Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Graphic Design
First Advisor
Paul Soulellis
Second Advisor
Kelsey Elder
Third Advisor
Tereza Bettinardi
Abstract
Open Forms
Architecture always exists in relation to the context in which it stands. There is no way, however, to anticipate how the constructed space will be inhabited, or transformed by the surroundings — and so, it remains open to discovery and change. Graphic design form can operate in a similar way: opening itself to a context by offering multiple ways of seeing, interacting and being performed.
Drawing from the contexts that have informed my practice — my training in architecture and the artistic movements of Brazil, my home country — Open Forms experiments with how to translate these spatial procedures into graphic design, through objects that activate experience and invite the viewer to inhabit other points of view.
Recommended Citation
Cutlak, Barbara, "Open Forms" (2026). Masters Theses. 1665.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1665
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.