"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 series presents all collected student Masters Theses submitted and approved as graduation requirements from each of the seventeen departments offering a graduate degree: Architecture, Ceramics, Digital + Media, Furniture Design, Glass, Graphic Design, Illustration, 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 2024
Growing Together: Cultivating the Social-Emotional Effects of Art Education through Trauma-Informed Pedagogy, kaitlyn lawrence
Graphic Warmline, Soo Min Lee
Migrating with the Salt Marsh, Yiming Lei
Things I've Learned From Doing Cosplay: An Investigation On Incorporating “Atypical” Creative Practices Into Art Education, Yvonne Liang
Mind Follows Matter, Fiona Libby
Snapbot - The Enhanced Physical Play, Morong Li
City Sonatas, Duoduo Lin
Curb Appeal, Eric Liu
Navigating Transience, nina liu
Dreampool, Xia Li
From One Nature to Another, Sarah Mann
Absence Leaves a Mark: Illustrating Filipino Migrant Stories, Nina Martinez
Atelier Interloper, Isabel Jane Marvel
Entre Manos Y Barro: Innovando Con Tradición, Jose Mata
From Here to the Ground, Courtney McCracken
Patchwork: 76km between Juárez and El Paso, Naheyla Medina
America, Dreaming., Sarah Meftah
Moving Studio, Emilia Miekisz
The Dollhouse, Kristina Miesel
Homeward Bound: moving homes, moving home, Ella Nadeau
technocene, Vir Joseph Naidu
Settling Dust, Unsettling Ground, Olivia Newroz
-ing: Heritage as a Verb, Eunji Park
Move or die, jiho park
Tennessee sure knows how to make 'em, Lorena Park
Milpa: Cultivating Community Through Grid Remediation in México, Marianna Pasaret Molinar
Conspicuous Repair: Drawing Attention to Brokenness in Public Landscapes, Ashley Pedersen
A Dispatch from the Site Office, Adrian Pelliccia
Community Engagement in Art & Design Colleges, Mah Rukh Raja
Wild Joy: An Exploration in Queer Spatial Dynamics, Kipper Thomas Reinsmith
One of One of a Kind, Dominic Rishe
Infinite Plane: Metaphysical Architecture + Digital Space, Isabella Ruggiero
Creative Connections: Building Empathy to Foster Ecoliteracy Through Art Education, Jocelyn Salim
Design(ing) Disruptions: Towards Intimacies between Feminist Situated Knowledge, Gossip and Design, Senjuti Sangia
Umbrales (Thresholds), Maureen Scally
Icons of Solitude: Peace, Quiet, and the Urban Condition, Jack Schildge
Beyond the Idle Machine: Spatio-Subjective Architecture, Andrew Schnurr
snowstorm, Caleb Shafer
Corner Revolution: Beyond “skynet”, Brightening Grey space and Building Security, Caimin Shen
Spirit of Place: examining chinese principles of place-making in a contemporary urban context, Junyi Shi
SWING! Active Play Motivation, DONG YOON SHIN
Here—There, Glikeriya Shotanova
Urban Looms, Recoloring City, Ella Son
Living Surfaces, Ryan R. Sotelo
Untitled, Lucia Steele
Space Between: Navigating Openness, Torie Stotz
Making Room, Rachel Strompf
TIMELESS TEACHINGS & UNBRIDLED POSSIBILITIES, Ruijie TAI
A Delicate Balance, Lily Taylor
THE RUNIS: HOW CAN SOCIAL REMIDATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL REMEIDATION BE LINKED THROGUH ARCHITECTURE?, Tayu Ting
Entropic Accumulation, Abby Tuckett
Variations on Noise, Clinton Van Arnam
To the Dogs or Whoever, Jacqueline Walker
Life of Things, Things of Life, Shiyue Wang
Revitalizing Public Spaces: Integrating Mental Exercise into Contemporary Landscape Architecture Design, Silin Wang
Empathetic Reverberations, Tianyue Wang
Celestella Resonance, Xuanren Wang
A New Grounding, Corey Watanabe
Echoes of Heights: Sustaining Tradition for Education and Community in the Tibetan Plateau, Junyue Wen
surface tension, Berett Wilber
Perform—Produce, Rebecca Wilkinson
What does water want?, Julia Woznicki
Fluid Futures: The Revitalization of Yangzhou Through Its Historical Waterways, Feiyang Wu
Recomposing Museums: Designing Rhythmic Experiences for Short Attention Spans in the Digital Age, Yujiang Wu
Design With Decay, Charlotte Wyman
Gender Mirror: Giving women's perspective to men through exhibition, Jiaxuan Xu
Memory and Experiential Lab, Yufan XU
Beyond Display: Crafting Emotional Journeys for Belonging and Connectivity, Jiamin Yang
LifeLink, Yuan Yuan
Architecture As A Carbon-Based Practice, Qixin Yu
Exploring the versatility of clay in double curvature surface formation, yicheng zhang
Lucid Dream: Embracing Uncertainty, Zhiyun Zhang
Outside_in, Zixuan Zhang
Small Islands Commons: Retrieving Territory, Identity and Rights in The Bahamas, Fangzhou Zhao
In Gratitude to the Stories Untold, Wenran Zhao
Bridge Between Calligraphy and Architect, Tianhao Zhong
EquiVision Habitat: The Collective Dreamworks, Shixuan Zhou
忘年交 / A Friendship That Transcends Age, Zichen Zhou
Waste Illuminates Worlds: Printed Modular Lamp Design Based On Brick and Clay Tile, Yechen Zhu
The First Gate, Ji Zou
Theses from 2023
Ghost Hotel, George Acosta
Kole, Isaiah Aladejobi
spaces of wait and their weight, eman alhashemi
moretheless, abdelghani alnahawi
Cohabitation x Adaptation, 2100: A Climate Change Epoch, Kyle Andrews
Reintroducing Hemp (rongony) in the Material Palette of Madagascar: A study on the potential of Hemp Clay components and its impact on social and ecological communities., Henintsoa Thierry Andrianambinina
Princess Chives, Yuxuan An
I, others, world - A Glass Circuit, Ariel Aravot
A Part Apart, Spenser Atlas
Norteada- En Busca De un Nuevo Norte. Cocoon Portals and the Negotiation of Space., Kimberly Ayala Najera
the people's food project, Grace Barrett
Decolonial Perspective on Fashion and Sustainability, Haisum Basharat
Psychochoreography, Nora Bayer
Fungi in Flux | Designing Regenerative Materials and Products with Mycelium, Arvind Bhallamudi
Kala in my Moholla - art in my neighborhood, Priyata Bosamia
Whale Fall·Building Fall, Jiayi Cai
Step 10, Jinhong Cai
Starting From Ecotone Reconnecting Fragmented Mission Hill, Xinyi Cai
Impact of Art Educators: Artistic Practices, Political Advocacy and Pedagogy of Frida Kahlo and Faith Ringgold, Gabriela P. Cantu