"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 2026
Foveate, Dahlia Aggarwal
Sentience, Sheetal Agrawal
Femmage Work, Mary Elizabeth Alford
countersense, Avrie Allen
Studio Archeology: Uncovering Pedagogical Potential in Artist Spaces, Julia I. Ambros
Without traditional craftsmanship, Modern Design is nothing, Muhammad Asif
OPEN_______, Eitan Boiarsky
Echándole Ganas: Pláticas of Belonging + Resistance in Art + Design, Itzanya Bravo
There is No Real : The Burden Makes it Real, Matthew L. Brown
AER, Qiyi Cai
41.82379°N, 71.38497°W, Xiaotong Cai
Commodity Beyond Price: A Visible Database of Free Objects, Yifei Cai
The Maroon Cycle, Lloyd-Princeton Cangé
I Miss My Computer: Online Artistry, Web Aesthetics, and Coming-of-Age in a Digital Landscape, Catherine Capeci
AuxiliarY DamagE, Aiyi Cheng
Frictional Intelligence, Posheng Cheng
PROVIDENCE PUZZLE:Exhibition Design as Urban Spatial Practice, Ye Chen
What a Wonderful Dream, Zhaoyue Chen
Objects With Life, Yu Ting Chiu
Fallen Leaves:The Unseen, Forgotten, Presences that Live in Us, Juhee Cho
Painting as SFX, Callie Coccia
Companionship, Certainty, Integrity, Chandler C. Curtis
Huh? Wow!, Lieyah Dagan
The Wall as Commons, Raveena Deshpande
Waterway: A Steam-Based Therapeutic Device System, Mingyuan Dong
Tùn-Scene and A-Futurism: Biomythography, Opacity, and Posthuman Imagination, Minglu Du
Strata: Portraits of the Alvarado & the Southwest, Kayla R. Duncan
I BELIEVE, Rusudan Dushuashvili
Boring Objects Bureau, Eric Fan
Mirth, Lauren Schell Farias
Always More to Explore: Play and Resilience in Community-Based Artmaking, Charlotte T. Faubert
Reading Exercise (You Are the Hero): Dedicated to the Providence River Under the Mall, 02.17.2026, Deborah Fischer
"Hand and Mind Lead to Life": Craft Pedagogy in Art Education for Older Adolescent Learners, Katherine Fu
Fetishismus:Facism, Sodomy, and the Exhibition, Matthew P. Gershovich
Ambient Furniture, Andrew T. Goulet
Dead Reckoning, Jeremy A. Grail
Music as an Environment, Yuval Gur
Love Letters to Insects: Affect-based science communication, Manuela Guzmán
LACE MEMORY LAB, Xinyu Han
Between nature and architecture : A dialogue of five elements, Niexiangyi He
The Amplifier: Small Spaces, Loud Futures, Szewai Hong
all the hours of light, Isabel Horgan
How to Make a Jumpsuit, Xue Huang
Until the Ground Breaks, Annie Hu
Finding the Estuary, Rhea HU
Useful Useless Object, Jisu Han Jung
Beyond the Tampon (Menstrual Equity & Justice Certification), Rucha Kale
Perceptual Heterotopia: A Spatial Experience through Light, Media, and Textiles, Anne Yeoji Kim
The Marathon without Running: Experiencing a runner's sensorial journey, Harin Kim
Recombobulation- Taking the Bad with the Good, Gregory T. Kmieciak
Where my memory settles, Rachel Kobb
Menstrual Muses: Art, Storytelling, and the Care-Based Communication of Menstrual Justice, Burcu Koleli
DOMESTICATING DURATION, Xiaoyu Lan
CHAIR FOR WORKPLACE MORALE, Alicia Lee
Circling, Eun Yong Lee
Frameworks, Hailey Lee
Part-Time Faculty in Art and Design Higher Education: Support & Challenges, Katherine Ye Jin Lee
Soft Space/Strong Support, Keqian Li
Digital as Material, Ruoxi Li
Within Boundaries: Collecting and Exhibiting Chinese Contemporary Art in M+, Hong Kong, Lei April Liu
Where Forms Dream, Siran Liu
After Yellow Horse: From Passive Shelter to a Self-Sustaining Cycle, Xinyuan Liu
Not Reaching the End, Yiyun Liu
Waiting for Memory to Expire, Yuanji Liu
Specific Randomness, Xinyi Li
Jewelry as a Portable Sanctuary, Yuhao Li
Held In Sediment, Kati Lowe
Post Desire, Lucy E. Luckovich
Body In Process: Assembly, Control and the Medical Gaze, Fangzhou Lu
Draw to Breathe, Ranran Ma
The Porous Auto Body, Banshee Maria
care ecologies between knots, Eliza R. Marris
The Frame You're Holding, Andrea Mato
Finding a Way Out of the Filter Bubble: The Confusion of a Heavy Social Media User, Longwen Miao
The Root Over My Eyes, Shiyeon Monk
Sous-Bois, Spencer G. Peterson
Critical Connections: An evaluation and envisioning of partnership between art museums, schools, & central offices, Bennett R. Portillo
numb., Anna Rapson
Finding The Magic: On Kenning and Mediation, Anna L. Rasmussen
Gray Sheep, Jennifer Richie
Between Seeing and Knowing, Pavol Roskovensky
Writing from the Rift: Queer Temporality and the Refusal of Resolution, Daniela Ruiz Perez
Jadughar: The House of Magic, Dhruvi A. Shah
A Body Stitched in Traces, Youyun Shang
2'x2' : Situating Cohabitation, Liz B. Shepherd
What Teachers See: Collaborative Artmaking in Chinese and U.S. Elementary Schools, Jiayu Shi
Household Hegemon: Domestic and Affective Traces of US Influence in Mexico in the 1950s and 1990s, Edgar Solórzano
The Home and the Self: On Perceptions of Feminine Virtue, Rebecca Stevens
چھپن چھپائی (Chupan chupai), Muhammad Talha Mr
Where the Walls Came Down: Reimagining the Disaster-Induced Modern Ruin, Zhenmi Tang
Sites of Departure, Kevin Tomas
1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, ..., AnneMarie Torresen
Our Own, My Own: Expereinces with Art, Kaleisha Towle
Breathing Structures: Hygroscopicity of fibers., Nawal Urooj and Nawal Urooj
Made in Chimerica, Austin Wang
Domestic Travelers: Transparent Machines, Hollow Bodies, Hanyi Wang
Where Each Step Lands: Reconnecting and Reparenting Through Visual Narrative, Skye Wang
A Thesis by an Art Student Trying to Find Meaning in Simulation Games, Yichuan Wang
Material Costs, Karima Weinman
For Now, Eriq Wities