List of Rhode Island School of Design people explained

This is a list of notable people from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Notable alumni

Architecture

• Raëd Abillama (BFA 1992; BArch 1993) — Lebanon-based architect^[1]
• Deborah Berke (BFA 1975; BArch 1977; Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts 2005) — dean of Yale School of Architecture; principal of Deborah Berke Partners
• Preston Scott Cohen (BArch 1983) — Gerald M. McCue Professor in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design; principal of Preston Scott Cohen, Inc.
• Jonathan L. Foote (1959) — architect^[2]
• Frances Henley (1897) — first woman to independently practice architecture in Rhode Island^[3]
• Allan Merrick Jeffers — architect, designer of the Alberta Legislature Building^[4]
• Bernard Khoury (BFA 1990; BArch 1991) — Lebanese architect^[5]
• Richard Levine (BArch 1962) — professor, green architect, and sustainability pioneer^[6]
• Alice Malhiot (BArch 1910) — believed to be the first Canadian woman to graduate from an architectural school^[7]
• Michael Maltzan (BArch) — principal and founder of Michael Maltzan Architecture^[8]
• Sam Posey (BFA Painting 1966) — New England car racer, painter and architect^{[9] [10]}
• Ira Rakatansky (BArch 1942) — Providence-based architect^[11]
• Hashim Sarkis (BArch 1987) — architect^[12]
• Richard M. Sommer (BArch 1984, BFA 1983) — director, Global Cities Institute (present), dean, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto (2009–2020), Director of Urban Design and associate professor, Harvard Graduate School of Design (1998–2009)^{[13] [14] [15]}
• Nader Tehrani (BArch 1986) — dean, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of the Cooper Union (2015—present), professor and head of the Department of Architecture, MIT (2010–2014); principal and founder of NADAAA
• Veronika Valk (1997) — Estonian architect^[16]
• Clifford Wiens (BArch 1954) — Canadian architect^[17]

Fine Art

Art collectives

• Forcefield
  • Matt Brinkman (BFA 1997) — artist
  • Jim Drain (BFA 1998) — artist^[18]
  • Ara Peterson (BFA 1997) — artist

Art collectors and art dealers

• Mary Boone (BFA 1973) — owner of Mary Boone Gallery^[19]
• David Whitney (B. Interior Architecture 1963) — art collector and curator; longtime companion of architect Philip Johnson^[20]

Digital arts

• Rebecca Allen (BFA 1975) — pioneer of early computer art, installation art, interface design, and professor

Sculpture

Film and television

Actors

Industrial design

• David Hanson (BFA FAV 1997)^[21] — robotics designer of Sophia
• Charles Tsunashima (BFA Industrial Design, 1997, MFA Textiles 2000) — industrial designer, Tama Art University faculty^[22]
• Archduke Dominic of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Tuscany (BFA Industrial Design, 1960)

Music

Musical bands

Bands formed by students while attending RISD

Black Dice – Formed in 1997

• Hisham Bharoocha (BFA 1998) — artist and musician, former member of Black Dice and Lightning Bolt
• Sebastian Blanck (BFA 1998) — artist and musician, former member of Black Dice

Fang Island – Formed in 2005

• Fang Island

Les Savy Fav – Formed in 1995

• Syd Butler
• Tim Harrington

Lightning Bolt – Formed in 1994

• Hisham Bharoocha (BFA 1998) — artist and musician, former member of Black Dice and Lightning Bolt
• Brian Chippendale (no degree) — artist, founded Fort Thunder
• Brian Gibson (BFA 1998) — artist

Rubber Rodeo – Formed in 1980

• Rubber Rodeo

Talking Heads – Formed in 1974

• David Byrne (no degree)
• Chris Frantz (BFA 1974)
• Tina Weymouth (BFA 1974)

Textiles

• Pia Camil (BFA 2003) — contemporary artist^[23]
• Cynthia Schira (BFA 1956) — textile artist known for adding relief and irregularity to weavings made on a Jacquard loom^[24]
• Ruth Adler Schnee (BFA 1945) — a founding figure of contemporary textile design in America, best known for her modern prints and abstract-patterns of organic and geometric forms^[25]

Notable current and past faculty

See also: List of presidents of the Rhode Island School of Design.

Fine Arts Division

The Fine Arts Division includes the following departments; ceramics, film/animation/video, glass, illustration, jewelry and metalsmithing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles.

Ceramics

• Otto and Vivika Heino — ceramics

Film, animation, video

• Yvonne Andersen — professor in animation, department head
• Janet Perlman — animator, Oscar nominee for The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin^[26]
• Steven Subotnick — professor in animation

Illustration

• Jean Blackburn (BFA 1979) — archaeological illustrator, sculptor, and painter^{[27] [28]}
• Lars Grant-West — illustrator for Wizards of the Coast
• Fred Lynch (BFA 1986) — journalistic illustrator
• David Macaulay (BArch 1969) — illustrator and author
• Barry Moser — illustrator
• Kelly Murphy (BFA 1999) — illustrator and author, E.B. White Award winner for Masterpiece
• Chris Van Allsburg (MFA Sculpture 1975) — children's book author/illustrator, Caldecott winner for Jumanji and The Polar Express

Jewelry and metalsmithing

• John Prip — silver design

Painting

• Richard Merkin (MFA 1963) — professor emeritus, painter
• Duane Slick — painting faculty since 1995^[29]
• George William Whitaker — first instructor of oil painting^[30]
• Mabel May Woodward — painting faculty for over 20 years;^[31] during the early 20th century introduced the "action class," in which students studied the human figure as a machine rather than as a stationary object^[32]

Photography

• Diane Arbus — photographer
• Harry Callahan — photographer, former chair of the Department of Photography
• Joe Deal — photographer, professor emeritus, former provost
• Ann Fessler — author, filmmaker, installation artist, former Department Head and Graduate Program Director
• Henry Horenstein — photographer
• Aaron Siskind — abstract expressionist photographer who, with Callahan, founded the photography department at RISD

Printmaking

• Andrew Raftery — engraver; has taught in the printmaking and painting department since 1991^[33]
• Brian Shure — master printmaker, realist painter, teaching 1996–2016^[34]
• Carol Wax — printmaker, visiting artist and faculty in the printmaking department

Sculpture

• Gilbert Franklin (1919–2004; BFA 1941) — sculptor, teacher 1942–1985, and former dean of fine arts^[35]

Architecture and Design Division

The Architecture and Design Division includes the following departments; apparel design, architecture, furniture design, graphic design, industrial design, and landscape architecture.

Architecture

• Thomas Bosworth — former chair of Department of Architecture; Seattle architect; professor emeritus, University of Washington
• James Ingo Freed — architect
• Norman Isham — Rhode Island historical architect
• Manfredi Nicoletti — Italian architect
• Monica Ponce de Leon — architect, designer of the Fleet Library
• Jane Silverstein Ries — first woman licensed in Colorado as a professional landscape architect
• Galia Solomonoff — Argentinian-born architect
• Friedrich St. Florian — architect, designer of National World War II Memorial
• Michael Webb — architect

Landscape architecture

• Mikyoung Kim — landscape architect
• Elizabeth Greenleaf Pattee — landscape architect

Furniture design

• Tage Frid — RISD professor of Woodworking and Furniture design 1962–1985^[36] also connected to the industrial design program^[37]
• Jens Risom — furniture design

Graphic design

• John Howard Benson — calligraphy, design theory, sculpture
• Malcolm Grear — professor emeritus, graphic designer
• Mihai Nadin — theorist, semiotics, computational design, HCI^[38]
• Ootje Oxenaar — Dutch graphic designer, designer of acclaimed but now vanished Dutch currency
• Michael Rock — graphic designer; writer; design professor at Yale University MFA graphic design program
• Nancy Skolos — graphic designer, co-founder of Skolos-Wedell studios, teaching at RISD since 1989
• Paul Soulellis — graphic designer, artist, publisher and teacher; founder of Library of the Printed Web^[39]

Industrial design

• Marc Harrison — industrial designer and pioneer of universal design and RISD professor of industrial design until his death in 1998^[40]
• Victor Papanek — designer and early pioneer of universal design^[41]
• Peter Yeadon — industrial designer

Experimental and Foundation Studies Division

• Dawn Clements — foundations faculty
• Mark Milloff — painter, foundations faculty

Liberal Arts Division

• Mairéad Byrne — poet
• Jhumpa Lahiri — creative writing, author of the novel The Namesake

Notes and References

1. Web site: Raed Abillama Architects's Archinect profile. 2021-02-27. Archinect. en.
2. Web site: 2019-04-16. Western Focus: The Architectural Legacy of Jonathan Foote. 2021-02-27. Big Sky Journal. en-US.
3. Web site: Harold Kemble. R. P. Flynn. 1997. Frances Evelyn Henley Papers. 6 February 2012. Manuscripts Division. Rhode Island Historical Society.
4. Book: Crossman, Kelly. Architecture in Transition: From Art to Practice, 1885-1906. 1987-11-01. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. 978-0-7735-6138-0. en.
5. News: Ouroussoff. Nicolai. 2006-05-21. Middle-East Pieces (Published 2006). en-US. The New York Times. 2021-02-27. 0362-4331.
6. Web site: Fall 2010. RISD XYZ Fall 2010. 2021-02-27. Issuu. 44. en.
7. Web site: Malhiot, Alice Charlotte. 2021-02-27. Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada.
8. Web site: Inner-City Arts. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150628191539/http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/projects/inner_city_arts. 2015-06-28. 2015-09-08. Museum of Modern (MoMA).
9. Web site: From Race Cars to Real Estate. Our RISD. January 3, 2018 . January 4, 2018.
10. News: The Good Life: Racer Sam Posey Still Shines Bright Automobile Magazine. March 4, 2017. Automobile Magazine. January 4, 2018.
11. News: Ira Rakatansky, 1919–2014. March 10, 2014. Our RISD. June 16, 2016. Rhode Island School of Design. Providence.
12. Web site: Hashim Sarkis named dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. 2020-09-14. MIT News Massachusetts Institute of Technology. October 22, 2014 . en.
13. Web site: 2020-06-26. Richard Sommer to conclude his appointment as dean. University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture. University of Toronto.
14. July 29, 2020. Richard Sommer concludes his appointment as dean of the Daniels Faculty. Canadian Architect.
15. Web site: New Leaders in Architectural Education. 2021-01-15. www.risd.edu. en. Richard Sommer BArch 83.
16. Web site: 2013-02-18. Estonian Young Architect Award 2012: Veronika Valk. 2021-02-27. ArchDaily. en-US.
17. Web site: WIENS, Clifford Donald (1926-2020). University of Regina.
18. Web site: Kuffner. Alex. 2018. Providence basketball courts' 'murals' a fast break from the norm. providencejournal.com. en.
19. Web site: 2016-12-29. The RISD Connection. 2021-02-27. Cultured Magazine. en-US.
20. News: Kennedy. Randy. 14 June 2005. David Whitney, 66, Renowned Art Collector, Dies. The New York Times.
21. News: 'Meet the Future' at a Feb. 28 Ubben Lecture Featuring David Hanson and His Robot Creation, Sophia . DePauw University. January 12, 2018.
22. Web site: Our RISD – Hot fun in the summertime! Things heated up for.... Our RISD. August 3, 2015 . January 12, 2018.
23. Web site: Radin. Sara. 2019-12-03. Pia Camil turns old T-shirts into art. 2021-06-01. i-D. en.
24. Book: Koplos, Janet.. Makers : a history of American studio craft. 2010. University of North Carolina Press. Metcalf, Bruce, 1949–, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design.. 9780807895832. Chapel Hill. 658203695.
25. Web site: Ruth Adler Schnee Bio. Michigan Modern. September 29, 2017.
26. Book: Lenburg, Jeff. Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film and Television's Award-Winning and Legendary Animators. 1 June 2006. Applause Books. 978-1-55783-671-7. 283–284.
27. Web site: Adams . Abraham . April 2017 . Critics' Picks: Rafius Fane Gallery . 2023-06-26 . . en-US.
28. Web site: Jean Blackburn, Template, 2002 . 2023-06-26 . RISD Museum.
29. Book: American Indians and Popular Culture: Media, Sports, and Politics. ABC-Clio. 2012. 9780313379901. Volume 1 of American Indians and Popular Culture. Santa Barbara, California. 201–202.
30. Web site: George William Whitaker. Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. January 23, 2016.
31. News: Woodward is back in the limelight. October 2, 1992. The Providence Journal. Providence, RI. D16. Siclen. Bill. .
32. News: Paintings of Mabel Woodward: Art: Providence impressionist. October 10, 1972. Boston Globe. Boston, Mass. 18. Taylor. Robert. .
33. Web site: Andrew Raftery. RISD. April 6, 2015.
34. Web site: RI Art Archive Project: In The Studio: Brian Shure. December 17, 2015.
35. Book: Kohl . Benjamin G. . The Centennial Directory of the American Academy in Rome . Linker . Wayne A. . Kavelman . Buff Suzanne . 1995 . American Academy in Rome . American Academy in Rome, American Academy in Rome Society of Fellows . 978-1-879549-02-9 . en.
36. Web site: Tage Frid the Great Dane. February 16, 2014. Rainforest Restorations. December 18, 2015.
37. News: Celebrating ID Mentors @RbD. Our RISD. October 16, 2015 . October 20, 2017.
38. Web site: An Interview with Mihai Nadin. Gillespie. Thom. indiana.edu. May 10, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160915233516/http://www.mime.indiana.edu/mihaiNadin/. September 15, 2016. dead.
39. Web site: Paul Soulellis at Rhode Island School of Design . November 12, 2023 . https://conifer.rhizome.org/heyneff/wikipedia/20180707051733/https://www.risd.edu/people/paul-soulellis/ . July 7, 2018 . live .
40. News: Marc Harrison. June 16, 2010. Industrial Designers Society of America – IDSA. October 20, 2017.
41. News: Victor Papanek: An Early Champion of Good Sense. Rawsthorn. Alice. May 15, 2011. The New York Times. December 6, 2018. 0362-4331.