#risd 2021

[wellthatsclever]

My favorite section of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI

[mybeingthere]

Sasha Gordon (b. 1998, Somers, NY) lives and works in New York. She graduated from The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2021. Her work explores self image, racial prejudice, mental illness, and the male gaze, while also exhibiting discomfort with intimacy and the female body.

[k00295632]

Project: Movement. Week 1, research/initial planning week.

Primary research and ideas

These are the notes I took during the brief and my mind map thinking of different concepts for "movement". I came up with themes such as dancing, movement of time, fashion trends, public transport, light, kinetic energy, and even political movements. I ended up focusing on the moment of time and how a movement can also mean change, and I realised my hair is actually a great example of this, it shows how much time has passed with its its growth and how much I've changed it over the last 2-3 years.

I came up with a few ideas;

Idea 1: A moving painting, I was thinking of creating a painting with different coloured monochromatic self portraits of my self at different hair lengths and styles I've had up till now, except only one is visible at a time depending on the colour of the light on the room. I saw an american artist called Camila, who's studying in RISD, do something similar that inspired this idea. I think this concept could be used to make an "animated" painting that moves with light

Idea 2: Growth animation, an animation of my hair growth over the last year including all of the colours I've had in my hair.

Idea 3: Haircut painting, I did some thumbnails of me cutting my hair in the mirror, either cutting away with scissors or shaving away. I was thinking of making a 3d sink that would attach to the bottom of the painting and even cutting off some of my hair and attaching it to the painting or in the sink.

Idea 4: "Making a move" animation, this animation was inspired by my own personal experience, I was thinking to create an animation about a character who's met a block in their life and decides to make a move of change in order to break their stumped cycle and move on with life. That change being cutting off their hair. Their hair sorta being symbolic of their mental state, and cutting it reflecting how they're removing that block and moving on with life with fresh eyes and some hope.

My 4th idea sorta shifted my main focus from the movement of time to the concept of change, taking control and changing something to progress, to the concept of taking action. I started to create thumbnails surrounding this based on the 3rd and 4th ideas while still maintaining my theme of hair .

I stuck in some prints of how my hair has changed since 2021, the left being my natural colour and when I cut and shaved my hair, and the right all of the colours I've had, and a time line. I did this just to have a reference sheet more than anything and as a reference for if I need to make a character sheet.

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

The College Rankings Have Changed: Does it Matter?

U.S. News and World Report made splashy headlines last week with the release of their 2024 college rankings list. Some colleges are celebrating their ascension, while other big name institutions are decrying the results after plummeting down the list.

The real question though is does it even matter?

Read on for a quick summary of what’s changed in the rankings and our perspective on whether students and families should care at all –

What’s Changed –

U.S. News and World Report produces the most consumed rankings of colleges and universities in the country. They’ve also faced growing criticism for their ranking methodology which historically emphasized factors that are often a proxy for the wealth and privilege of the institutions and the students they enroll, rather than measures of quality or outcomes. As a number of prominent law and medical schools have dropped participation in the rankings all together, the company changed this year’s methodology in an effort to remain relevant.

Changes include:

Dropping the evaluation of alumni giving, class size, admitted students’ high school class standing, and terminal degrees held by faculty.

In their own words, US News has increased “emphasis on how often schools’ students from all socioeconomic backgrounds earned degrees.” These are intended to be better measures of the social mobility of the students the universities enroll and graduate. You can read their full description of the new methodology here.

The factors that have been elevated in importance each make up 5% or less of the overall ranking score: publications and citations, full-time faculty, student-faculty ratio, borrower debt, first generation grad rate and performance, and pell-graduation rates. The weight of overall graduation rates depends on whether a college has ‘usable SAT/ACT data.’

Notably, the new methodology prioritizes data that is publicly available, insulating U.S. News from the potential impact of colleges opting out of providing data as institutions such as RISD, Bard, and Reed have already done.

What remains the same:

The highly criticized “peer assessment” or reputation score that is provided by college administrators’ survey responses about their perceptions of other institutions remains 20% of the overall ranking criteria. Macolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast did a deep dive on this and other aspects of the rankings methodology in 2021. Give it a listen here.

What’s the impact?

As a result of these shifts, some public universities such as Fresno State, San Diego State University, CUNY’s City College, and Rutgers University climbed the ranking list. Meanwhile, some private colleges that had become expert at positioning themselves to earn high marks saw precipitous drops. These included Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Tulane, which fell from No. 44 to No. 73.

Should you care?

At the end of the day, we place little to no importance on rankings as a tool for building a college list or informing a student and family about whether a college is a good fit. U.S. News & World Report, just like the several other businesses that publish ranking lists, have their own interests and financial gains to protect in preserving the perceived importance and relevance of the rankings they publish. These are among the many reasons we are skeptical of building college lists that factor the ‘ranking’ of the college as a factor.

Where should you look instead?

The most important measure of a college’s worth is your own values. Students and families have myriad different priorities in determining the criteria that matter to their own decision making in determining college fit. When the rankings were initiated in the early 1980s to revive a publication that was struggling to compete with Time and Newsweek, families had difficulty accessing much data to compare colleges. Today? Almost an endless supply of data is available at our fingertips on our computers and phones. In seconds you can find any given college’s graduation rate, student teacher ratio, job placement rate, and access information on the academic and community resources available to you.

To us, the rankings are little more than noise. We are much more interested in determining the qualities that will enable you to build the experience you want to have, and identifying the colleges that will prioritize those opportunities and approaches.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: no ranking list can tell you if you will be happy, thriving, or successful on a campus; only you can do that.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

[salmapainting]

Painters Gordon Smith and Elmer DeWitt Smith

Painters Gordon slams down a forceful language of figuration, one that moves beyond the superficial and into unseen realms. Her paintings are self-portraits that explore her own experience as a biracial, queer woman.

A young artist, she has exhibited her work internationally, including New York, Los Angeles and London. Her paintings examine mental illness, racial prejudice, and societal stigmas of sexuality, among other themes. She is also interested in the way these issues impact the body and intimacy.

She graduated from The Rhode Island School of Design in 2021, and was a recipient of a RISD Fellowship. She has also received an Emerging Artist Award and an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, and has been invited to participate in many group shows, including Jeffrey Deitch’s “Wonder Women” exhibition in Los Angeles and the Rudolph Tegners Museum in Denmark.

Her first solo exhibition was at the Matthew Brown Gallery in Los Angeles, which led to her first museum acquisition, at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami. Her paintings have been exhibited at numerous galleries in New York, San Francisco and London, and her work is included in private and public collections throughout the world.

In her earliest works, Gordon resisted depicting herself, choosing to focus on animals and friends rather than self-portraits. Her discomfort with depicting herself stems from her childhood in Westchester County, New York, and the cultural isolation she felt as a biracial Korean-American woman. She has since found that her paintings are a way to confront her feelings of alienation and self-discovery.

Smith, a British-born painter who emigrated to Canada in 1933, spent most of his life on Vancouver's West Coast, where he lived and painted until his death at age 97 in 2018. His landscape paintings drew inspiration from the local environment while also playing with representation and abstraction.

The early work of Smith was influenced by English Romantics, but he was quickly immersed in Modernism and abstraction when he moved to Canada. During his early years, he studied under Elmer Bishop at the California School of Fine Arts, and in 1939, he began experimenting with painting in the Abstract Expressionist style, working alongside his mentor, Arthur Erickson.

As he worked in this style, Smith became known for his lush, often monumental landscapes, like his 1996 Pond series. But he never stopped experimenting with style and form.

Though he was an accomplished landscape painter, he was also known for his use of color and texture. He had a unique and highly distinctive style that is reminiscent of both traditional painters and contemporary artists.

Besides his landscapes, he was also known for his paintings of portraits and interiors. He also used a variety of mediums, including pastel and watercolor, to create his art.

Gordon, the daughter of a Polish American father and a Korean mother, grew up in Westchester County, NY. She was a biracial, queer girl who struggled with her identity and self-image. Her discomfort with depicting herself, and her experiences with racial discrimination and mental illness, inspired her to begin painting in a more self-reflective way.

Offering quality services in the best possible pricing is the motto of Salma Painting and Decorating Services. Having started out in the year 2003, over the years, we have grown our clientele and engaged in a range of painting and decorating services for commercial, residential and industrial segments.

[kriniarts]

A reupload of my favorite animation I've completed so far.

I originally created this for the 2021 RISD entrance assignment. Yet, I still see where I relate to my 17 year old self and the struggles I went through at that time. 2023 I'm working on another piece >:D Cant wait to share!!

[risd-gd-fan]

Design: Ramon Tejada

2021 Faculty Exhibition and Forum

[ohwanessa-moved]

I've finally decided and I'm going to RISD!!

[animblog]

99¢ Pizza -- 2021 Lucas Ansel 2:25

[vernsartblog]

My teacher really seemed to like this piece so 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

[drawdownbooks]

BACK IN STOCK! Middle Case, MiXeR Typeface Specimen www.draw-down.com

In MiXeR, the fusion of uppercase and lowercase letters makes for an alphabet alien yet highly readable.

Designer #Zengqi Guo states, "All letter cases should have the same right of speaking in the same volume without losing the characteristic of each individual because differences are allowed to exist."

The intertwined structure that is produced from this concept speaks with a newly harmonious form, as simultaneously its formal qualities become a visual manifesto of a #post-human future.

This elegant type specimen includes a text about MiXeR's origins, as well as the full text of Guo's "MiddleCase Manifesto" (a work that was exhibited at the 2021 #RISD Graphic Design Triennial).

Designed and published by Zengqi Guo, 2022

[artblg2000]

RISD Museum visit from top: TM Davy, Here and There, 2020-2021; Jack Pierson, Cry, 2009; Patrick Angus, Untitled, 1980s; Patrick Carroll, O The Heartache You’ll Find, 2020, Loss, 2015, Eros, 2020; Louis Fratino, Sleeping Tom, morning light, 2019; Sara Alahbabi, Shaikha Al Ketbi, Brooks Hagan, Textile Length, 2017, Anne Kraus, Distant Echo Coffee Pot, 1988; Farraday Newsome,Teapot with Oranges, 1997; Paul Scott, Fleurs.de.sel’s New York, Laundry Project 23, Chelsea Hyper-Market, Chelsea Square Plate (set of 12), 2019; Alice Neel, Nancy Selvage, 1967

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

The College Rankings Have Changed: Does it Matter?

U.S. News and World Report made splashy headlines last week with the release of their 2024 college rankings list. Some colleges are celebrating their ascension, while other big name institutions are decrying the results after plummeting down the list.

The real question though is does it even matter?

Read on for a quick summary of what’s changed in the rankings and our perspective on whether students and families should care at all –

What’s Changed –

U.S. News and World Report produces the most consumed rankings of colleges and universities in the country. They’ve also faced growing criticism for their ranking methodology which historically emphasized factors that are often a proxy for the wealth and privilege of the institutions and the students they enroll, rather than measures of quality or outcomes. As a number of prominent law and medical schools have dropped participation in the rankings all together, the company changed this year’s methodology in an effort to remain relevant.

Changes include:

Dropping the evaluation of alumni giving, class size, admitted students’ high school class standing, and terminal degrees held by faculty.

In their own words, US News has increased “emphasis on how often schools’ students from all socioeconomic backgrounds earned degrees.” These are intended to be better measures of the social mobility of the students the universities enroll and graduate. You can read their full description of the new methodology here.

The factors that have been elevated in importance each make up 5% or less of the overall ranking score: publications and citations, full-time faculty, student-faculty ratio, borrower debt, first generation grad rate and performance, and pell-graduation rates. The weight of overall graduation rates depends on whether a college has ‘usable SAT/ACT data.’

Notably, the new methodology prioritizes data that is publicly available, insulating U.S. News from the potential impact of colleges opting out of providing data as institutions such as RISD, Bard, and Reed have already done.

What remains the same:

The highly criticized “peer assessment” or reputation score that is provided by college administrators’ survey responses about their perceptions of other institutions remains 20% of the overall ranking criteria. Macolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast did a deep dive on this and other aspects of the rankings methodology in 2021. Give it a listen here.

What’s the impact?

As a result of these shifts, some public universities such as Fresno State, San Diego State University, CUNY’s City College, and Rutgers University climbed the ranking list. Meanwhile, some private colleges that had become expert at positioning themselves to earn high marks saw precipitous drops. These included Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Tulane, which fell from No. 44 to No. 73.

Should you care?

At the end of the day, we place little to no importance on rankings as a tool for building a college list or informing a student and family about whether a college is a good fit. U.S. News & World Report, just like the several other businesses that publish ranking lists, have their own interests and financial gains to protect in preserving the perceived importance and relevance of the rankings they publish. These are among the many reasons we are skeptical of building college lists that factor the ‘ranking’ of the college as a factor.

Where should you look instead?

The most important measure of a college’s worth is your own values. Students and families have myriad different priorities in determining the criteria that matter to their own decision making in determining college fit. When the rankings were initiated in the early 1980s to revive a publication that was struggling to compete with Time and Newsweek, families had difficulty accessing much data to compare colleges. Today? Almost an endless supply of data is available at our fingertips on our computers and phones. In seconds you can find any given college’s graduation rate, student teacher ratio, job placement rate, and access information on the academic and community resources available to you.

To us, the rankings are little more than noise. We are much more interested in determining the qualities that will enable you to build the experience you want to have, and identifying the colleges that will prioritize those opportunities and approaches.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: no ranking list can tell you if you will be happy, thriving, or successful on a campus; only you can do that.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

[millieixgd]

Corinne Ang

‘Beautifully simple’ brief for RISD Spring Speaker Series 2021 - consisted solely of women of colour, seldom seen in the design industry. RISD is a school of design, 38% of students are students of colour. The school is deeply committed to social justice and working together against racism and discrimination. Speakers would present their work and knowledge, giving opportunity for growth and to share knowledge. She was inspired by the season and spring flowers, featuring a specific flower for each speaker (the national flower of their country). The theme of identity plays with the idea of planting and cultivation of seeds, stimulating growth. The design plays on the temporal nature of flowers blooming during spring, also in correspondence with the time of the event. Her illustrations are described as loose, unravelled and sketch- like. The contradiction between the majestic type and the distinct blue tones is what makes her work so eye-catching.

I would like to create my own sketchbook work inspired by the work of Corinne Ang, by producing abstract drawings of nature/flowers that I see outside. I would also like to incorporate some mark making techniques, combined with vibrant colours, perhaps giving myself a specific subject matter to focus on, a time restriction or using a set number of different medias in order to add to my visual sketchbook.

[itscolossal]

From interior design and graphic design to painting and animation, Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education is offering more than 140 courses for adults and teens this spring. Students can take online classes from anywhere in the world at any time, and RISD CE is open admission, so everyone is welcome. The term starts March 1, 2021. (sponsor) 

[risd-gd-fan]