"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/Dissertations from 2022
Scaffolding: medium, mediator, mediated, Mono Yingyi Mo
Solar panels, Marco Nuno Mourão
Extended reality interface, Neil Nelson
Bewildering narrative, Ali Newhard
Post-standardization, Hengrong Stanley Ni
Design in support of playfulness, Seung Hwan Oh
Connect: translating complexity through visual simplification, Ilhee Park
The color of stress, Jiemin Park
Domestic disturbance: cleaning, labor and maintenance of architecture, Valeria Portillo
Care, inclusivity, and accessibility in Glass Art Education, Bridget Provan
Cycle of care: a study based on home-care elderly living in Beijing, China, Wenyue Remi Qiu
Soul soiree: how “Sunday best” dressing encourages celebration of self, Fisayo Quadri
Other realms, Louis Rakovich
Exhibiting the Formless: Rethinking display through the dematerialized home, Sanah Devika Rao
TOBETITLED, Dylan Riley
[daymeh] a postmemory database, Natalie Rizk
Messy resurrections, Mia Rollins
Re:Connection: exercises in unplugging and mindfully reconnecting, E. J. Roseman
Pace/Place/Space/Tempo—The choreography of equity and expressions of Black Living, Vessna Scheff
Shalom, Zoe Schwartz
A collision of technology and art learning, Feifei Shen
In this form, together, Elana Shvalbe
Generative image systems and emergent play, Travess Smalley
Breaking | Grounding | Growing: Expanding the Rhode Island gardening reentry programs as a pathway towards stability, Juliana Soltys
Making Space : creative learners, digital spaces, and the relationships between them, Natalia Spritzer
Uncaring universe, Jingqi Wang Steinhiser
Military, art & the inbetween, Andrew Storck
Artful healing: exploring creative expression and play in Children's Hospitals, Phoebe Strobino
Mood follows matter, Maxwell Taylor-Milner
Dear City, give me some space; creating space for ephemeral forces in a city, Abinaya Sivaprakasam Thamilarasan
Slow ruptures; slow formations, Asta Thrastardottir
From invisible to visible: the third wave/way of intervention for Dashilar, Jiali Tian
The sky is falling, Alexis Tingey
The value in intentional impermanence, Dominique Tsironis
Dead Letter Room, Allie Tsubota
Shifting landscapes, Zahra Tyebjee
Deconstruct the center: making space for the voices in the margins, Taylor Varnado
Salt infrastructures & geographies, Jordan Voogt
Endless construction : occupant activism and authorship, Jiayi Wang
Living with fire, Mohan Wang
Farming publics: Use farming practices as a tool to de-alienate people with land, Sirui Wang
Sensory resilience in urban walkingscapes: Space making strategies for streetside public systems in neuro- inclusive city visions, Yingying Wang
Slow down: Investigating how pop-up installations transform multi-use space, Yuanrui Wang
Landscape of resistance: reimagining public space for a vibrant socio-political life, Ziyu Wang
We got this..., Julian Wellisz
Un-done: The historiographical dialogue between past and present, Rachel Cobler Wollert
Can’t stop coyote, Tala Worrell
Sub Sequence : building a participatory infrastructure, Aaron Wright
Zoopolis: repurpose urban infrastructure to welcome invisible neighbors, Yu Xiao
Beyond Spectacle : parametric design to life in space, Ding Xu
Framing: embracing trauma in your "surrounding world", Zheng Xu
Design for designers : An incubator for young designers to grow, Jiajie Yang
Toona Sinensis 桃花心木, Li Yang
Everything comes full circle, Lilan Yang
The Urban fabric: upcycling textile waste into raw material for urban ground surface design, Wenlin Yang
Zoomorphic amalgamation: speculative devices for alternative communication, Yuta Yang
Agricultural Landscape as cultural practice : through the lens of rice farming, Yumeng Yan
Flexing boundaries : tectonic strategies for the multi-generational home, Elise Young
Slow puzzle, Tzyy Yi Young
The subconscious as politics: an inquiry of collaborative design education through radical speculation, Nina Jun Yuchi
Unseen body, unheard voice, Chunxin Yu
One land / one ocean: reactivate coastal commons in urban territory, Chengie Zhang
The Cthulhu Journey : storytelling through an architectural immersive experience, Rui Zhang
Paradigms of horror, Xingge Zhang
Bee stations: refueling bees and creating opportunities for education, Jinghan Zhou
The importance of interdisciplinary art teaching: reflections on Chinese K-12 Art Education, Shixin Zhou
Cross border conservation - China - North Korea border, Ziyu Zhou
Together: a transformational sequence of healing, Deborah Zhuang
Reclaiming memory through soft spaces, Wendy Zhuo
Space of ambience : learning the relationship between environment, emotion, and behavior, Xueyun Zou
The future of the High Plains Aquifer: addressing potential desertification in the Great Plains, Hongfei Zuo
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Insecurities: tracing displacement and migration, Hammad Abid
Building narratives: instilling old stories in new spaces, Sharanya Aggarwal
Responsive markets: structures supporting economic activity in postcolonial Mumbai, Bilal Ismail Ahmed
Designing for space; exploring ways of simulating nature and everyday activities in zero-g environment, Sayit Alisan
Is it real?, Hana Al-Saadi
Solastalgic ecotone: the critical zone in suspension, Bareeq Bahman
Fableware from the garden of the grotesque, Matt Becker
Open articulations, Matthew Bejtlich
Sapping, smudging, staining: a feminized body, Breslin Shea Bell
Whores, sluts, and bitches; the perceived limits of sexualisation and the affects on space, Chloe Jenny Bennie
Paperwork, Romik Bose Mitra
Psychological well-being through music listening, Majed BouGhanem
Black exposure: a new typology, Teisha Bradley
Cloak Wood, Thomas Brett
Bootstrapped: the Cowboy Nomad from Silicon Valley, Emily Bright
Shoes for advanced urban surfaces, Karan Buasakdi
Imprints of home, Sara Burashed
Posthuman ecologies, Christine Chang
After plastic waste : plastic bottle knitting machine - design for value of recycling plastic, Du Cheng
Loneliness / Togetherness : Interiority and connection under isolation, Huaqin Chen
The sixth migration - rural/urban "heterotopia", Pan Chen
Inclusive multi-sensory landscape: directing visually impaired people in a perception world, Tianqi Chen
Urban tree community: living with tree spirits, Xueying Chen
The story of water, Zhanyi Chen
Space between memories: pause, Young Jae Cho
Imaging "Interracial": performing racialized desire in "interracial" heterosexual hardcore pornography, Megan Christiansen
When art education meets environmental issues: the interconnectedness of art and science, Eunhyung Julie Chung
Polyrhythms, Kevin Costante