"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 2023
A Study of Dwelling, Julia McArthur
cuando lloro, Melissa Medina
Appropriate that Bridge: Appropriation as a way of Intervention, Haochen Meng
Cyberflesh: The Me I've Made for You, Jordan Metz
Toronto Rewilded, Forrest Meyer
Enhancing Wellbeing In Public Landscape Through Light, Ruiqing Miao
CRACKS OF THE CITY: Crack as an invitation for informality, Yusha Miao
Confronting and Caring for Spaces of Service, Tia Miller
Luminous Eating, Ayesha Mohyuddin
The Root of Culture: Human Ritual and the Soils of West Virginia, Aleece Mount
Making That Carries Over, Jae Nam
Migratory Material: Epigenetics & Weaving at the US-Mexico Border, Valerie Navarrete
Reorientation, Soleil Nguyen
Celebrate Scarcity: Water Harvesting as Cultural Keystone, Jiajun Ni
Vanitas, Sae Jung Oh
The De-centering of Architecture, Uthman Olowa
Infinitely Incredible Configurations, Jenni Oughton
Partial Eclipse, Christopher Pak
Destined Failure, Chengjun Pan
[De]Composition: Grounding Architecture, Skylar Perez
In a Condition of No Light, Alana Perino
Virtual Fantasy, Joey Petrillo
Soft City: Reclaiming Urban Public Spaces for Play, Jennifer Pham
making pla(y)ces: softening the city through play, Shivani Pinapotu
Surfacing: a (loose) manual on unlayering / stuff-making and hypervisibility, Zoë Pulley
We Have a (Home) - Co-operative Homes for Sunset Park, Lisa Qiu
OtherWorldly Gestures, Sadia Quddus
Interstice, Shravan Rao
Coast to Coast, Zeyuan Ren
Elusive Geometry, Lauren Richards
Machine Kinship: The impossible duet, Diana Sanchez
Input / Output, Zach Scheinfeld
Particular Proceedings, Ingrid Schmaedecke
Objects and Apparitions: A Portable Museum, Yesuk Seo
The Incremental Ecosystem: Hybridizing Self-Built + Conventional Processes as a Solution to Urban Expansion, Shayne Serrano
Citizens of the English Language: Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Postcolonial India, Prateek Shankar
From John Street to Union, Andrew Shea
Orchestration of Experience, Jingyi Shen
Liberdade para quem? - Layered Histories, Vanessa Shimada
Overlooked Modi Vivendi, Natalia Silva
Design: A Path to Agency, Design thinking: An Educational Imperative, seva simone
A body finding freedom within itself, Malda Smadi
Instances of the Spirit (Glossary), Kamari A. Smalls
Surface Tear, Alexandra Soiseth
Finding the Balance, Danyang Song
Chinese tea ceremony spirit revival, Hongli Song
Tracing as Process, Lesley Su
Nurturing Haven: A Safe Place for Single Mothers, Meng Su
How to make a hybrid workplace more human?, Ray Sun
A Day Stood Still, Yuting Sun
New Commandments, Jacob Sussman
Iteration One, Julian Suver
SENSIBLE NATURE: To “See” As We Once Did, Yuhan Su
Unveiling Pain: Wearables for Objective Pain Measurement, Hanqing Tang
Imaginatorium for children with visual impairment, Xueyun Tang
The Design of Consequences, Yuqi Tang
Vanishing Ice, Zhehao Tang
On the Edge of the "Er-Ocean" State, Mariesa Travers
Beyond the White Box: Building Alternative Art Spaces for the Black Community, Elijah Trice
Writ In Water, Jack Tufts
Cultivar, Scott Vander Veen
Translational Placemaking: The Diasporic Archive, Alia Varawalla
Unearthing Complexity: Tangible Histories of Water and Earth, Alexis Violet
Rooted in topsoil, Jiaying Wang
Rebuild Relationships Between City, Agriculture and Ecosystem in the World of the Drought, Ninghao Wang
Ritual as Design Gesture: Reimagining the Spring Festival in Downtown Providence, wenjie wang
Reconcile Liminality, Zefeng Wang
Garden Etiquette, Kai Wasikowski
Spatial Reveries, Alexander Wenstrup
A PRELIMINARY GUIDE TO BUILDING NEW FUTURES IN THE NARRAGANSETT BAY, Maximilian Werner
Public-ish, Aliah Werth
Phantom Spaces, Craytonia Williams II
A Presence of P____ and W__th, Riley Wilson
Illusion of Consumption, Architectural Rebellion: Unraveling the Maze of Consumption, Xinjie Xiang
Knot, Just Craft It, Qingxian Xu
Interactive Architecture - Intervention of Virtual Business on Commercial Space, Yihao George Xu
Destination Unknown, Dongheng Yang
One More Time, I Love You —— 我有所念人，隔在远远乡, Jingjing Yang
Moving In, Moving Up, Moving On : The adaptation and preservation of Chinese diasporas through food, Jieqi Yao
New mapping, Dowon Yoo
The Meaning of A Choice, Julie-Louise Zeitoun
Out in Thin Air, Daiqing Zhang
Watering the Soul: Reintroduction of Water to the Urban Space, Danfei Zhang
Green Paths - On the Space In-Between Buildings, Hongru Zhang
Healing the Haunted: Rituals of Mourning and Suture, Pian Zhang
Glowing Under the Bridge—A Healing Space for Wounded Souls, Ruier Zhao
City as Cemetery, Siqiao Zhao
Blowing Away, Ziyi Zhao
Living in nature & design with nature, yuya zhou
I Buried the Fireworks Under the Tree, Sihan Zhu
Moving Narration: A journey through history, Yincheng Zhu
Uncovering Emotional Contamination: Five Sites of Trauma, Abigail Zola
Finding Psychological Healing in College Settings, Dici Zou
Theses from 2022
Ports of entry, Forough Abadian
Revisionist Zinealog : a coacted countercultural device, Madaleine Ackerman
Notes in improvisation : Spatializing Black Identity through music, Esther Akintoye
Matingkad - Flamboyant, Bhen Alan