Three Critics will offer graduate students the opportunity to get inside the art critic's head and learn how writers think about the visual. Students will be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints and discourse on contemporary art issues as defined by the interests of three different, practicing critics. Each critic will become part of the RISD community for approximately one month, conducting 3 sessions on campus and one in New York or Boston. On-campus meetings will consist of lectures, reading and writing assignments, group critiques and one-on-one studio visits. Off-campus trips will include visits to museums, galleries and artist studios. Small groups of students will be expected to lead several classes. Outside coursework and full participation in class discussion required for successful completion.

Open to Graduate Painting Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Painting

This course is an ongoing discussion of individual work with special reference to current issues and concerns in contemporary art. Each student will be required to show and discuss work. Grades by participation.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

This course is an ongoing discussion of individual work with special reference to current issues and concerns in contemporary art. Each student will be required to show and discuss work. Grades by participation.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

This course is an ongoing discussion of individual work with special reference to current issues and concerns in contemporary art. Each student will be required to show and discuss work. Grades by participation.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

This course is an ongoing discussion of individual work with special reference to current issues and concerns in contemporary art. Each student will be required to show and discuss work. Grades by participation.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

A Graduate Thesis is to be determined in consultation with faculty advisor by the beginning of the first semester of the second year.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

This period is dedicated to the development and presentation of a body of work supported by a written thesis in consultation with the student's Thesis Committee. The final exhibition and written thesis will be evaluated by the Thesis Committee which will submit a final grade to the Graduate Coordinator.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

The Graduate Seminar works in complement with Graduate Critique to provide a forum in which students assemble in discussion, analysis and reflection around a set of ideas, practices and histories that are of substantial relevance to photography, its history and its contemporary forms. The content of the seminar will vary from year to year, but students will be expected to read, research, discuss, write about and/or present on the material addressed in class. The seminar will interact with the department's Visiting Artist lecture series, with the SEI Lecture Series, and with MCM events at Brown. Attendance at those lectures is highly recommended.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Photography Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Photography

Students in the graduate printmaking program will utilize graduate level research and scholarship as an impetus for growth within studio practice. Investigation into historical cycles of printmaking will be fostered through assigned texts and exploration of primary resources available at RISD, especially The RISD Museum. A dialogue stemming from intensive studio work will be developed in varied formats by faculty, visiting artists and peers throughout the semester.
 

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

What is the curatorial imperative? By incorporating curation into studio practice, artists understand the context for placing new combinations into the world. Collecting, archiving and critical analysis of source material will develop a philosophy of stewardship. Central questions about printmaking as a crucial core for many disciplines that incorporate the relation between matrix and formed object, layers, reversals, positive and negative and replication of original and appropriated media will provide a structure. The state of print publishing, art fairs and current curatorial literature will inform ongoing discussion.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

Students in the graduate printmaking program will utilize graduate level research and scholarship as an impetus for growth within studio practice. Investigation into historical cycles of printmaking will be fostered through assigned texts and exploration of primary resources available at RISD, especially The RISD Museum. A dialogue stemming from intensive studio work will be developed in varied formats by faculty, visiting artists and peers throughout the semester.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

What is the place of printmaking in the art-world and the world at large today? Central questions about printmaking as a crucial core for many disciplines that incorporate the relation between matrix and formed object, layers, reversals, positive and negative, the replication of original and appropriated media will provide a structure. The state of print publishing, art fairs and current critical literature will inform ongoing discussions, research, and presentations.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

Strategies for analysis and documentation are presented and discussed as students combine their research and reflections on their own evolving production into an illustrated, written thesis that organizes, focuses, and articulates their ideas. Artist's books, online publications and other formats will be explored. Intensive support for development and production of the thesis in relation to studio practice will be given.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

Graduate Print I will focus on the notion that Printmaking (and its constituent processes/techniques) are a hub within the visual arts. Students will experiment with a multitude of print processes that branch from drawing (a logical creative starting-point between Printmaking and Painting), and form extensions into the mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, and even video. Processes covered will include; drawing fluid/screen filler, screen monotype, image transfer, drypoint intaglio, and various other forms of monoprint. Assignments will require experimentation with each new technique and projects will require the individual exploration of these techniques and application to each students' personal studio practice. Demonstrations, presentations, and group/individual critiques will supplement all work time.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Open to Graduate Printmaking Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Printmaking

This course adds another layer of engagement to the MFA Sculpture curriculum in relation to the work done in Grad Studio and Advanced Critical Issues. The class will be divided into two six-week sections taught by a visiting critic and visiting curator. Through these distinct perspectives, students will develop a deeper understanding of the many roles that the artist can play in society in conjunction with gaining knowledge of professional practices within the fine arts field. Additionally, this course will consider the ways that art is displayed, viewed, contextualized and experienced and how visual art can influence contemporary thought and conversation through the history of curation and exhibition-making.

The course will consist of lectures, discussions, group critiques and one-on-one studio visits. The first half of the semester will focus on professional practice and consider each student’s practice through the lens of relevant historical and contemporary artists. Course content will include discussions about maintaining post-graduate art practices, application processes and cultivating thriving creative communities. The second half will focus on curation with emphasis placed on current trends and shifts in artistic and curatorial production, theory, and criticism. Students will examine a range of curatorial practices and consider case studies of artist curated shows. The class will also develop a proposal for a potential group exhibition to occur post-graduation. Both sections will involve the topic of exhibiting works in various spaces such as galleries (artist-run, for-profit, university, etc.), museums and alternative art organizations.

Enrollment is limited to 2nd-year Sculpture Graduate Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

What is the meaning of contemporary? What is the meaning of critique? What are models for sustainable and ethical artistic practice? What is the role of the artist in contemporary culture? These are but a few of the frameworks we will use to explore an array of new tools for thinking, feeling, perceiving, and analyzing the textures of our inter-subjective environment. Together, we will address the challenges implicit in the willful consideration of what exists beyond what we think we know; beyond what we have been told is true about our chosen field as artists. We take up this exploration through a selection of readings, films, lectures and class discussions. Some of the discourses we engage include the relationship between politics and aesthetics, critical race theory, myriad feminist theories, theories of institutional critique, and methods of radical practice in contemporary art.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

Advanced Critical Issues Seminar 2 introduces a rigorous theoretical framework for thinking and writing about contemporary sculpture practice. Each seminar develops from a specific theme drawing on research from Grad Critical Issues 1, current debates in the field and contemporary events. Past seminars include: Artificial Natures, Precarious Relations, Frankenstein and Crime, Vanishing Points, as examples. Trespassing across sculpture, performance, cinema, fiction, feminist, queer, race and political theory and back again, we will address writings by Walter Benjamin, Lauren Berlant, Judith Butler, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Maggie Nelson, Claudia Rankine, Jacques Rancire (as examples) in conversation with contemporary artists writings and projects to cultivate a conceptual grammar to extend to our studio practice. Approaching issues in contemporary sculpture through these discursive perspectives generates new strategies simultaneously material, conceptual, and critical.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

Students pursue individual work under advisement of resident faculty, visiting artists and critics during the semester. Individual objectives are clarified and professional practices are discussed. Group interaction and discussions are expected.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

Students pursue individual work under advisement of resident faculty, visiting artists and critics during the semester. Individual objectives are clarified and professional practices are discussed. Group interaction and discussions expected.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

Students pursue individual work under advisement of resident faculty, visiting artists and critics during the semester. Individual objectives are clarified and professional practices are discussed. Group interaction and discussions are expected.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture