Last week I popped-in to many sizes and shapes of crits around RISD. I had the opportunity to visit Prof David Frazer’s crit session in the beautiful new RISD painting studios. The live experience beats surfing Google images for sure ….

Rich, Brilliant, Willing, the design firm co-founded by Theo Richardson ‘06 FD, Charles Brill ‘06 FD and Alexander Williams ‘06 FD, continues to draw attention for its innovative work. Yesterday’s New York Times “Home” section covered the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and related exhibitions this month in NYC. Rich, Brilliant, Willing’s “Perch,” on view at Kiosk, on Spring Street, was featured. Described by Theo as “a transient spot, a temporary resting place,” “Perch” is made from a handful of PVC plastic and copper pipes. (The image below is from the NYT article.)

Alba Corrado ‘60 PT, Foundation Studies faculty, had the able assistance of RISD carpenter Dave Perry in installing the Mandle Building plaque this morning. You’ve probably seen other work by Alba on campus — she has designed and installed plaques for the Fleet Library, Howes Walk along the canal, and the Kira Fischer memorial.

Alba has also created a medallion for presentation to the RISD Professors Emeriti at a recognition ceremony to be held in the RISD Auditorium on May 29 at 2pm. The entire RISD communnity is invited!

Neville Songwe ‘05 MID stopped by my office to introduce himself the other day, fresh from his appearance earlier this month on CNN’s “The Next Big Thing” and “Headline News”.  Neville is the creator of the “Brijo” dashboard system— called Brijo in honor of his parents, Bridget and Joachim. Built for law  enforcement vehicles, the Brijo is designed to reduce distractions and increase officers’ performance behind the wheel. The layout of monitors and controls reduces dashboard clutter and allows officers to manage several functions from the steering wheel, and includes hands-free communication devices and an adjustable computer monitor and keyboard.  Neville is catching up with a flurry of emails he received after his appearance on CNN, the most memorable of which, he says, come from the spouses and partners of officers who are grateful for his commitment to increasing officer safety.

Card Services at RISD is busy this time of year preparing alumni cards for all new graduates. The card will allow them to continue to have borrowing privileges at the Fleet Library at RISD, and enjoy a 10% discount on items purchased at risd:store and at risd|works. For those wishing to register for a Continuing Education course, you may receive a 10% discount on your tuition (courses must meet more than 18 hours) when you present your card.

If you are a RISD alumnus/a and you do not have a card, you may obtain one by calling me at 401 454-6794, or via email at chartley@risd.edu. Be sure to include your full name, major and year of graduation, and a current mailing address.

The countdown has started…..tomorrow (May 20) evening from 6-8pm “Welcome to the Conversation,” the annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition, opens at the Rhode Island Convention Center! The walls are up, the work is almost finished being installed and the web gallery is posted.

This year there will be a special edition book to accompany the exhibition, conceived and organized by the Graduate Student Alliance and designed by Issac Gertman MFA ‘07 GD, entitled Making Something Out of Some Things. Each graduating student will receive a copy — copies will be available at the Office of Student life beginning Thursday, May 21. You can also purchase the book at the RISD bookstore beginning May 21. Special thanks to Christopher Ro MFA ‘08 GD for designing the publicity for the exhibition, including the signs on the New York City buses. (Click here for the press release.)

Congratulations to the class of 2008! I look forward to seeing you all there.

Jessie Shefrin
Dean of Graduate Studies

Today I walked around RISD campus and just now quickly edited together a little podcast (9 mins). I hope you enjoy the walk around RISD campus within your own mind. All that came to my mouth really was the word “amazing.” RISD is truly amazing as I hope you will discover yourself on this little e-journey.

Catch this bonus clip of the students blowing glass at RISD today.

I’ve taken to eating at the on-campus cafeterias as a way to meet undergraduates. Given that it is finals month and so forth, I can detect a higher level of stress in the air than I’ve felt in my previous months. To every student I meet I convey the importance of breathing and drinking lots of water. I also impart upon them the advice one of my Professors gave to me twenty years ago when he saw me in a state of distress and said, “All that happens to you now, you will have forgotten in ten years.” Moral of the story is to always look to the future and the present can always be endured.

May is “crit month” at RISD and I am wandering about campus to visit the various “critical reviews” occurring in each department. One unique aspect of RISD crits are that they engage faculty from all over the campus. Along with faculty in the Architecture department there is pictured in the foreground Professor Mairead Byrne of the English department who provided critical feedback from a literary perspective. She impressed upon the graduating student the need to consider story as a pivotal tool in the explanation of absolutely anything.

As I left the crit I headed over to the Industrial Design department where I met an undergrad carrying a strange wooden pole. I asked what it was, and his response was that he was designing a new kind of tool for digging holes in the garden. I then asked how he planned to present the work, and he started off with a kind of logical explanation all about the tool. My suggestion was that he begin from more of a humanist perspective — to draw upon his readings and exercises in a liberal arts context. By doing so, I promised, he would have a grander entry path into his design work … that a story could be told a la Prof. Byrne. He looked me in the eye and said, “Hmmm. I’ll do it.” I’m curious if he did.

The battery in my camera ran out so apologies for this week’s poor photos (they are shot with an iPhone this time).

Last night we held RISD’s first “Jogging with John” event at 9PM with a course designed by Officer Abraham Lugo and executed along with his colleagues in Public Safety as led by Chief Bilodeau. We were fifteen RISDoids strong, including one RISD alum, for this momentous run around RISD campus as led by Public Safety patrol cars (uh, yes I realize it was a bit overkill for the neighborhood but it was our first time and we all really got into it). Also in our running pack we had a celebrity that chose to tag along — Bill Van Siclen from the Providence Journal. Who knows what celebrity will turn up next at a future “Jogging with John”?

And in the interest of full disclosure, it turns out we would have been twenty strong if I didn’t mix up meeting in front of “The Met” with what I should have said as “meeting in front of the Quad.” And thus through the time honored tradition of making errors as the best way to learn, I am now that little bit more an educated person. Thank you RISD.