Isabella McCormick (Brown/RISD 2015) explores the intricacies of the Gorham Narragansett Salad Set and their reflections on Rhode Island culture, insights gained from her meticulous cleaning of the utensils as part of her Mellon Summer Internship in conservation.

In 1971, a group of radical students in Providence produced stirring silkscreen posters. Their images contributed to the vibrant visual culture of antiwar protest.

Composer Shawn Greenlee's experimental sound work Substitutions is inspired by the Chinese lithophone in the RISD Museum's Asian art collection

Curatorial intern Grace Xiao reflects on viewing artwork that embraces instability, disruption, and restlessness, making room for open interpretations in the gallery.

RISD student Abena Gyampo traces the history of the hypersexualization of black bodies from the early 19th century to contemporary popular culture

A student in a RISD course on pan-African aesthetics contemplates a vinyl record pictured in a Sanlé Sory photograph in the collection, and imagines the songs it contains.

The handmade object has a tendency to prompt memories from the craftsperson who made it. In this reflection on an embroidered purse from the 1970s, Ariel Wills and Kate Irvin are joined by maker Christina Bevilacqua for a dynamic conversation that demonstrates the narrative qualities embodied in material culture.

Why is an Etruscan situla, or pail, one of the most important objects in RISD's ancient collection? We examine its form, decoration, and context to understand its unique place in European archaeology.

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.

After a half-century's journey, Gorham's magnificent writing table and chair made for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair returned home to Providence.

A glimpse into the lives of international merchants in Canton, China.

A summer intern peeks into the Museum’s hidden corners and examines its architectural quirks.

A summer intern's 3-dimensional visualization and virtual reality exploration of the Kanzeon Raijin Gate in Edo, Japan, as seen in an 1820s print.

This article explores the concept of purity in criticisms of Inuit prints by briefly introducing the history of printmaking in Cape Dorset and looking at 1970s Western art historians' expectations of Inuit art.

How do you lay an Egyptian mummy to rest in a museum? Our curator considered a number of factors in orienting Nesmin, RISD's Egyptian mummy, in his new case in the freshly renovated gallery, but found a strange coincidence in her final decision.

A chance meeting between the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes and Theodore Davis, an illustrator and journalist for "Harper's Weekly", in the White House conservatory produced one of the most extraordinary dinner services.

Five works on paper in the RISD Museum’s collection follow the arc of Charles Burchfield’s career, introducing and reprising themes that reveal his desire for artistic unity with nature.

Curatorial intern Anthony Stott explores the journey of the myths of Ovid—from text to visual medium—in three objects in the neoclassical galleries.

This rare example of Gorham's "Mythologique" flatware service was purposefully left unfinished as they are samples, combining elaborate hand-worked detail with mechanized brute force.

Cleaning an object can be as much about discovery as it is about removing accumulated dust and grime.

While the sixth-floor galleries are undergoing an extensive renovation, the Museum is carefully studying and conducting conservation work on the monumental 12th-century wooden Dainichi Nyorai Buddha. When the Buddha is returned to its gallery in late spring 2014, it will be stabilized and we'll know much more about the art that went into creating this nearly 10-foot-tall sculpture.

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.

A summer intern conspires with a toothy collage in the museum’s collection.

Ceramics student Lindsay Savoie subverts traditional hierarchies that value painting and sculpture more highly than utilitarian art forms like pottery and photography.