During the Fall of 2015, Sheila Bonde’s graduate students in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University undertook an investigation of the wood sculptures in the RISD Museum collections. This multi-author paper includes some of their findings.
Educator MJ Robinson reflects on student reactions to their gender presentation and shares a lesson plan inspired by artist Nick Cave’s Soundsuits to help elementary-aged students identify and challenge gender-based stereotypes.
In the winter of 1886, the neighborhoods of Paris were transformed by an unusually heavy snowfall that lingered on the branches of trees and captured the imagination of the artist Berthe Morisot.
The future is an abstract concept, hard to decode and difficult to predict. A summer intern reflects on fashion and future in this creative writing piece.
Ceramics student Lindsay Savoie subverts traditional hierarchies that value painting and sculpture more highly than utilitarian art forms like pottery and photography.
The RISD Museum collection application program interface (API) lays out how our website’s search function operates, aiding discovery of the museum’s collection and allowing collection data to be used in innovative ways.
Curatorial Fellow Conor Moynihan explains how to schedule a virtual visit. With class-tailored PowerPoints focused on up to 10 collection objects, virtual visits encourage close looking, discussion-based learning, and non-linear exploring.
Aaron Douglas was inspired by ancient and contemporary architecture, visual art and poetry. By exploring his painting and finding connections to poetry, what can we learn about how artists use different artistic styles and art forms to represent the many kinds of work it takes to build societies, both in the past and today?
Why is contemporary English artist Paul Scott interested in a ceramic technique and imagery from the 1700-1800s? How does he work with transferware to comment on environmental issues and systemic racism in the United States?
How are museum collections constructed? Producer Emma Vecchione searches for an answer in examining the police raid of a 1978 art exhibition, a collection of pictures at the RISD Museum, and the family photographs on top of her mother’s television set.
How does Liliana Porter use objects as playful characters in her prints? How can we create scenes using our own special objects and tell stories about them?
Curatorial intern Sam Nehila uses collage to create abstracted forms and explore the trans experience of engaging with the museum’s collection of male nude bodies.
The American and European jewelry collection at the RISD Museum, part of the Decorative Arts and Design Department, is made up of more than 800 works, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings from the medieval period to present day.
The RISD Museum is proud to participate in this non-partisan initiative of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), which uses design to encourage civic engagement.