Alumni Artists Launch RISD Limited Editions Sale to Benefit RISD Students

Shepard Fairey 92 IL and Cindy Ji Hye Kim 13 IL—recognizing rising student loan debt as a threat to the future of art and design—each donate 300 signed limited-edition prints created for sale open to the public on October 8, 2021.

Providence, RI - Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) new RISD Limited Editions biannual sale is an exciting, alumni-led chapter in the college’s tradition of supporting artists and designers. Developed to support RISD students with high financial need, the inaugural event, hosted on eBay for Charity on October 8, 2021, features limited-edition prints of work by RISD Trustee Shepard Fairey 92 IL and fellow alumni Cindy Ji Hye Kim 13 IL. Read their artist statements. 

As a member of RISD’s Board of Trustees, Fairey, who has worked with eBay for Charity in the past, helped to spearhead this initiative. “It means a great deal to me to join with fellow alumni artists and designers to help launch RISD Limited Editions to support today's students. What better way to pay it forward than through the making and buying of art? RISD’s extraordinary students will lead the creative transformations yet to come, and I'm excited to do my part to ensure every student can push the boundaries of what we think is possible.”

The online sale raises funds for RISD’s Student Opportunity Fund, which provides financial assistance to students for educational expenses not funded through traditional financial aid. Examples include course and making materials, internships, global travel courses and research opportunities. These funds help make the full RISD experience accessible and equitable to students from all income levels. 

RISD Limited Editions will be held twice a year, in the fall and spring. Artists have been recommended by curators in the RISD Museum—their work explores universal themes with particular relevance in today’s society. RISD alumni artists participating in upcoming sales include RISD Trustee Shahzia Sikander MFA 95 PT/PR, whose solo exhibition Extraordinary Realities opens at the RISD Museum in November 2021, Huma Bhabha 85 PR, known for her unique figurative sculptures and vivid and often haunting works on paper, and Jordan Seaberry 14 PT, currently co-director of the US Department of Arts & Culture, whose work centers on themes of violence and justice. 

RISD Limited Editions will be available to the public October 8, 2021. More information can be found at alumni.risd.edu/limited-editions. 

About the Artists

Shepard Fairey 92 IL
Shepard Fairey received his BFA in Illustration from RISD in 1992 and is a contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist, illustrator, DJ and founder of OBEY Giant Art and OBEY Clothing. In 1989, while still a student at RISD, he created the Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker, which later evolved into his OBEY GIANT art campaign. In 2008, his portrait of then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama became an internationally recognized emblem of hope. Since then, Fairey has hand-painted more than 105 public murals across five continents, becoming one of the world’s most provocative artists and changing the way people view the urban landscape. Fairey’s stickers, guerilla street art presence and public murals are recognized globally. His works are in the permanent collections of the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and many others. Born in Charleston, SC, Fairey now resides in Los Angeles.

Cindy Ji Hye Kim 13 IL
Cindy Ji Hye Kim (Incheon, South Korea, 1990) received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013 and her MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 2016. Recent solo exhibitions include: Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles (2021); MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge (2020); Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels (2020); Helena Anrather and Foxy Production, New York (2019); Cooper Cole, Toronto (2018); and Interstate Projects, Brooklyn (2018). Her work has also appeared in numerous group exhibitions around the world, including Casey Kaplan, New York (2021); Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (2020); Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (2019); and UncleBrother, Hancock, NY (2018). She lives and works in New York City.

About Rhode Island School of Design
RISD’s mission, through its college and museum, is to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to make lasting contributions to a global society through critical thinking, scholarship and innovation. The college’s strategic plan NEXT: RISD 2020–2027 sets an ambitious vision for educating students for the future and bringing creative practices to bear on the creation of just societies, a sustainable planet and new ways of making and knowing. RISD’s immersive model of art and design education, which emphasizes critical making through studio-based learning and robust study in the liberal arts, prepares students to intervene in the critical challenges of our time. Working with exceptional faculty and in extraordinary specialized facilities, 2,225 students from 60 countries engage in 44 full-time bachelor's and master's degree programs. RISD’s 30,000 alumni worldwide testify to the impact of this model of education, exemplifying the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society. Founded in 1877, RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) and the RISD Museum help make Providence, RI among the most culturally active and creative cities in the region. Find more information at risd.edu.