Art and Design Commons^™

Food, Drink, Time, New Year And Cloth, Jian Li

Masters Theses

My project uses traditional Chinese calligraphy culture and my own family stories to create five daily use products to help my user find a sense of belonging to Chinese culture and also introduce my culture and stories to all audiences.

As an international student who came to the US, I have often struggled with a lack of cultural identity and belonging. This is a common issue faced by many who choose to leave their homes and venture to new places. However, I believe that we can overcome this by creating products that generate an emotional connection with their users.

Postindustrial Playbook++, Maxwell Fertik

Masters Theses

There is no such thing as an undisrupted ecosystem. Every inch of the planet is impacted by industrial development and its chemical legacy has mutated the soil and water. As a response, this thesis is designed to promote abundant over extractive resources and visualize a post-industrial reality. It consists of a series of objects, writing and design research on the relationship of industry and ecosystem.

In many ways it is a playbook++, laying out possible strategies or “plays’’ for making do with what exists around us amid collapse.

Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)(ي'ڑ*), a plant that grows in the most degraded …

Militure, Bingdong Duan

Masters Theses

The aim of this research is to explore how individual soldier equipment can be systematically integrated into everyday life. War, as the epitome of struggle and conflict, stimulates the fundamental human instinct for survival. To achieve this end, various methods involving a wide range of fields such as technology, culture, economy, and politics are utilized. Under the driving force of survival, explorations are conducted in various areas, with individual soldier equipment being notably prominent. Nations spend a substantial amount each year on developing individual soldier equipment, which optimizes functionality to such an extent that it has formed its unique aesthetics …

Making Then Meaning, Ben Denzer

Masters Theses

This is an artist talk contained within a book. It is 816 pages and 49 minutes long. Closed captions run across the spreads. A video of this talk can be watched on bendenzer.com/making-then-meaning

At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.

I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.

I think meaning comes from …

Moving At The Speed Of Trust, Sun Ho Lee

Masters Theses

Moving at the Speed of Trust is a workbook of strategies — practices, definitions, and techniques — to nurture community-building in support of inbetweeners who live between power structures and cultures and are often left out. Inbetweeners are those individuals whose lives are in transition through recent immigration or forced translocation from Asia to America.

These strategies revolve around threads of trust: kin, giggles, vulnerability, and shared experience. With these threads, we can question power. We can preserve stories, expand the ways we connect, shift perspectives on what is “standard,” and cultivate a community rooted in understanding. To understand each …

Moving Narration: A Journey Through History, Yincheng Zhu

Masters Theses

The Central Pacific, as the first transcontinental railroad, is a remarkable achievement in the history of the United States. However, the story of what happened during its construction, including the struggles of the first generation of immigrants from China who built the tracks, and the resistance of native Americans to cede their lands, is largely forgotten. The California Zephyr, as a long-trip train that currently runs on the Central Pacific tracks, is not only a means of transportation but should also tell the history of survival and resistance embodied by the landscape it moves through and tracks it travels over. …

Surfacing: A (Loose) Manual On Unlayering / Stuff-Making And Hypervisibility, Zoë Pulley

Masters Theses

This is a (loose) manual on a method I like to refer to as surfacing.

A method that synthesizes narrative through the use of surfaces such as textiles, paper, web & video to reveal the spectacularly ordinary parts of Black life within a growing design practice.

A method I (currently) practice in three (evolving) steps:

Unlayering and piecing together stuff (rememory)

Acknowledgment of ancestry through stuff-making (kin)

Consciousness of oneself and the place / time / space in which the work is being disseminated (hypervisibility)

This is a manual that profiles a (current) design practice of a Black female maker …

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

A Presence Of P____ And W__Th, Riley Wilson

Masters Theses

This body of work examines the involvement of association as it relates to our cultural interpretations of natural phenomena. Flowers and animals, both real and imagined, have been used as symbols for human morality since the beginning of human history. Two sources with which I drew inspiration from are medieval bestiaries and the Victorian practice of flower language. By combining elements from these references, I aim to pair this idea about the human need for classification with my own considerations about my identity. In combination, I also aim to highlight the responsibility that is intrinsic to curiosity. When faced with …

Soul Furnace / فرن الأرواح, Isa Ghanayem

Masters Theses

“This is the good washing, this is (the washing) which separates the dirty body from the pure body. This is like silver mixed with lead, it is separated from it by this (process): one makes for it a cupel of bones, which is what is called the “head of the dog” and of which the common name is kūja-which is the crucible—and this must be made of burnt bones. One melts the silver in it, one gives it a strong fire: the cupel will absorb and receive the lead, the fire will make its subtle (part) fly away and extirpate …

Garden Etiquette, Kai Wasikowski

Masters Theses

Garden Etiquette is an ongoing project concerned with landscape photography, environmental conservation, and the way they have both served the settler colonialist agenda. I focus specifically on the conservation ideologies shaped in New South Wales (NSW) Australia and New England, United States of America (USA) in the late nineteenth century and the settler visualities that underwrote them. Both countries’ histories were marked by photography and conservation’s common function of mythologising land as empty space—to be invaded, extracted and occupied, and wilderness—to be territorialized and protected, albeit, in distinct ways.

With British, German and Polish settler ancestry, born and raised on …

Material Encounters: Making Memory Beyond The Mind, Ariel Wills

Masters Theses

Can acts of making carry the memories of our embeddedness within the world? This thesis explores how making things can nurture a sense of kinship that cuts across the organic and inorganic, erasing the distinction between living and dead, material and spiritual. Through handwork such as art-making, sewing, knitting, cooking, woodworking, and beyond, the burden of remembering and of archiving is shared across human and non-human bodies, cultivated through practices of making, and through the materials themselves. By recounting the stories of my family’s experience as Jewish immigrants in the United States, I aim to reveal how their domestic practices …

Risd Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective Program, Agnieszka Taborska, Bill Newkirk, Risd Archives

RISD Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective

No abstract provided.

Risd Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective Poster, Agnieszka Taborska, Bill Newkirk, Risd Archives

RISD Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective

No abstract provided.

Risd Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective Poster, Agnieszka Taborska, Bill Newkirk, Risd Archives

RISD Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective

No abstract provided.

Risd Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective Program, Agnieszka Taborska, Bill Newkirk, Risd Archives

RISD Cabaret 1987-2000 Retrospective

No abstract provided.

Welcome To The Doll House, Francie Latour, Risd Xyz

RISD XYZ Fall/Winter 2013: Out of Bounds

From the Barbie dresses he made as a boy to his first splash in the New York art world, Martín Gutierrez 12 PR is working to perfect what he has always done naturally.

Eliza Buffington And The Early Years Of The Library, Carol Terry

Infinite Radius: Founding Rhode Island School of Design

No abstract provided.

A History Of Risd's Histories: Happy Indeed Is The Audience That Has No Random Historian, Andrew Martinez

Infinite Radius: Founding Rhode Island School of Design

No abstract provided.

Preface, Dawn Barrett, Andrew Martinez

Infinite Radius: Founding Rhode Island School of Design

No abstract provided.

Aha! Vivat Homo Sapiens, Agnieszka Taborska, James Bewley, Szymon Bojko, Conrad Armstrong, Vincent Balistrieri, Heidi Bochain, Sarah Brown, Vale Bruck, Lily Burickson, Marin De Charette, Sarah Dungan, Edie Faig, Matthew Fairbank, Amy Feldman, Jon Fernandez, Hal Forsstrom, Andrea Hackman, Leon Imas, Sherman Kew, Lara Kurtaman, Bri Mcdonnell, Lauren Nassef, Jesse M. Ragan, Allen Spetnagel, Adam Stanforth, Jenny Vovolvski, Ariana White, Chris Yates

Programs

Program for the twelfth and final annual RISD Cabaret held in the Cellar at the top of the Waterman Building.

Astonish Me! Recalling The Cabaret Spirit, Agnieszka Taborska, Dawn Danby, Ian Freeman, Eric Urban, Hyun Hee Cho, Marin De Charette, Matthew Cottam, Carolyn Gehrig, Matthew Heitel, Aimee Estilow, Sarah Rundlett, Robert Van Varick, Issak Tobin, Antoine Revoy, Lee Savage, Erica Wolf, Kevin Lang, Allison Brabee, Hyun-Suk Kim, Helen Lee, Marco Cimatti, Nicholas Fuhrer

Programs

Program for the 1999 RISD Wintersessoin Cabaret intiated by the "Image and Word" class in collaboration with students of RISD Cabaret 1998 and held at AS220. The presentation was conceived and performed in homage and celebration of past RISD Cabaret shows 1987-1998. Graphic Design: Ron Winter, Ji-Ho Sohn and Eric Urban.

The Cabaret Of Dead Souls: Harvesting Russian History, Agnieszka Taborska, Jake Mahaffy, Szymon Bojko, Gella Alhassid, So-Hee Cheong, Matthew Cottam, Dawn Danby, Lorreine Fedor, Andrew Gardner, Carl Henschel, Michael Hoard, Kevin Lang, Eric Leichner, Michael Libby, April Lin, Pia Restina, Markus Reyes, James Sanders, Nicholas Scappaticci, Brett Shagen, Michael Shih, Aika Tong, Araby Williams

Programs

Program for the eleventh annual RISD Cabaret held in the Cellar at the top of the Waterman Building. Graphic design: Mia Moran, Matt Murphy, James Wynn and Katia Popova.

The Beat Generation, Agnieszka Taborska, Paula Hunter, Steven L. Jobe, James O. Barnhill, Helen Lee, Joshua Waldman, Nishira Fitzgerald, Brendan Meilman, Ismael Lawall, Zach Pitt-Smith, Kevin Walker, Tamara Carroll, Rhon Porter, Maleese Schick, Rhody Azcueta, Kevin Umbricht, Matthew Curry, Jee-Eun Kim, Michelle Lee, Marisa Nealon, Karelle Levi, Hilary Riley, Simon Potter, Antoinette Le Vaillant

Programs

Program for the tenth annual RISD Cabaret held in the Waterman Building, top floor coinciding "with the fiftieth anniversary of the year when Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac first met and started a movement which changed the face of postwar American and influenced the 1960s as well as the subculture of the '70s and '80s." Program, poster and tickets designed by Antoinette le Vaillant.

Ubu Roi, Agnieszka Taborska, Sylvie Toux, Joseph Silva, Marisa Nealon, Jeremy Siew, Matt Desmith, Helen Lee, Roslyn Wiria, Janine L. Burt, Matt Moreau, Jessica Guarino, Kathy Leung, Jennifer Norton, Mutsuko Kasai, Raoul Kim, Simon Potter, Jenny Tu, Pei-Ju Chuang

Programs

Program for the nineth annual RISD Cabaret held in the Waterman Building commemorating the 100th anniversary of the premier of Alfred Jarry's 1896 play, "Ubu Roi". Graphic design: Matt DeSmith and Vivian Law.

Here Comes Grosz, Agnieszka Taborska, Szymon Bojko, Marc Cannon, Denise Emerson, Aurora Gist-Yochum, Alex Hart, Arthur Jones, Laleh Khorramian, Scott King, Maki Koto, Sarah Kreiger, Ricahrd Lloyd, Luciana Mallozzi, Michael Mckenna, Pilar Newton, Heidi Sawyer, Jasmine Winkler, Sue Yoo, Heather Henson, David Medina, Doug Kim, Tara Markus, Hugh Watson, Yoon Cho, Yu-Kyung Chung, Arthur Jones, Polly Spencer

Programs

Program for the eighth annual RISD Cabaret held in Cellar at the top of the Waterman Building. Publicity, posters, cartoons and program designed by Yoon Cho, Yu-Kyung Chung,Arther Jones, Scott King, Richard Lloyd and Polly Spencer.

The Life And Times Of Joseph Beuys, Agnieszka Taborska, Marcin Gizycki, Mark Snyder, Margaret Lewis, Julie Strandberg, Maki Koto, Yvonne Roe, Sven Armster, Ting-Ting Lee, Luciana Mallozzi, Lucinda Wolf, Christine Pellicano, James Bewley, Leah Smith, Matthew Saam, Dawn Marie Caulfield, Ellen Godena, Catherine Warner, Roy Fabian, Shirly Whong, Scott King, Megan Mclarney, Lucinda Wolfe, Andrew Feder

Programs

Program for the seventh annual RISD Cabaret held in the Waterman Building. Graphic design: Mark Snyder; program editor: Margaret Lewis; program photography: Marcin Gizycki.

The Big Yes And The Little No, Agnieszka Taborska, Steven L. Jobe, David L. Campbell, Christopher F. Lowery, Paul Phillips, Elsie T. Hill, Priscilla Yeh, Adele Abide, Miriam Borchherdt, Dawn Marie Caulfield, Mimi Chung, Daniela Fiss, Hector Gonzalez, Akiko Hamazaki, Sarah R. Kreiger, Luciana L. Mallozzi, Ervin Ramos, Katherine Sheehan, Vanessa Sterbenz, Bruce Jason Tennis, Antanas Vainius, Andrea Winter, Julie Wollaeger, Ofra Yacobi

Programs

Program for the sixth annual RISD Cabaret held in the cellar at the top of the Waterman Building. Design and layout by Nonie Close.

Tabou, Agnieszka Taborska, Julie Strandberg, Vivienne Cho, Jennifer Delventhal, Yvonne Roe, Yutaka Sho, Tamira Estes, Rosanna Garcia, Mariví González, Diana Brozek, Stephanie Hall, Jennifer Hayward, Dawn Marie, Michelle Regan, James O. Barnhill, Nonie Close, David Duvall, Jay Haon, Christopher Schaie, Michael Weiss, Jeff Southard, Candice Goldfarb, Charity Macdonald, Jennifer Delvanthal, Sylvie Toux, Gabriel Albarelo, Erika Munro, Aaron Abroff, Jay Haon, Olexa, Ian Smith, Ming Gale

Programs

Program for the fifth annual RISD Cabaret held in the Waterman Building. Design and layout by Nonie Close.

The Unknown And Awakening Europe, Agnieszka Taborska, Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz, Daniel Kraft, James O. Barnhill, Paul Andrejco, Bo Joseph, Christopher Kazlauskas, Ralph Kelliher, Timothy Mcelreath, Sol Armada, Carrie Bloomston, Alice Gould, Courtney Herman-Taylor, Renée Venditti, Treva Offutt, Mylene Santos, Dawn Caulfield, Joshua Wood, Carrie Caldfield, Gabriella Norton, Adriana Spurr, Hunter Marshall

Programs

Program for the fourth annual RISD Cabaret held in the Cellar at the top of the Waterman Building. Design by Daniel Kraft.