On was an interdisciplinary graduate periodical established by RISD graduate students in 2006. It featured essays and student work that related to a general issue theme. On was intended as a quarterly publication, but it is unclear if further issues beyond the first were ever published.
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Marching Through the Floating World: Processions in Ukiyo-e Prints (2020)
Theory & History of Art & Design Department and Elena Varshavskaya (H791 Instructor)
"Marching through the Floating World is a book that accompanies a student curated virtual exhibition of the same title. This exhibition is dedicated to images of processions in ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
Ukiyo-e or “pictures of the floating world” was a vibrant style of urban art that flourished in Japan in the 17th- 19th century, predominantly in the form of mass-produced woodcuts. Steeped in everyday pleasurable pastimes of townspeople, ukiyo-e prints reflected contemporary culture to its fullest, whether fact or fiction, often the two amalgamated in a witty way.
Processions constituted a noticeable theme in ukiyo-e prints as they were an integral part of the commoners’ visual experience. Daimyo processions were traveling from the warlords’ domains to the shogunal capital of Edo (Tokyo) and back as demanded by the sankin-kotai or alternate attendance system. Community processions with exotic floats were essential for matsuri, Shinto and Buddhist festivals. Art, however, goes beyond reality, and in ukiyo-e prints one sees daimyo processions parodied by beautiful women or mimicked by boys. Parades by foreign embassies also appear in ukiyo-e prints, primarily parades of the Korean embassies, often fantasized. Depicted were also processions of supernatural beings or imaginary nostalgic processions in prints of the Meiji era.
Students’ research essays on prints like those mentioned above (and more!) were compiled into a book, which together with educational wall labels, programming brochures and souvenirs constitute an outcome of an art history course taught at RISD in the fall of 2020. This is the eighth project of the kind. ..." -- Foreword, Marching Through the Floating World: Processions in Ukiyo-e Prints
Contributing Authors
Julie Alter, Kade Byrand, Cecilia Cao, Young Ju Choi, Nate Epstein-Toney, Emma Fujita, Catherine Hackl, Helina He Yuheng, Victoria Khrobostova, Benjamin Lamacchia, DaRong Lang, Sofie Levin, Julian Linares, Deirdre Rouse, Joshua Sun, Rauf Syunyaev, Tiffany Weng, Yue Xu, Yuanqing Echo Yao, Kaori Yasunagi, Manni Yu, Wei Zhang, Si Nong Summer Zheng, Holly Gaboriault.
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Field Notes on Seeing: An Archive of Color, Mirrors, and Light
T. Deutch
This thesis investigates memory through photographs, lights and mirrors.
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Acoustic signatures: their study, representation, and agency in the experience of architectural spaces
Nathalie d'Hennezel
I am proposing to engage sound in the design of space through the representation, study, and creation of acoustic signatures.
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Behind appearance : hidden dimensions in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee
Ning Ding
What is the feel like to be a successful artist?
Works being appreciated,being valuable,become famous all over the world?
But what is under? What is behind? The audience seems never to know the story as well as the artworks.
Take an example. When you look at The Scream of Edward Munch, what do you see?
A melting image, a disgusting face, or the derived emoji, which is so popular on the SNS?
What's really behind the painting is Edward Munch's illness, and decades of struggling under sickness, madness, and death.
Most times, when the audience enjoys painting, the imagination can lead to empathy between the audience's emotions and the work, which somehow may help the audience understand the work. Even if you know nothing about the background story, you can still catch the spirit,whether it's dark or light, depressed, or brightful.
But how do you extend that feeling to an abstract artwork?
That is what I'm trying to explore in this thesis---Making the chosen works readable.
