"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
Digital duck, Zach Schumacher
A little more like water, Jacqueline Scott
Creating a safe haven : a study on coastal resilience in a time of climate change & sea-level rise in the Philippines, Maria Carla Victoria M. Sebastian
The objects around us., Rohit Sen
Under / Over Looked, Kopal Seth
Accessibility to possibilities : discover the unknown unknown worlds, Yutong Shen
Storytelling in arts, Lindi Shi
Unite the divided : the transition between death and life, Qing Shi
Totem: An embodiment of human character and personality in footwear design, Sushant Shivaram
Practicing a senior living, Siyu Shuai
U+16E99, Bobby Joe Smith III
Togather: To gather together, Kyungah Sohn
Wrung from grave architectures, Megan Solis
The story of Market House, Patrick Spence
Intimacy in infrastructure, Andrew Sponseller
Silence is a luxury, Elise Stephens
An exploration of multisensory practices and its value in K-12 Art Education, Melissa St Pierre
Adapting home : residential development and domestic comfort in Vermont, Mikéla Sumner
A city's culture should include birds : to rethink of architecture with birds in mind, Pan Sun
Urban palimpsest: re-placing memory in war torn city Dresden, Xinyi Sun
Re-source : Re-source your resources, Raquel Swartz
Rootless, Lilla Szekely
With eyes unclouded, Tiffany Tang
Reviving the hollowing rural village: research on the coastal mountainous region of Kaihua, China, Rui Tao
How to be simultaneously precise and nondescript, McKinzie Trotta
Blueridgelivin' : environmental development and suburban sprawl, Chris Villalta
Uncanny genericism, Eamon Wagner
To protect the hell yeah and every hell yeah's variations, Lukey Walden
Lived-in grassland : nomadic architecture in the nomadic community of Mongolia, Linxi Wang
Internal resonance, Xiangyu Wang
Living and alive : homeless shelter design, Zixu Wang
Possibilities in void, Fangyu Wei
Green arteries, Jiapan Wei
Re-occupation : buildings, ideology and decolonization in Northeastern China, Ziyu Wei
Specific : and practices in the urban periphery, Sam Wesselman
These inadvertent marks, Thomas Wilder
Architecture of dreams, Alex Jing-Seng Wong
The ultimate task of public libraries : introducing architecture as pedestal, Elaine Wu
Reality behind beauty : Hayao Miyazaki's perspective of human and nature, Tianyang Wu
Discovering the potential of the public realm : revitalizing dead zones in Fall River, Massachusetts, Rui Xie
Energy convergence, Xiaoyu Xu
Surviving in a gregarious world, Shiyang Yao
Make yourself at home, Han Seok You
Finding identity in memories, Hyejun Youn
Urban village compound : new collectives in Shenzhen, Lu Yu
Clay beneath the tree: an exploration of design processes in community development, Shiya Zeng
Something to see here, Weixi Zeng
Fluid urbanism, Huachen Zhang
Restorative urbanism: redefining socio-ecosystems in Manila, Kaixin Zhang
Relocation community revival, Zhan Zhang
Individuality : enhance living in Shenzhen's urban village, Lanting Zhong
Ether: a social design, Zihan Zhou
Utopian fantasy, Yue Zhuo
Theses from 2019
[Super] structure : expanding the network / reclaiming the path, Anna Albrecht
Integration as a catalyst for change : school for Rohingya children, Naeera Ali
Biomatters : future of biology as material source, Tareq Alzawawi
Mis jarrones, Marco Sebastián Arroyo Hoebens
Record : from signal to atmosphere, and the spaces between silence and noise, Amy Auman
Glossary I : Graduate Thesis, Eli Backer
American Slavic : and other writings, Zac Banik
Recovery in reverse, Shiyu Bei
Mindful interactions, Shreyans Bhandari
Unimproved : land observation at the edge of progress, Adam Somers Bowen
Throngs, Yinan Chen
Walking mediation : bringing back rituals on temple visits on Mount Putuo, Zhejiang, China, Tianjie Chi
Slowness in the fray : architecture that orients to nature, Colin Christensen
Bitter son, Adam Chuong
Tell me about a class at RISD : classroom experiences of multilingual, international Graduate students at the Rhode Island School of Design, Madeline Conley
Human artist, Nicholas Costantino
Plenty : wanting, choosing,, overwhelming unloading, Christopher Cote
The social life of working waterfronts : strategies for renewing the social value of productive harbors, Evan Davenport
Urban acupuncture : can the deliberate use of tactical interventions reinvigorate informal settlements?, Robert Samir Diaz Vicente
Addicts of nostalgia, Samuel Robert Campbell Drake
Personal analysis of the relationship of artist to the subject in figurative painting, Zuhal Feraidon
Mais fica : more for me, Gabrielle Marie Ferreira
In-between places, Jonah Fleeger
Stepping aside, Juan Pablo Gutiérrez García
Spontaneous laughter, laughter without reason, Evan Gilbert
Train boy, Shannon Gross
Distance is a place, Zhiqing Guo
No long urban, can't be rural, definitely not suburban : the experience of Detroit, Karin Jane Hostettler
The moment someone opens a book, a Venus flytrap is tightening its cage, Chenlu Hou
Conversations in 2019, Kit Howland
Works and process, Alex Hsu
Architecture as magnet : extension to Fort Adams, Mingyi Hu
Exhibiting materiality : object for love attachment therapy, Yunhong Hu
Instants // intervals, Valerie James
Trademark, Cathryn Jasterzbski
The line that splits, Zahra Jewanjee
Among : a series of enactments, Joel F. Kern
Let's meet over there / Eury Kim., Eury Kim
Lateral movements : in multifaceted time and space, Jieun Kim
Tanzania : a new architectural pedagogy, Cameron Leandri
The person-less portrait, Katelyn Ledford
Tea journeys : exhibition as experience, Liujun Liao
When we are old : a mutualism system for the canal network and its aging community, Jiali Li
Road home : family renovation in rural China, Guijiadong Lin
Sky is sinking below the trees : two years of documentation and observations, Xuelun Li
Making common, Elaine Lopez