Sheri Wills an artist who works with film, video and sound to make single-channel videos, installations, sound works and live video performances. She explores the material, psychological and philosophical potentials of cinema to reveal small moments that often go unseen and pull forward the emotional content of abstract imagery.
Wills has shown work in one-person exhibitions at venues including the Director’s Lounge in Berlin, the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema in NYC and the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Her films have been screened internationally, such as at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Cinémas Différents in Paris, the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, the London Film Festival, CROSSROADS in San Francisco, Fisura in Mexico City and the Abattoirs Museum in Toulouse, France. Her films are distributed by Light Cone in Paris.
Her collaborations include live video projects with music composed by Jan Jirásek, Charles Norman Mason, Bright Sheng and Ofer Ben-Amots, and video performances with music ensembles, including the NYC choral group Khorikos, the Providence String Quartet, Luna Nova New Music Ensemble, and Ensemble QAT in Montreal, at venues including Roulette in Brooklyn, the Firehouse Space in Brooklyn and the Czech Center in NYC. She has also participated at residencies including the Narva Art Residency in Estonia, At Home Gallery in Slovakia and the Studios at MASS MoCA.
Wills is an American Council on Education Fellow. She came to RISD in 2014 in the position of dean of fine arts and was honored with the Frazier Award for Teaching Excellence at RISD in 2019. She is a recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship.
(photo credit Carolina Porras Monroy)
Courses
Spring 2025 Courses
FAV 5100-02 - FILM PRACTICES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitFilm/Animation/Video
Subject Film/Animation/Video
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
FAV 5100-02
FILM PRACTICES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitFilm/Animation/Video
Subject Film/Animation/Video
PeriodSpring 2025
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: F | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PMInstructor(s): Sheri WillsLocation(s): Auditorium, Room 330Enrolled / Capacity: 14Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In Film Practices, students learn 16mm film processes, skills, and techniques - as a material and conceptual foundation necessary for every time-based practice. Exposure, focus, depth of field, and basic editing strategies are explored as tools for becoming fluent in the language of cinema. Students will build an understanding of the various meanings conveyed by aesthetic decisions regarding composition, movement, and editing. Through individual and group projects, screenings, in-class assignments, and readings, students will explore key concepts in material-based filmmaking to build, expand, and deepen their time-based practice.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $220.00
Deposit: $150.00
Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.
Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video
FAV 5292-01 / IDISC 5292-01 - MEETING POINTS: OPEN MEDIA
Times: W | 7:00 PM - 10:00 PMInstructor(s): Sheri WillsLocation(s): Auditorium, Room 330Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In this interdisciplinary critique-based class, advanced students take a rigorous look at the various ways time-based imagery functions in their work. With an emphasis on post-cinema, research- based, site-dependent, and performative practices, students in Meeting Points: Open Media examine their studio projects in-depth, through group critiques, a close analysis of critical concepts, and working with focus and discipline in their medium of choice. This course is required for FAV seniors in Open Media and is well-positioned to be a critical support for senior and graduate students looking for additional insight into the development and refinement of their work in the area of cross-disciplinary media art practice. Course work includes research, readings, critique sessions, group discussions, and visiting artist lectures. Fall semester includes a recommended field trip to a relevant exhibition or performance, and visits by related working artists and curators. Spring semester includes an emphasis on curatorial exhibition strategies, a recommended field trip to a relevant exhibition or performance, and visits by related working artists and curators.
Offered as FAV-5292 and IDISC-5292.
Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register. Open non-major Senior or Graduate Students.
Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Open Media
FAV 5292-01 / IDISC 5292-01 - MEETING POINTS: OPEN MEDIA
Times: W | 7:00 PM - 10:00 PMInstructor(s): Sheri WillsLocation(s): Auditorium, Room 330Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In this interdisciplinary critique-based class, advanced students take a rigorous look at the various ways time-based imagery functions in their work. With an emphasis on post-cinema, research- based, site-dependent, and performative practices, students in Meeting Points: Open Media examine their studio projects in-depth, through group critiques, a close analysis of critical concepts, and working with focus and discipline in their medium of choice. This course is required for FAV seniors in Open Media and is well-positioned to be a critical support for senior and graduate students looking for additional insight into the development and refinement of their work in the area of cross-disciplinary media art practice. Course work includes research, readings, critique sessions, group discussions, and visiting artist lectures. Fall semester includes a recommended field trip to a relevant exhibition or performance, and visits by related working artists and curators. Spring semester includes an emphasis on curatorial exhibition strategies, a recommended field trip to a relevant exhibition or performance, and visits by related working artists and curators.
Offered as FAV-5292 and IDISC-5292.
Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register. Open non-major Senior or Graduate Students.
Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Open Media
