Alumni Stories
![Hillel O'Leary peaks through a hole in a cardboard project](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2024-01/CE-Art-2024-peekaboo.jpg?h=826a1289&itok=Eb2wAsAi)
Launched in early December, The Art of Creativity taps into the expertise of RISD faculty members and alums trained in a wide variety of disciplines.
![sparks fly as an artist in protective head gear welds a metal ring](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2024-01/SPUR-2024-Steelyard2.jpg?h=ca2e84fb&itok=6nDJ9r0x)
Recent grant recipients take on projects that call on art and design skills to explore complex topics.
![the artists poses in front of two large, brilliantly colored paintings](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/Alumni-Mag-Linkout-Savdie.jpg?h=2493e430&itok=7Rq87pn-)
Ilana Savdie’s paintings—currently on exhibit at the Whitney—dazzle, beguile and refuse to stay put.
![a modern black chair by alum Brodie Neill photographed inside a decaying building](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-11/alum-neill-linkout-thumbnail.png?h=5f679a4a&itok=0laX718Z)
Furniture Design alum Brodie Neill safeguards the planet, one piece of furniture at a time.
![Dan Pelosi gets ready to eat a meatball](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-11/Pelosi-Ref-Image.png?h=d5d02efb&itok=2Vmm6THV)
Interior Architecture alum Daniel Pelosi, or @grossypelosi, talks about the secret sauce that has launched his new career in the food space.
![Dwell logo](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/press-dwell.png?h=5e0c93d4&itok=Yg8Qsy5w)
RISD alum Jevon Brown and 2016 exchange student Maika Palazuelos make Dwell’s annual list.
![Katia Zolotovsky and Varun Mehta gather plants from marsh](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-09/Biopods-Katia-Varun-Tillinghast.jpg?h=5b728bb6&itok=th2xIBnA)
Manini Banerjee, Varun Mehta, Avantika Velho and Katia Zolotovsky are developing mycelium-based biofiltration pods capable of reseeding lost wetlands.
![RISD flags flying in front of downtown highrises](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-09/Fundraising-Hero-Campus-Flags.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=ciS9-7Dd)
RISD’s 2023 fiscal year closes with more than $17 million raised in support of undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, internships and museum programming.
![Nylon logo](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/press-nylon.png?h=5e0c93d4&itok=Wq0GrZrP)
RISD graduate Sahara Clemons is one of eight finalists.