Students are expected to continue the independent work developed in the fall senior studio. Over the course of the degree project semester students will present their work in the context of Duet shows. These "Duets" will be accompanied by a short video-taped interview between the partners based upon vetted questions germane to each others work. Seniors are expected to produce a significant group of work commensurate with the departments senior degree level criteria.

Prerequisite: Senior Sculpture Students must be in Good Academic Standing.

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

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

The "Sonic Mapping: Narratives, Soundscapes, and Archives" course is an educational journey into the fusion of soundscapes, location, and narrative creation. It offers an in-depth exploration into the process of gathering field recordings, developing a thematic sound collection, and leveraging this collection as a cornerstone for storytelling and musical creation. Centered around the concept of "Sonic Mapping of Locations," this course challenges students to engage in active listening, effective recording, and imaginative composing, transforming fleeting sounds from varied environments into engaging auditory narratives and sonic compositions. Students will need a laptop computer (Mac or Windows). Previous experience with digital audio software recommended.

Elective

This course offers an in-depth exploration of sound as a medium for designing and conceptualizing real, irreal and hyperreal spaces. Through critical listening, readings, and discussions, students will investigate the possibilities and constraints of sound in shaping environments. Using RISD’s 25.4 spatial audio array, participants will engage in a hands-on technical exploration of spatial audio, while developing individual interpretations of what constitutes "the real" as a threshold. This evolving concept will be examined through creative practice, inviting students to challenge and expand their understanding of space through sound. Class time will focus on creating, reflecting, and sharing work, with a strong emphasis on sound design and spatial audio programming using Ableton Live. Prior experience with Ableton is not required. Students will need a laptop computer (Mac or Windows).

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

Spatial Audio focuses on the creation of immersive 3-D sound experiences. In this course, students analyze and explore how the sensation of space is activated in the listener by making works using spatial audio techniques. These methods include high order ambisonics, vector-based amplitude panning, multichannel surround, and binaural audio, among others. Throughout the semester, a series of exercises addressing technical and theoretical issues provide students with the necessary experience to produce midterm and final projects. Coursework involves computational approaches to sound design and composition with instruction in the audio programming language Max and digital audio workstation Reaper. Students have recurring access to a 25-channel loudspeaker array for the development of works. Readings from psychology, philosophy, the arts, and sound studies support class discussions and critiques. Students will need a laptop computer (Mac or Windows). Previous experience with digital audio software recommended.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

This intensive studio course investigates computational approaches to generating sound and image in real time. Precedents from experimental film and video, as well as sound installation and performance art will be examined in relationship both to human perception and the, students' artistic practice. The course will include discussion of key historical works and texts, hands-on demonstrations and in-class projects, as well as critical engagement with new works by class members. Students will use programming environments such as Max and its object libraries for sound and video, MSP and Jitter to explore the creative and expressive potentials of an intermedia production practice culminating in the development of a larger work that incorporates knowledge gained throughout the course.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

In A Hands-On History of Electronic Music, we will study the development of electronic music from a tactile approach using historical studio techniques. While learning about pioneering and underrepresented artists within the genre, students will use reel-to-reel tape machines, tube signal generators, modular synthesizers, and early computer music concepts to recreate key compositions within the field. Critical listening and analysis skills will be cultivated through guided exercises and projects. The hands-on approach this course takes will support a foundational understanding of electronic music history through methodologies as they evolved into current practice.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

Environmental Sound challenges the principles of studio-based music composition by using natural and built settings as stimuli for multi-channel sound creations. The course encourages students to explore the foundations of conventional composition, such as rhythm, harmony and melody, and investigate the concepts of space as it relates to sound. Students apply these concepts to their own compositions using recordings captured during the session, to create immersive audio experiences that reference and compliment the world around them. Students explore the concept of aleatoric sound, and are prompted to listen to, and capture, the ‘silence’ around them using mobile recording devices. Individual and group activities will include critical listening and evaluation of conventional and abstract audio sources, with the intention to build and diversify the shared vocabulary for expressing their emotive responses to sound. Taught using a modular, scalable, roving multi-channel audio playback system, students learn technical setup, multi-channel digital composition, plus audio recording, processing and sequencing. The course will be taught using digital audio workstation (DAW) software Reaper and Ableton Live. No music theory or composition experience is needed. Students will need a laptop computer (Mac or Windows).

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

Throughout the past century, electronically generated sound has challenged the aesthetic and conceptual boundaries of art and music. In this intensive studio course, students will focus on the creation of experimental sound works utilizing hybrid analog / digital systems. We will investigate synthesis techniques using the SuperCollider programming language / environment in conjunction with the Serge modular synthesizer. Students will leverage the strengths of these tools towards uniquely personal production platforms that are more than the sum of their parts, and utilize them in the creation of fixed media, generative compositions, and improvised performances. The course will include discussion of historical works / texts, hands-on demonstrations, in-class projects, and critical engagement with new works by class members, culminating in a final project that incorporates knowledge gained throughout the semester. Students will need a laptop computer running a recent OS: Mac or Windows. Previous programming experience is recommended, but not required. 

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 

Elective

In this experimental sculptural textile studio elective, students will explore methods for building form through textiles. Through experiments and demonstrations students will gain a variety of foundational skills that will inform individual exploration and investigation of the relationship between textiles and three-dimensional form. Techniques will include rope-making, knot-making, weaving, felting and stitching explored alongside sculptural techniques such as armature building and casting. Furthermore, students will be introduced to a variety of surface treatments, including basic painting, dyeing and embellishment techniques. Through lectures, demonstrations, readings and discussions we will investigate various issues at the intersection of textiles and sculpture in a curious and experimental approach. 

Please contact the instructor for permission to register; registration is not available in Workday. 

Elective

Digital embroidery transforms hand-crafted couture into a work of fine art. Just like a tattoo where an image is created with needles and color, so embroidered fabric or paper is needle-stitched with colored threads. A basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop is helpful, but we will also cover the fundamentals of creating a preparatory design file in Adobe Illustrator. This vector design file will then be artistically translated into a Pulse embroidery file that can be saved and sewn out as as a multiple or repeat pattern. The resulting personalized textile can be applied to fabrics for apparel or interior applications as well as fine art. A series of small assignments will build up a repertoire of techniques and culminate in a final project that summarizes the student's ability and artistic innovation. This course will explore top of the line Tajima Pulse software with the goal of creating personalized images that will be sewn out on a 15-needle Tajima commercial embroidery machine.

Please contact the department for permission to register.
Elective

Digital embroidery transforms hand-crafted couture into a work of fine art. Just like a tattoo where an image is created with needles and color, so embroidered fabric or paper is needle-stitched with colored threads. A basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop is helpful, but we will also cover the fundamentals of creating a preparatory design file in Adobe Illustrator. This vector design file will then be artistically translated into a Pulse embroidery file that can be saved and sewn out as as a multiple or repeat pattern. The resulting personalized textile can be applied to fabrics for apparel or interior applications as well as fine art. A series of small assignments will build up a repertoire of techniques and culminate in a final project that summarizes the student's ability and artistic innovation. This course will explore top of the line Tajima Pulse software with the goal of creating personalized images that will be sewn out on a 15-needle Tajima commercial embroidery machine.

Elective

This course introduces the student to a wide variety of materials and processes involved in the production of both hand and industrially produced textiles. Topics include fiber properties and identification, spinning and yarn construction, natural and synthetic dyeing, traditional textile constructions and new technologies. Both historical and contemporary examples are studied, ranging from textiles in design to fine arts textiles. Class time is divided between lecture and lab work. Lectures are supplemented with readings, workshops and museum visits. Students conduct research on a class related topic of their choice and give presentations about their subject. Each student also prepares spinning and dyeing samples to be presented in an individual archive.

This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This course introduces the student to a wide variety of materials and processes involved in the production of both hand and industrially produced textiles. Topics include fiber properties and identification, spinning and yarn construction, natural and synthetic dyeing, traditional textile constructions and new technologies. Both historical and contemporary examples are studied, ranging from textiles in design to fine arts textiles. Class time is divided between lecture and lab work. Lectures are supplemented with readings, workshops and museum visits. Students conduct research on a class related topic of their choice and give presentations about their subject. Each student also prepares spinning and dyeing samples to be presented in an individual archive.

This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This course is an introduction to the use of structure, color, and texture in weaving through a series of experimental samples and finished projects. Students learn to set up and use a 4-harness loom, and a study of drafting and fabric analysis is included. A variety of techniques including hand-manipulated tapestry and loom controlled patterns are taught and explored as a vehicle for the translation of ideas in this medium. The emphasis is on invention and developing a personal approach.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This course is an introduction to the use of structure, color, and texture in weaving through a series of experimental samples and finished projects. Students learn to set up and use a 4-harness loom, and a study of drafting and fabric analysis is included. A variety of techniques including hand-manipulated tapestry and loom controlled patterns are taught and explored as a vehicle for the translation of ideas in this medium. The emphasis is on invention and developing a personal approach.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

Starting with making their own screens, students learn various stencil making and printing of repeats using water based dyes and pigments. The focus is on an imaginative stencial (usually the repeating unit) and its application in creating continuous surfaces. Instead of considering the screen a tool merely to reproduce an existing design from paper, students are encouraged to think of it as a flexible means for creating totally new designs through experimentation at the print table. Engineered designs combining repetition and singular images is also explored.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

Starting with making their own screens, students learn various stencil making and printing of repeats using water based dyes and pigments. The focus is on an imaginative stencial (usually the repeating unit) and its application in creating continuous surfaces. Instead of considering the screen a tool merely to reproduce an existing design from paper, students are encouraged to think of it as a flexible means for creating totally new designs through experimentation at the print table. Engineered designs combining repetition and singular images is also explored.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

Students develop their chosen themes through drawing and executing a series of woven samples. The samples explore structures and materials relevant to the chosen subject matter. Students weave fine arts oriented or design projects which evolve from the investigation.

Prerequisite: TEXT 4802 - WEAVING I

Elective

Students work on a specific theme of their choosing and derive designs and concepts from this theme for work in fabric silkscreen. After completing assignments that focus on specific techniques and design problems, students plan and execute a more defined and larger project relying on the experience incorporated during the first part of the course. Fabric construction and dyeing techniques can be integrated into the work.

Prerequisite: TEXT 4803 - FABRIC SILKSCREEN

Elective

This course is an investigation of the technical, formal and material potential of multi-harness weave structures on 24-harness dobby looms. Through extensive sampling on the looms, students expand their skills in areas of pattern development, woven structure, color, material and fabric finishing while further developing their design concepts and their visual and material vocabularies. During the second half of the semester, stipulations derived from the intended end use of the fabric as well as production methods become a strong part of the design considerations in the development of fabric collection for an intended application. Exercises in drafting, both by hand and on computer, as a means of understanding woven structure in a three-dimensional way, will be an important part of the course.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4804

Elective