm TenBerke and the dean of the School of Architecture at Yale University. Deeply committed to advancing women in the profession, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is the first recipient of the Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize. She received an honorary degree from RISD in 2005. 

Cinematographer Robert Richardson on set.
Robert Richardson 79 Film/Animation/Video

Three-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson is a longtime collaborator with director Quentin Tarantino, with whom he worked on the Kill Bill series, among others. His Oscar wins came for work done on Oliver Stone’s JFK and Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator and Hugo.

Studio artists

Though setting up a studio may be an expected route for graduates of art school, these artists have practices and bodies of work that stretch the limits of what their disciplines can do.

Glass artist Jes Fan examines a sculpture.
Video installation at night in a gallery space surrounded by large pillows.
Sculpture of a giant blue and pink figure on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
A floodlit farm building at night at a festival.
A painting of two creatures in pink and gray walking arm and arm against a forest backdrop.
Glass artist Jes Fan examines a sculpture.
Video installation at night in a gallery space surrounded by large pillows.
Sculpture of a giant blue and pink figure on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
A floodlit farm building at night at a festival.
A painting of two creatures in pink and gray walking arm and arm against a forest backdrop.

At work in Rhode Island

Providence and the rest of the state are home to an outsized crop of creative talent. Beyond the vision and ambition they bring to the scene, they build communities with collaborative energy and mutual admiration.

Two iron workers surrounded by sparks during an iron pour.
Modern Windsor chair by O&G Studio
Photo of a mural of a Narragansett woman holding a photo.
Example of font styles in white and multi-color on black background.
Woman wearing a knit hat and knit vest in front of a photo backdrop.
Image of a gallery in pink fluorescent light. Hung sculptures of fibers and beads on the wall and a pile of sand in the corner.
Painted basketball court designed by Lois Harada.
Six ceramic lamps with white shades in a line.
Two iron workers surrounded by sparks during an iron pour.
Modern Windsor chair by O&G Studio
Photo of a mural of a Narragansett woman holding a photo.
Example of font styles in white and multi-color on black background.
Woman wearing a knit hat and knit vest in front of a photo backdrop.
Image of a gallery in pink fluorescent light. Hung sculptures of fibers and beads on the wall and a pile of sand in the corner.
Painted basketball court designed by Lois Harada.
Six ceramic lamps with white shades in a line.

Latest stories

Hear more about our alum’s most recent projects and accomplishments.

a modern black chair by alum Brodie Neill photographed inside a decaying building
Form and Function

Furniture Design alum Brodie Neill safeguards the planet, one piece of furniture at a time.
 

Dwell logo
Meet the Best New Designers of 2023

RISD alum Jevon Brown and 2016 exchange student Maika Palazuelos make Dwell’s annual list.

Katia Zolotovsky and Varun Mehta gather plants from marsh
RISD Biodesign Researchers Work to Clean Up the Providence River

Manini Banerjee, Varun Mehta, Avantika Velho and Katia Zolotovsky are developing mycelium-based biofiltration pods capable of reseeding lost wetlands.

See more stories

Image credits (from top to bottom): photo of Tavares Strachan by Guillame Ziccarelli (courtesy of Perrotin); Counterculture, 2022 photo by Stephanie Zollshan (courtesy of Rose B. Simpson, Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York); INDO- photo by Ciara Crocker; Meow Wolf photo by Kate Russell; Polymode photo by Eschelon and Ian Byers Gamble; The Weaving Mill photo by Sarah Flotard; Karam Foundation photo courtesy of Karam Foundation; For RISD, 2006 photo by Erik Gould (© 2006 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society, NY); Tanya Aguiñiga photo by Gina Clyne; Ashleigh Axios/Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy; Jolie Ngo photo by Tiffany Smith (courtesy of R & Company); Hub-2, Breakfast Corner, 260-7, Sungbook-Dong, Sungboo-Ku, Seoul, Korea, 2018 (© Do Ho Suh. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London; photo by Jeon Taegsu); Healthy Materials Lab photo by Nick Calcott; Ala Tannir photo by Gianluca Di Ioia (© Triennale Milano); photo of Nicole Eisenman © Bridgitte Lacombe; A Subtlety, 2014 photo by Jason Wyche; Sixth Street Viaduct photo by Iwaan Baan (courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture); No Finish Line photo (courtesy of Actual Source Books); Lily Douglas/NASA photo by Bill Stafford; Nicholas Rubin still illustration by Matt Huynh (courtesy of The New Yorker); NXTHVN, New Haven, CT photo by Chris Cooper / ArchExplorer (courtesy of TenBerke); We Come in Peace photo by Hyla Skopitz (courtesy of Huma Bhabha and Salon 94, New York; image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art); Still Here photo by Jo Sittenfeld; Lois Harada photo by Off the Ground Drone Services (courtesy of My HomeCourt).