"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 2020
Acoustic signatures: their study, representation, and agency in the experience of architectural spaces, Nathalie d'Hennezel
Behind appearance : hidden dimensions in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, Ning Ding
Mimesis : human-centered digital profiling visual identity, Yangyang Ding
A very large array, Hilary duPont
This land is your land: democratizing landscape architecture, Adrienne Emmerich
In-between through : bordering bodies ; a spatial containment, Aroly Enamorado
Oh wait, is this a loop?, Carl-Gustaf Ewerbring
Slick and lumpy : heavy cream, Emma Fague
Realistic utopia : utopian architecture exhibition at Arcosanti, Xiao Fang
Counter formation, Fabian Fohrer
Binge [Fantasy reality], Elena Foraker
The kitchen table: relationships with the people, food and land that sustain us, Chelsey Frost
Mobility justice and social capital in Strawberry Mansion and Kensington, Philadelphia PA, Rebecca Fruehwald
This feels familiar, E. Winslow Funaki
To make atmosphere, Gonzalo Galetto
A material cooperation over time, Diana Marcela Gallo
Urban storytelling: rebuilding the understanding of place via immersive narrative, Xue Gao
Flowing garments: textile waste reutilization in landscape design, Fengjiao Ge
Voran Test Lab : An exploration of teaching collaborative problem solving and critical thinking through emergent gameplay, Taber Gifford
inVisible: a guide to understanding & designing for introverts, Ashesh Gohil
Glurp, glurp, glurp, Zihe Gong
Through the labyrinth, Rebeca Gonzalez Morales
How to do things with things, Emily Guez
Amor fati, Keavy Handley-Byrne
Tolerance : material conversations on life & architecture, Keyan Hansen
+ one : a new companionship, Vivien Mengjiao Han
Unbound, Changrui He
Contextualize, Jiaai He
Climate resilience for a neighborhood without privilege: East Boston, Peter Niels Heller
American MFA Vol. III Academia, Kevin Hubbard
Generative landscapes: successional and equitable plant propagation on Rhode Island's public lands, Elizabeth Hunt
Project fusion, Tianbao Hu
Mountainous city, Yixuan Hu
Community pop-up galleries : the instruction manual, Mary Iorio
New old: artmaking and storytelling with older adults, Aisha Jandosova
Living under surveillance, Fan Jia
Urban memory : Beijing City wall ruins reconstruction & exhibition, Yuan Jin
In the flesh, Courtney Sierra Johnson
Bundles and blanks and binds and bends, Steven Kaplan-Pistiner
Hain't, Jarrett Key
Here and there: a continuous narrative, Hye Young Kim
Expanded skin, Jihoo Kim
Skew-morphic dream, Yoonsu Kim
Occupying the public : humans, space & identity, Brittany Knowlton
Cross your fingers, Ayumi Kodama
I - 0, Sanghyun Koh
Territories of trash: designing the overlap of spaces of disposal and acquisition, Mary Kokorda Cavazos
Dynamic landscape: The theatre of time unfolding, Mo Kong
Defining Montréal: An exploration on the evolution of Montréal’s brand and cultural representations since 1930, Liliane Lai
Two-gather / collective living : housing and recreational facilities in suburban Mumbai, Rashi Harshil Lalaji
3, 2, 1, Omar Lalani
Playgrounds : symbiosis of humans, nature, and architecture, Hannah Langmuir
New media art: curating social justice in contemporary art museums and arts organizations, Kyung Eun Lee
First sweet truth, Jessina Lynn Leonard
42nd Soundscaping: sound as media for reshaping urban ecology, Chao Li
Encouraging creative behavior through art education, Elaine Li
Transform through architecture : a journey of discovery at the Providence Place Mall, Haoning Li
About intimacy, Jiamin Lin
Kainan Liu, Kainan Liu
Dialogue across time : Atlanta, 1996 and 2020, Qianyu Liu
3D simulation in flooding Providence, Qing Liu
A space for reconciliation, Xiaoran Liu
Exploration and autonomy : wild children in the city, Xiaojie Li
float i;, Zihan Iris Li
Ancient hyper present, Sophie Loloi
Bluenessless, Yuxin Long
The things of mind, Yini Luo
Lift a life, Vidur Madhav
EthnoGraphemes, Vaishnavi Mahendran
Sensuous knitting: making practice that (re)members ecological entanglement, Sarah Manion
Urban ecotone: restoring the water-land balance as a strategy for social equity, Yuzhe Ma
Adaptive reuse pattern book : re-evaluating historical capital, Taylor McCabe
Things that grew while I looked at the ground, Heather McMordie
He Makes the Figs Our Mouths to Meet and Throws the Melons at Our Feet, Josh Meier
Night Knights: reminding children that their nighttime fear isn't something they have to face alone, Ji Hyung Moon
Landscapes of exposure: reframing the connection between body + environment, Kayla Murgo
Getting closer : exploring re-contextualization in exhibition, Yiran Mu
The line, Hannah Oatman
Tension in the curve, S.K. O'Brien
Watermarks : the catalogue for home enthusiasts, Susana Oliveros Amaya
What is rural design? decentralized & community-driven approaches for the Green New Deal that value existing rural land and community, Cornelia Overton
Living together : revisiting the SRO + new forms of collectivity, Elizabeth Parker
Generating tension : memorial of sexual slavery, Mary Park
Smoke and mirrors, Kiernan Pazdar
This side of the air, Madeline Peckenpaugh
Ciudad informal : a new model for urban living, Rebeca Isabel Peña Reinoza
Slice of life : theater of the dinner table, Kate Pincus-Whitney
Art beside a single handshake : can you believe it?, Tongji Qian
The milky way : agritourism on a Chinese dairy farm, Wanyue Qiao
Fifty fifty: redefining domesticity, Ziying Qiao
Reactivating street life : fostering more communal interaction in Longtang, Ziyang Qiu
Banoo-Serai : an all women sanctuary, Kimia Rahnavardi
Growing Quelites in the city: exploration on memory and food sovereignty in Mexico City, Paola Valeria Ramirez Ensastiga
Father figures, Chris Regner
Envisioning work : an autism friendly and anxiety free office, Naixin Ren
Re-connect, Xin Ren
Bug chaser, Peter Rogers