Jorge Palacios (BRDD 2020, Glass, Astrophysics) has been awarded a 2023-2024 Coha-Gunderson Prize in Speculative Futures. Palacios' project, “Nomadic Infrastructures: Foraging, Craft, and New Media,” will "[use] a craft approach to sculpture and an ethnographic approach to foraging in order to create [willow hoop] structures that 'may reimagine alternative ways of relating to the environment and new media.'"

Ivery Chen (BRDD 2024, Film/Animation/Video, Computer Science) and Healey Koch (BRDD 2024.5, Film/Animation/Video, Computer Science) each premiered a senior film in the RISD Auditorium as part of the Film/Animation/Video department’s Senior Show.

Justin Rui Han (BRDD 2022, Painting, Archaeology & the Ancient World) has been awarded a Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program residency for 2024-25. Han joins as the recipient of the Philip Pearlstein Painter Award, which identifies an outstanding representational painter in recognition of Pearlstein’s commitment to referential art. This announcement follows his 2024 solo exhibition Shatter Zones at The Artist Room in London.

Three Brown | RISD Dual Degree students - AMKMQ (BRDD 2024.5, Painting, International and Public Affairs), Njari Anderson (BRDD 2024, Sculpture, Modern Culture and Media), and Ire Asojo (BRDD 2026, Printmaking, International and Public Affairs) - have artwork in Sonder: The Black Biennial, on view in RISD's Gelman Gallery through June 2, 2024.

In the Brown Daily Herald, Sarkis Antonyan (BRDD 2027, Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse, concentration in Literary Arts and Studies; Urban Studies) describes his multidisciplinary poetry practice. Exploring "themes of adolescence and queerness,” Sarkis "draws [inspiration for his poems] from visual art — whether it’s his personal creations or museum collections."

From April 16–21, 2024, RISD presented Objects May Shift as part of Milan Design Week. Objects May Shift brought together students from across multiple departments - including Yukti V. Agarwal (BRDD 2024.5, Textiles, Psychology, Contemplative Studies) - to design and produce a multidisciplinary exhibition that explores our ever-evolving relationship to - and experience of - the domestic interior.

Creative collective MSCHF's co-founders Lukas Bentel (BRDD 2015, Computer Music & Multimedia, Furniture Design) and Kevin Wiesner (BRDD 2015, Engineering, Industrial Design) talk with "Business of HYPE" series host Angelo Baque about MSCHF's origins, the power and fun of collaboration, and the importance of having a range of skillsets as a creative.

Aimed at discovering and cultivating up-and-coming animators, Adult Swim's SMALLS program premiers new short animations each week. This week marks the premiere of Little Edy 03, a short animation by Felipe Di Poi (BRDD 2017, Film/Animation/Video, Comparative Literature).

Work by Violet Bordin (BRDD 2024, Sculpture, Modern Culture and Media) is showcased in Berlin-based PURPLEHAZE MAGAZINE, which writes that Violet's "unique educational background informs their thought-provoking work" built on "theory and research."

RISD's team, the Squee Gees, won the 2024 Iron Printmakers competition in Boston. The team included Daniella Pozo (BRDD 2027, Printmaking, Urban Studies) and, serving as an alternate, Ire Asojo (BRDD 2026, Printmaking, International and Public Affairs). Teams were tasked with creating an edition of ten prints incorporating four "mystery ingredients" and four printmaking methods in just five hours.

In collaboration with AARP RI, RISD's Interior Architecture department organized a design competition the design problem of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Guest-judged by state legislators, the design charrette inspired conversation about the need for flexible, accessible, and affordable housing options in Rhode Island. Kylee Hong (BRDD 2026, Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse, Urban Studies) and her team took first place.

RISD's annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Series celebrates the life and contributions of Dr. King in creating a more just and democratic society while highlighting the role of art, design and creative endeavor in advancing justice and democracy. Along with Schiller Family Assistant Professor Naimah Petigny, Njari Anderson (BRDD 2024, Sculpture, Modern Culture and Media) co-moderated this year's signature event.

Students in RISD's Design for Animal Enrichment course worked to develop puzzle feeders and toys that encourage the animal residents of Roger Williams Park Zoo to exhibit behaviors typically displayed in the wild. Noah Howard (BRDD 2025, Industrial Design, Anthropology) and his classmates spent hours observing the animals, speaking with zookeepers and researching animal behavior before creating these enrichment devices.

Elizabeth Goodspeed (BRDD 2016, Graphic Design, Cognitive Science) has joined the team of UK art and design website It's Nice That as its first US Editor-at-Large. In addition to her editorial work, Goodspeed is an "independent designer, art director, and writer specializing in branding, packaging, and book and editorial design. She also publishes Casual Archivist, a design history focused newsletter."

In The Architect's Newspaper's "In the Know" Column, Nik Bentel (BRDD 2017, Industrial Design, Modern Culture and Media) is profiled as one of four "architects not making architecture, but forging new lanes in design." After graduating from the Brown|RISD Dual Degree program, Bentel earned a Master of Architecture from Columbia University.

A recent RISD News and Events article titled "RISD Textiles Students Weave Personal Narratives" documents the fall 2023 Jacquard Design course's mid-semester critique. The piece highlights a project in wool, cotton and linen project by Yukti Agarwal (BRDD 2024.5, Textiles, Theory and History of Art and Design, Contemplative Studies, and Psychology) that is based on routes she walked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ethan Hoskins (BRDD 2024, Apparel Design, Psychology) challenged himself to create a new painting each week for a full year using materials including cardboard, conte crayon, colored pencil, charcoal, graphite, fabric, papier-mâché, and “the forgotten medium we all have at our fingertips: time." In Hyperallergic, Ethan talks with curator Chenoa Baker about markmarking, music, and “the curse of perfectionism.”

"Sometimes we come across promising young talent that we know has a fruitful career ahead of them," writes UK art and design website It's Nice That. "Such is the case with US-based illustrator Joey Han" (BRDD 2022.5, Illustration, Modern Culture and Media). While Joey's illustrations span multiple media and influences, they are tied together by a sense of nostalgia and a deep attention to place and environment.

Parametric Architecture highlights the Beyond Biomimicry collection by Kate Reed (BRDD 2021, Industrial Design, Independent Concentration in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship). The collection "[utilizes] interspecies collaboration in the design process—both computationally and physically." For example, the genesis of the Root Shoe the differential growth logic naturally found in mushrooms.

The Brown|RISD Dual Degree class of 2023 delivered their capstone presentations in the Granoff Center's Martinos Auditorium on May 30 and 31, 2023. The wide-ranging presentation - by graduates Emma T Capps, Rachel Moss, Susie Zhu, Annie Chen, Eugene Rhee, Sofia Karadogan, Seabass Immonen, Hannah Skye Dunnigan, Laney Day, Lara Karadogan, Sarah Woo, and Sherenté Harris - are summarized by an article in RISD News.

Jo Ouyang (BRDD 2026, Painting, Ethnic Studies) is one of three students profiled in a recent Brown Daily Herald article on "art-making as an outlet, exploration, expression of queer identity." “Art has really been helping me explore my own queerness and my own identity … contending [with] what it means to be from Georgia as a queer Asian American," Jo says.

The Electric Cord Bag is the latest in a line of limited edition handbags based on everyday objects by Nikolas Bentel (BRDD 2017, Industrial Design, Modern Culture and Media). As Fast Company points out, Bentel's work "frequently deploys the skills he acquired from his joint degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design and modern culture and media from Brown."