"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
NEW CHAPTER, Gunju Kim
A Cloud Above, Jiwon Kim
Invisible Systems, Mina Kim
You are cordially (un)invited: My Korean Femme Strategy and Aspiration for Survival and Queer Futures, Nahyun Kim
Greening Seoul : A New Toolkit for Adaptive Reuse, Woojae Kim
Curiosity Beyond the Hidden, Yi Young Kim
Hearts and Minds, Steven Knapp
An Architect's Toolkit for Color Theory, ella knight
Press Play, Karan Kumar
Metaphors in Materials and Imagery for Self Reclamation and Empowerment, Janice Lardey
WAST3D POTENTIAL, Andrew Larsen
Searching for New Landscapes, Halim Lee
Moving at the Speed of Trust, Sun Ho Lee
A.R. Futuristic Scenario in Seun, Yookyung Lee
margins (i nvr needed acceptance from all u outsiders), Jahi Lendor
Algorithmic Mirage: The Enigma of Black Box Algorithm, Brenda Li
Food, Drink, Time, New Year and Cloth, Jian Li
Recipes for Building Relationships, Adriana Lintz
FLOWS OF SOUND “Harnessing Sound As Critical Urban Resources”, Zuan Lin
Eviction to Placement: Rethinking the current supportive housing systems for hidden homeless families, Fang-Min Liou
Temporary urbanism-spatial democracy in the temporary city, Shijie Li
Water Relations, Understanding Our Relationship to Water: Through Research, Diagrams, and Glass, Tian Li
MODERN NOMADISM ——A network of reciprocal moorings, Jinting Liu
The Mobile Senior University, YOUSHURUI LI
Access in Ambiguity, Moritz Lónyay
Objects of Daydreaming, Aaron Lorenz
Bridging Empathy, Qianwen Lu
Exploring Permanent Temporariness: A Look into the Palestinian Experience through Refugee Camps, Tamara Malhas
Entrelazados, Agustina Markez
Explorations and Reflections: Gendered Experiences in Teaching and Learning, Francesca Matarese
“Little Old Wales”: Expressions of Nationalism, Language and Pride in Welsh Football, Abigail Mathieson
Living in Untranslatability--Performance Art in China and USA, Ziyun Ma
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