13 April 2009
Fine Arts Program Offers Intensive Experience, Diversity
Every student has studio space at Rhode Island School of Design
Washington — Not many universities have a campus store selling the creations of its faculty and alumni — artworks, DVDs, housewares, ceramics, jewelry, fashion accessories, books and other gifts — but the Rhode Island School of Design is famous for what its faculty, students and alumni have created as artists and designers. The store’s name, risd/works, plays on the name by which the school is familiarly known: RISD (pronounced “Rizzdee”).
Founded in the 1870s, RISD offers the United States’ top-ranked graduate programs in the fine arts, according to U.S. News and World Report magazine — ceramics, digital media, furniture design, glass, graphic design, industrial design, interior architecture, jewelry and metalsmithing, landscape architecture, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and textiles.
A recent survey of 200 architecture firms by the journal DesignIntelligence ranks RISD at the top with four other schools when it comes to architecture as well.
Located in Providence, Rhode Island, contiguous to Brown University, one of the famed Ivy League schools, the RISD community comprises 2,200 students from around the world, including 370 graduate students, approximately 350 faculty and curators, and 400 staff members.
International students comprise a significant fraction of the RISD student body — almost 25 percent.
“RISD has provided me with all the tools I require for any of the design fields I’d like to go into,” said Jerome Arul, a student from Singapore. “The Foundation Studies program lets me fully explore all my potential for all the areas of art before I narrow down my interests and passion for selecting a major. While you may come into RISD focused with one design career in mind, the college opens all the possible doors that provide you with so many opportunities and possibilities that you’ll be overwhelmed with all the great things you wish to achieve.”
Arul sees the school’s diversity as the most important aspect of his experience. “RISD is an open venue to meet people from all walks of life, each of different backgrounds and traditions. It’s remarkable because what brings these people together is the common language and appreciation for art and design,” he said.
RISD has helped develop the talents of such well-known artists as fashion designer Nicole Miller, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, glass artist Dale Chihuly, creator of the TV show Family Guy Seth MacFarlane, architect/designer Preston Scott Cohen, artist/author Mark Shasha, photographer Francesca Woodman and author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg.
At the undergraduate level, RISD offers bachelor degrees in fine arts, architecture, interior architecture, industrial design and graphic design.
“We have a full liberal arts and art history curriculum,” said Claudia Ford, director of RISD’s Office of International Programs. “We have a curriculum that is both steeped in the tradition of our 150-year-old school and cutting-edge and innovative. All of our students are required to take an identical foundation year of classes to hone their skills in visual knowledge and production.”
Providence, Ford said, is “a small, manageable city that has all the amenities of a big city and is located convenient to Boston and New York. We are a small school but located close to the facilities and amenities of a major university. The research opportunities are limitless.”
RISD and Brown offer a dual-degree program that allows participating students to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree from RISD and a bachelor of arts degree from Brown over the course of five years.
“RISD is an intense and intensive academic experience,” Ford said. “We are not known as a ‘party school.’ Our students work long and hard hours on their classroom and studio work. We have a strong work ethic and studio-based culture where every student has their own studio space and works intensely on their projects.”
Freshmen have their own drafting-table work areas in their dorm rooms in addition to shared studio space in the freshman residence hall complex that is accessible around the clock. Graduate students have private or semi-private studio facilities with 24-hour access.
RISD has an unusually high graduation rate — on average, 90 percent of students who begin as freshmen complete their studies and receive a degree within six years.
A 2005 survey of RISD alums found 96 percent employed and 4 percent in graduate school. Of those employed, 70 percent had a job in the arts directly related to their major, while 25 percent were employed in a position indirectly related to their major. These results are typical, according to the RISD career office.
To view photo galleries and videos of master’s thesis work done by the Class of 2008, visit the RISD Web site. Work from the class of 2009 will be available for viewing online soon.
For more top schools, see Education & Youth.
