"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
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
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