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