"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 2021
Nossa quadra, nossa historia: the power of collaborative and communal outdoor spaces as a tool for belonging & agency, Rebecca Maria Pepl
No winners: transgender athletes in cycling, Max Pratt
El suelo en duelo, Mariana Ramos Ortiz
In service of _____; an inclusive architectural collage practice, Blair Ramsey
Virtuality, reality, community, Siqi Rao
Phefumula Nami, Ndivhuho Rasengani
listening to the unhearable, Ollie Rosario
Dive, Aparna Sarkar
Hard work / soft work, Nicole Schonitzer
Blue loops, Rebecca Senn
Synthetic undulation: improving the marine life quality on the Indonesian island of Seleyar, Shreeyaa Shah
Terminal: through the "windows" of a Tram Car Museum, Yuyi Si
sometimes like butterflies, Edward Steffanni
Unfold the body, Fan Su
Sensory bridge, Ouqiao Sun
Knowledge from below, Meghan Surges
The ephemeral altar & the floating grave, Hannah Suzanna
Ritualizing of space in the 21st century: fostering of communal identity through celebration of Tamil culture, Mridula Swaminathan
In the muck and the mire, Orli Swergold
Zoomorphic extended body, Nicholas Tamas
Community steward of the deep bay: staging Lau Fau Shan for resiliency through collective participation, Lauren Tam
Sensory refreshment: TCM reconsidered, Ni Tang
Segments of reality: interface / space / movement, Yuan Tao
Reconstructing property, borders, and sites: nestling the built, Christina Truwit
An evolving process: patterns and objects, Shreya Tuli
Healing through architecture: role of architecture in promoting healing in cancer care settings, Vrindha Vijay
Hybrid garment, Diya Wang
Counting pebbles wasn't even a class in high school: seeing visual arts education through a process-forward lens, Em Xiangning Wang
Across the boundary: addressing segregation along transportation infrastructure, Ruochen Wang
Remember me: how we can modify the home for people with dementia, Wenjin Wang
Regional food self sufficiency: new visions for productive landscapes, Yiling Wang
Design for the past, Zexi Wang
The retrieval of memory: holding time in the Shanghai gasometers, Liman Wei
Wandering land: landscape on space station, Xin Wen
Ecotourism in vacationland: shoreline development and economic inclusion on the Southern Maine coastline, Quinn Christopher Wilcox
Like water taught by thirst, Emily Wilker
Material Encounters: Making Memory Beyond the Mind, Ariel Wills
Everyone I have every crowed with 2021-, Hannah Lutz Winkler
Elsewhere: impressions of sense & nonsense, Madeline Woods
Fostering cultural understanding: mirroring ways of living in Providence, RI, USA and Beijing, PRC, Jiarui Tina Wu
Balancing the tangible and intangible, Shiqi Wu
Uncertainty wanted: deconstructing gender gap in parenting mentality, Zimeng Xiang
The bridge / the stream / the home: interactive social housing typology in Wuxi, Weiyi Xia
Optics / perception / experience: regenerating agricultural landscape through railways, Tianyi Xie
A family game: tell the stories that shape us, Zhuoyan Xie
Security blanket, Danni Xu
A better city for her: design safer public spaces for women in the United States and China, Geruihan Xu
The relativity of value, Lai Xu
The future of Beijing urban courtyards, Zhuoqi Xu
Futuristic communication, Haotian Yang
Remembering Chinatown: a fusion of food, identity, & memory, Robert Yang
Mother river: restoring transiting producing, Rui Yang
Eco-corridor for wildlife: reclamation of wildlife habitat in Rhode Island, Xiaodong Yang
The body extended, Yi Yang
Cognitive development & art education: relationship, suitability, and future implications, Zheng Yao
Textile architecture, Zoe Yates
Control theory, Colin Yoon
A journey to the deep self, Fengkun Yu
Overflowing boundaries: competition and mutualism in urban villages, Chen Zhang
Negative carbon growth in the atmosphere: to reverse the growth of carbon in the atmosphere through urban reforestation, Hanchao Zhang
Eco-concrete: reimaging Nantucket infrastructure system, Huaiwen Zhang
Water inspired places, Jiaqi Zhang
Fossil morphology, Leah Zhang
Translated architecture, Ruiqi Zhang
Driftscape: maximize urban space uses in the context of densification, Sida Zhang
The second identity: the human-otters ha-ha - utopia for urban animals, Yuxin Zhang
Vernacular Future Architecture, Yang Zhao
Feeling at home: working with the rhythm of the day to support seniors in urban villages, Guoxi Zhou
Rural acupuncture: carefully introducing tourism within an underground village, Shangyun Zhou
Theses from 2020
Let us for once try to not be right, Merrick Adams
My millennial Asian fetishized American fantasy, Seyong Ahn
Lacunae in the urban landscape, Meriem Aiouna
Water ceremony, Adriana Alva
Frankenstein, Ruins, & Twilight, Braden Bandel
Temporal collisions, Lizzie Baur
Sol, John Beck
Vacancy never vacant, Marina Bibidakis
Exploring multimedia storytelling as a novel tool to inspire Americans to participate in wildlife conservation, Megan Brief
Artist-facilitator : making knowledge by making art, Aaron Broadbent
Madrepora, Elizabeth Burmann Littin
Change of plans: the subversive kit in the planned community, Hugo Caldwell
Strata : lessons in latency, Mukul Chakravarthi
Melting away - Ilha Formosa, Hao-Chun Chang
Repairer's recipe : volume 0, Joyce Chang
Experience the world: How the ever-present accessibility of hands-on opportunities & play enhance logistical learning, Mary E. Chavez
Recipes, Camille Chew
You are trapped., Will Chouinard
Recycle bin (trashure), Eunhyung Chung
, nevertheless,, Ji Yoon Chung
Ocean state food stories, Charlotte Clement
The knots on the underside of the carpet, Lily Colman
Revisionist histories : Parallels of monuments and absence in the present, Scott Craft
Beautiful dirt : exploring the American taboo of death through the things we leave behind, Jake Dangstorp
Re: Ornament, Aleks Dawson
Erik DeGiorgi, Erik DeGiorgi
Designed body, Jingwei Deng
Field Notes on Seeing: An Archive of Color, Mirrors, and Light, T. Deutch
Acute, Alex D'Haeseleer