"The first graduate program at RISD was established in 1957 with the MS in Art Education with the first MFA programs starting in 1961. We now have 16 graduate programs with 2 more being added in 2018.The core of any graduate program is concentrated and advanced study in an academic or professional field. Compared with undergraduate studies, graduate education is focused on producing original contributions to a field, based on research and advance practice. Graduate programs also provide the opportunity for more applied experience via internships, teaching or research. This is essential for RISD’s commitment to furthering the importance of art and design in the world and in producing distinguished professional and academic leaders." -Pradeep Sharma, RISD Provost 2014-2017
This collection presents student Masters Theses submitted and approved as graduation requirements from each of the 16 departments offering a graduate degree: Architecture, Ceramics, Digital + Media, Furniture Design, Glass, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture, Jewelry + Metalsmithing, Landscape Architecture, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teaching + Learning in Art and Design, and Textiles. Postgraduate writing and research is also included.
These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Theses from 2019
Bitter son, Adam Chuong
Tell me about a class at RISD : classroom experiences of multilingual, international Graduate students at the Rhode Island School of Design, Madeline Conley
Human artist, Nicholas Costantino
Plenty : wanting, choosing,, overwhelming unloading, Christopher Cote
The social life of working waterfronts : strategies for renewing the social value of productive harbors, Evan Davenport
Urban acupuncture : can the deliberate use of tactical interventions reinvigorate informal settlements?, Robert Samir Diaz Vicente
Addicts of nostalgia, Samuel Robert Campbell Drake
Personal analysis of the relationship of artist to the subject in figurative painting, Zuhal Feraidon
Mais fica : more for me, Gabrielle Marie Ferreira
In-between places, Jonah Fleeger
Stepping aside, Juan Pablo Gutiérrez García
Spontaneous laughter, laughter without reason, Evan Gilbert
Train boy, Shannon Gross
Distance is a place, Zhiqing Guo
No long urban, can't be rural, definitely not suburban : the experience of Detroit, Karin Jane Hostettler
The moment someone opens a book, a Venus flytrap is tightening its cage, Chenlu Hou
Conversations in 2019, Kit Howland
Works and process, Alex Hsu
Architecture as magnet : extension to Fort Adams, Mingyi Hu
Exhibiting materiality : object for love attachment therapy, Yunhong Hu
Instants // intervals, Valerie James
Trademark, Cathryn Jasterzbski
The line that splits, Zahra Jewanjee
Among : a series of enactments, Joel F. Kern
Let's meet over there / Eury Kim., Eury Kim
Lateral movements : in multifaceted time and space, Jieun Kim
Tanzania : a new architectural pedagogy, Cameron Leandri
The person-less portrait, Katelyn Ledford
Tea journeys : exhibition as experience, Liujun Liao
When we are old : a mutualism system for the canal network and its aging community, Jiali Li
Road home : family renovation in rural China, Guijiadong Lin
Sky is sinking below the trees : two years of documentation and observations, Xuelun Li
Making common, Elaine Lopez
Personal trauma, community healing : reimagining sanctuary for survivors of gun violence, Eva McCarthy
Standards, rules, setting, Robert McConnell
In the wake of the atoms+sphaira, Jesús Meléndez Vázquez
Externalized : origins of aesthetic motivations, Tim Miller
The urban shelf : a hybrid between architecture and infrastructure, William Morales
Pekka : social software to improve in-game dynamics, Yu Mo
Lost & found : a model for retreated landscapes, Madison Murray
Trash as culture : culture as trash, Sara Naja
Abjad orientations, Mohammed Nassem
Softweave, Annaka Olsen
The In-Betweens: Exploring Integration Within the Arts, Ruchi Pathak
Groundwork, Marcus Peabody
Where we are : where we thought we were going, Nathan Prebonick
Playfulness : exploring experience through a trajectory, Yingjing Qu
Awe-struck, Emily Robertson
Kippee-ki-yay : an energy case study, Madison Blaize Russ
Re-activating collective memory : museum as a workshop, Sfoorti Sachdev
Body of work, Oliva de Salve Villedieu
An intricate ensemble : the art-science of an ecological imaginary for the Anthropocene epoch, Alyce Santoro
Grid as a frame, Young In Sa
Field in adaptive reuse : discussion of the existence of the field and its influence, Yilun Shao
Evolution of a type : street vending as urban strategy in Guangzhou, China, Yuying Shen
Floating, Nina Shishkina
Film for landscape architecture : learning from Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Ramon Solis
Breaking barriers, opening doors : integrating the formerly incarcerated with community, Ruoyi Song
Icarus : how to survive the fall, Emile Stark-Menneg
Recharging Bangkok : a climate adaptive vision for Saen Saeb Canal, Ratchu Surajaras
Landscape as framework : downtown revival through rebuilding spatial identity, Dawei Tang
Cosmosis, Angela Torchio
Remembering culture in the modern era : cultural center SPA Grössling, Alex Trajanov-Godmas
HAB mitigation : wetland restoration in farmlands, Jae Won Wang
Edge of emergence : landscape as a journey of memory, Jiayue Wang
Regenerative assemblage : future vision for the canals of Pingdingshan, Meng Wang
Re-creation : a package design for daily life, Wei-Hao Wang
When the wind blows, Yiying Wang
Landscape succession : oil field transformed through landscape process, Yuanbin Wang
Supposing truth is a woman, Chloe Wilwerding
Can you shut the door? : exploring the personal as political in the domestic bathroom, Hannah Winders
The movement in nature : deep missing, missing you from far away, Chia-Chi Wu
Time traveler : interpreting landscape process through time by immersive narrative, Zhiyuan Yang
Interface philosophy, June Yoon
Game / landscape / us, Dongqi Zhang
Emerging ecotone, Tongyi Zhang
Salt pans matter : a system of ecology and culture cohabitation for Cabo de Gata, Andalusia, Spain, Chenglin Zhu
Theses from 2018
This is public work, Nick Adam
Domestic disorientation, Marisa Adesman
Evoking the divine : from secular to sacred and back again, Dragos Tiberiu Alexandru
Environmental diversity for student residence life, Jiaying Bai
Life after dark, Austin Bamford
Architecture as water-human mediator, Hui Bao
Autonomous vehicle futures : designing experiences that enable trust and adoption, Jeremy Bass
Creating connection in a digital society, Mariah Bennett
Haptic wonder : the sensation of exquisite craft, Anjuli Berstein
Ghost, a stone, Audrey Blood
Between gods and animals : deconstructing heteronormative masculines pursuit to sustain power, Shawn Bush
Haunt : casual surrealism, Cara Buzzell
The space in between : liminal space, Wei-Chun Cheng
Me too park : inform, connect, heal, Xiao Chen
Placefulness, Ellen Christensen
Revealing context & complexity in urban historic sites, Simin Chu
Foodways for earthlings : recipes and tools for eating in extreme environments, Maggie Coblentz
Opine : positioning architecture, Kevin Crouse
Amending the idle : an analysis of urban idle spaces + third places, Paige Davidson
Curious things, Allison Davis
Ouroboros, Christopher Dove Drury
Chaos and order, Jie Du