Illustration MFA Anthologies
The two-year Master of Fine Arts in Illustration Practice degree began in 2022 with coursework combining artmaking, writing, and theorization. Each year, graduating students present aspects of their thesis work in a small-run printed book, provided as PDFs here. Our cross-disciplinary program expands the definition of illustration in both form and theory, with a diversity of approaches across painting, printmaking, sculpture, the crafts, installation, moving image, graphic design and more. We also encourage social engagement, so many of the theses have a high degree of community collaboration and/or sociological, environmental, philosophical and political concerns. At the same time, communication and popular appeal remain important, with much playfulness, beauty, technical excellence, and delight on display. These anthologies capture the range of experimentation in our program and inspire deeper reading of the actual theses themselves.
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Voices | RISD MFA Illustration Anthology 2026
Illustration Department, Illustration MFA, Minglu Du, Manuela Guzman, Rhea Hu, Faith Huang, Burcu Koleli, Airien Ludin, Ranran Ma, Mervin Miao, Nayyab Naveed, Rhea Pradeep, Pingfan Que, Mot Tuman, and Skye Wang
Illustration has often been dismissed as just a mechanical art, concerned with technique more than intellect. In fact, illustration is a theory of something’s essence, expressed and communicated visually. Craftsmanship – or a playful, mindful lack of it – is always in service to a concept and a purpose. The Masters theses summarized in this book are the result of struggles to give form to more than the tangible world. As writers and visualizers our students picture new meanings and refreshed experiences for the familiar; they define things previously unnamed.
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Something Around Storytelling | RISD MFA Illustration Anthology 2025
Illustration Department, Illustration MFA, Yimiao Wang, Tori Hong, Qing " Christine" Wen, Rong Xu, Esther Du, Anum Naseer, Maren Curtis, Yuanhui "Yan" Li, Sadie Levine, Georgia Darley Oldham, Mawra Tahreem, and Margaryta Winkler
What follows is a collection of twelve essays by the students of RISD’s Illustration Practice MFA programme, variously reflecting upon their thesis projects, or their creative practice more generally. It allows us an opportunity to chart the many themes and perspectives that inform their work—to notice moments of both overlap and divergence. This anthology not only offers us a window into their individual practices, but also provides a glimpse of the spirit and camaraderie that underscores their experience as a cohort. The very making of this anthology is a reflection of that collective spirit, and you will find many traces of that process embedded throughout the book—be it in the title, the cover, or the little stories interspersed among the essays.
Other than following a broadly defined template, these essays have been designed independently by each student in whatever manner best captured their work and thoughts. So you’ll find moments of cohesion existing in the interstices of this book, while the essays themselves are rather varied and free-flowing in form. As you read, I encourage you to look up these twelve artists and their work more deeply—this book has only enough pages to capture a mere sliver of their rich and varied artistic lives.
Editor Ruchika Nambiar Faculty, Publishing the Thesis Seminar, Spring ‘25 Critic, Department of Illustration, RISD
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{Re}Considering Illustration | RISD MFA Illustration Anthology 2024
Illustration Department, Illustration MFA, Jenine Bressner, Emilia Miekisz, Simone Nemes, Simone Khanyi Hadebe, Ananya Parekh, Ariel Wills, Irene Chung, Nellie Geraghty, Nina Martinez, Reem Al-Ani, Lingyi Kong, Courtney McKracken, Deanne Fernandes, Mara Menahan, and Ji Zou
The essays in this volume have been created by the candidates of the inaugural cohort of the Masters of Fine Arts in Illustration Practice at the Rhode Island School of Design. The writings provide an overview of some of the ideas, research methods and artistic concerns addressed by the candidates through their art over the two-year span of their graduate studies.