Mary Anne Friel is a visual artist whose work explores natural and built environments at the intersection of geophysical phenomena, visceral experience, scientific observation, cultural knowledge and imagination. She co-curated the exhibitions Natural Discourse: Artists, Architects, Scientists & Poets in the Garden, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley; Blur: Six Artists/Six Designers in Contemporary Practice, University of the Arts; Close at Hand, Fabric Workshop and Museum; and Relatively Related: Solo of Xiang Yang, SZ Art Center, Beijing. She was awarded residencies at the Smithsonian, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Arcadia Summer Art Program and a Scientific Research Permit at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Friel has a permanent site-specific installation at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley.
Before joining the RISD faculty, Friel worked for over two decades as project coordinator and master printer at the Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) developing new works of contemporary art and related exhibitions in an experimental context with artists from across disciplines including Carrie Mae Weems, Chris Burden, James Luna, Teresita Fernandez, Senga Nengudi and Mike Kelley. She expanded FWM's interdisciplinary studio practice by engaging architects, composers, videographers, industrial fabricators, bird wranglers and scientists to collaborate on artist projects. Friel worked in FWM’s Philadelphia and New York studios and established a studio in Oakland, CA that she directed from 1990–99. The FWM projects she realized are in the permanent collections of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Museum Moderner Kunst, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Tate.
Friel has held a full-time faculty position at RISD since 2011. She has served as department head of Textiles and graduate program director.
Courses
Fall 2024 Courses
TEXT 4828-01 - FINE ARTS TEXTILES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
TEXT 4828-01
FINE ARTS TEXTILES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
PeriodFall 2024
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: T | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PMInstructor(s): Derrick Woods-Morrow, Mary Anne FrielLocation(s): College Building, Room 210Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In this senior level course emphasis is placed on the development and definition of individual direction. Students' work can range from installations to two-dimensional pieces and can employ any techniques and materials, from weaving, printing, knitting, or any improvised construction techniques.
Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies based on use of advanced equipment. Additional fees may incur.
Elective
TEXT 484G-01 - TEXTILE SEMINAR I
LevelGraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
Period Fall 2024
Credits 6
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
TEXT 484G-01
TEXTILE SEMINAR I
LevelGraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
PeriodFall 2024
Credits6
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: TH | 8:00 AM - 1:00 PMInstructor(s): Anna Gitelson-Kahn, Mary Anne FrielLocation(s): College Building, Room 510Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging market, from the most innovative to the traditional, this course aims at providing an awareness of how one's own work fits into this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.
This course is a requirement for second-year Graduate Textiles Students.
Major Requirement | MFA Textiles
Spring 2025 Courses
TEXT 4803-01 - FABRIC SILKSCREEN
LevelUndergraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
TEXT 4803-01
FABRIC SILKSCREEN
LevelUndergraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
PeriodSpring 2025
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: M | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PMInstructor(s): Mary Anne FrielLocation(s): College Building, Room 510Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
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
TEXT 4803-02 - FABRIC SILKSCREEN
LevelUndergraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
TEXT 4803-02
FABRIC SILKSCREEN
LevelUndergraduate
UnitTextiles
Subject Textiles
PeriodSpring 2025
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: T | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PMInstructor(s): Mary Anne FrielLocation(s): College Building, Room 510Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
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.
This project represents the culmination of a student's study in the Graduate Program. The design projects can encompass various textile fields in the areas of interior or apparel textiles. A specific architectural context, an area of apparel design, an investigation of a particular technique, or a visual design sensibility and language can provide a framework for the project. The work, executed using any established textile techniques or technique that a student has developed, should manifest advanced original concepts, high quality of execution, and a strong commitment to the field. Written documentation and analysis of the sources of the work, how it relates to the textiles tradition or larger field of art and design, and of the development of the project should accompany the studio work.
Estimated Cost of Materials: varies depending on student projects.
Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.
The student's project, designed in consultation with the faculty, can be in one of the textile areas or in combination with other disciplines at the school. The project, which will be evaluated by the faculty and visiting critics at the end of the semester, can entail a collection of designs or fine arts work representing the current conclusive state of student's work or an investigation of a new area. The level of concepts, skills, and commitment constitute a major part of the criteria in the evaluation of the work.
Mid-year graduates should seek department permission to fulfill 9 credits in Fall and Wintersession.
Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies based on use of advanced equipment; additional fees may incur.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Senior Textiles Students.
