In the NCSS Core Seminar, students explore key issues in nature-culture-sustainability studies, developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the need for integrative approaches to issues including mobility and infrastructure, environmental justice and equity, sustainable food and water systems and the very real present and future of climate change. Beginning with definitions of nature and natural systems, drawn from environmental literature and history, we will dig into questions of what we mean by "culture" and "sustainability". The vitality of the ecologic and social and built environment upon which we all depend will form the core of our investigations. How and where we live matters; in the present Anthropocene, questions of resiliency and adaptation take on ever greater urgency. We will study contemporary conditions with examples from across the globe, with an eye to understanding how innovation and creative practices in art and design impact future planetary health. This course lays the foundation for students pursuing the NCSS concentration. The seminar will include lectures and discussions of readings and case studies. Occasional guests will include scientists, designers and others engaged at the forefront of environmental activism and research. Students may ground their final course project in a topic connected to their own work, relating it to their major or another concentration, in addition to NCSS.

Elective

In the NCSS Core Seminar, students explore key issues in nature-culture-sustainability studies, developing an interdisciplinary understanding of the need for integrative approaches to issues including mobility and infrastructure, environmental justice and equity, sustainable food and water systems and the very real present and future of climate change. Beginning with definitions of nature and natural systems, drawn from environmental literature and history, we will dig into questions of what we mean by "culture" and "sustainability". The vitality of the ecologic and social and built environment upon which we all depend will form the core of our investigations. How and where we live matters; in the present Anthropocene, questions of resiliency and adaptation take on ever greater urgency. We will study contemporary conditions with examples from across the globe, with an eye to understanding how innovation and creative practices in art and design impact future planetary health. This course lays the foundation for students pursuing the NCSS concentration. The seminar will include lectures and discussions of readings and case studies. Occasional guests will include scientists, designers and others engaged at the forefront of environmental activism and research. Students may ground their final course project in a topic connected to their own work, relating it to their major or another concentration, in addition to NCSS.

Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

In this course, we will make solo and collaborative performance works. We will approach performance as the project of creating new contexts for interrelation–between beings, material, matter, the known, and the unknown–that allow both the performer and the viewer to learn and/or experience something we otherwise would not have access to. In other words, the work of this class is the work of listening in the direction of something you can’t quite yet hear, and taking the time to figure out: where you might stand, what device you might invent, what you might wear, and how you might work with the resonance of the room, to get closer to hearing it. We will turn towards the body as intelligent in its own right and build personal movement practices that steer our making. We will then turn to the generation of sculpture, video, sound, and texts that scaffold, augment, reverberate, and challenge that physical action. 

Course material will draw from contemporary dance practices, somatics, embodied cognition, and queer theory, among other sources. We will practice expanding our attention beyond the boundaries of the art object to include the processes of production, reception, effort, transmission, collaboration, interdependence, decay and forgetting that locate art in time, space, and community. No prior movement experience necessary.

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Elective

This is a project based course connected to artist Liz Collins’ upcoming mid-career retrospective exhibition at the RISD Museum, opening July 2025, and is designed to engage students in the creation and curation of a gallery space within the show. Liz Collins: Motherlode is a multifaceted show spanning 30+ years of Collins’ career in fashion, textile design, performance, installation and visual art, and will include a gallery devoted to this project and intended to be a queer social space. The space will be transformed through Liz Collins’ design elements such as wallpaper, furniture, rugs, and will hold a robust curation of queer art and artists from the RISD museum collection and from the RISD community, with exact parameters to be determined by the class in collaboration with museum staff.

The class is open to students in all departments. Students with a special interest in one or more of the following are best suited for this course: curation, interior architecture, immersive installation, artistic collaboration, queer studies. Students will work directly with Collins each week and with curators and staff from the museum to develop a clear vision and plan for this gallery.

Students wishing to be considered for this class must email apoterac@risd.edu with the following:  

Email Subject: Queer People/Places/Things

1) Statement of interest

2) Relevant experience

Elective

Since the 1960’s, social justice poster art has been at the heartbeat of contemporary social movements. Social justice posters champion the demands of everyday people, resist the status quo, and activate social and cultural change. This medium asks illustrators to study people’s history, examine their positionality in the present, and engage with possible futures.

Students will learn about the history of social justice poster art through lectures and a visit to RISD and Brown’s protest poster collections. In-class demonstrations, activities, discussions, and assignments will culminate in the creation of two large poster illustrations: one on historical movements and another reflecting current events.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Elective

Folktales are stories originating in popular culture, often passed down through word of mouth and pictures. This course will explore a range of methods and approaches to illustrating traditional and contemporary folktales. We will explore how the narrative’s meaning shifts or is created through the illustrator’s visual choices. Students are encouraged to bring their own personalities and stories to their projects and to experiment with the materials they prefer. We will look at various illustrated folktales in each class to widen our understanding of the visual folktale in both a historical and present-day context.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $20.00 - $60.00

Elective

With the wave of new technology, it's convenient to investigate data online and from secondary sources rather than direct observation or experiencing objects in our surroundings, museums, or archives. This course will teach profound skills to use material cultures such as everyday objects, personal collections, artifacts, and written records as a learning tool. Through a variety of projects, students will discover how material culture can serve as both inspiration for narrative and a medium for artistic expression. Students will develop skills to interpret and analyze objects, unravel the stories they hold, and subsequently, narrate those stories using their preferred artistic mediums. The course will encompass a broad range of subjects, including objects' cultural significance and symbolism, hands-on experience, multi-sensory engagement, and interdisciplinary insights. The class will visit the RISD Museum and Special Collections. Each class is structured into distinct segments, starting with the exploration of object narratives and concluding with the acquisition of new art-making techniques. Each week, students are required to participate in art-making projects and submit analyses of objects. There will be seven assignments including two small written narratives of objects; and a final project that will result in a larger visual narrative inspired by material culture.  

Elective

Why do stories of journeys always hold such fascination? Do you carry an unforgettable “on-the-road” story? Who are the travelers, and where do their paths lead? What do they gain or lose along the way? There are countless ways to address these questions.

This course delves into the road trip narratives through graphic novels, emphasizing the importance of both text and imagery. As a relatively accessible medium, sequential arts welcome readers to follow the emotional, mental, and physical transformation of the protagonists throughout their journey.

The entirety of this class dedicates to creating a polished 5-10 page short comic, with the first half focusing on the development of narration, and the rest on its realization in visual language. The class also explores beyond the 2-dimensional presentation of illustration, valuing interdisciplinary approaches including photography, collage, sculpture, etc.

We will dissect selected road movies, literature, and graphic novels which offer a glimpse into author’s creative processes and techniques, examining how the masterminds explore themes of adventure, self-discovery, and human connection. By spontaneous in-class exercises, character portrayal, world-building, and storyboarding, students will progressively craft their own captivating stories of journeys.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Elective

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Building on the skills and sensibilities developed in ILLUS 2000: Visual Thinking, this course will address a range of strategic considerations important for the articulation of ideas. While emphasis will remain on methods for encouraging conceptual aptitude and innovation, there will be greater focus on specific forms of communication. Practical issues such as the nature of audience and the context for interpretation will be matters of concern, as will vehicles for communication and the handling of media. The basic aim of this course is to enable the student to discover a creative identity and develop an itinerary for upper-class study; its larger goal is to wed communicative purpose to artistic voice.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Building on the skills and sensibilities developed in ILLUS 2000: Visual Thinking, this course will address a range of strategic considerations important for the articulation of ideas. While emphasis will remain on methods for encouraging conceptual aptitude and innovation, there will be greater focus on specific forms of communication. Practical issues such as the nature of audience and the context for interpretation will be matters of concern, as will vehicles for communication and the handling of media. The basic aim of this course is to enable the student to discover a creative identity and develop an itinerary for upper-class study; its larger goal is to wed communicative purpose to artistic voice.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Building on the skills and sensibilities developed in ILLUS 2000: Visual Thinking, this course will address a range of strategic considerations important for the articulation of ideas. While emphasis will remain on methods for encouraging conceptual aptitude and innovation, there will be greater focus on specific forms of communication. Practical issues such as the nature of audience and the context for interpretation will be matters of concern, as will vehicles for communication and the handling of media. The basic aim of this course is to enable the student to discover a creative identity and develop an itinerary for upper-class study; its larger goal is to wed communicative purpose to artistic voice.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Building on the skills and sensibilities developed in ILLUS 2000: Visual Thinking, this course will address a range of strategic considerations important for the articulation of ideas. While emphasis will remain on methods for encouraging conceptual aptitude and innovation, there will be greater focus on specific forms of communication. Practical issues such as the nature of audience and the context for interpretation will be matters of concern, as will vehicles for communication and the handling of media. The basic aim of this course is to enable the student to discover a creative identity and develop an itinerary for upper-class study; its larger goal is to wed communicative purpose to artistic voice.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration