risd | Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design

Maria Joana Santos, MA '12, who attended RISD as a Fulbright Scholar and is now Director of Education at Carpe Diem - Arte-e-Pesquisa, a contemporary art center in Lisbon Portugal, took the initiative to invite RISD's Department of Interior Architecture to join her in a collaborative project that involved RISD faculty and students developing a conceptual site-specific installation at Carpe Diem's home in the Palacio Pombal. #alumni #news

On Thursday November 14th, TLAD hosted three finalists - Educate Me, Helm, and Maddad - from a competition organized by RISE-NEGMA a 501(c)(3) non profit organization that was established after the January 25th Egyptian Uprising, when a group of seven Egyptian-American and Egyptian prfofessionals from the Harvard and MIT community got together and asked the simple questions : "What can we do to move ideas to action on the ground, for a brighter future for Egypt?" RISE (Re-thi

Rebecca Davidson, MA Art & Design Education (2010) has just shared the news that she recently joined the Virgina Museum of Contemporary Art as Manager of School and Educator Programs. Additionally, Michelle Cheng, MA Art & Design Education (2010) has just been hired as Manager of Professional Development by the Cooper-Hewitt Smithonian National Design Museum, where among other respoonsibilities she will oversee theSmithsonian Design Institute. #news #alumni

Congratulations to Aaron Chang, MAT 2004 on his hire as Assistant Principal at Temple City High School, Temple City, California. It's great to see an art & design educator holding a school's administrative leadership position. #alumni #news

Elizabeth Gardner, MA in Art + Design Education (2012) has just shared with us that she is moving fom her position as Assistant Director of Interpretive Programs as the Cincinnati Art Museum, having accepted the post of Public and Interpretive Programs Specialist at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. #alumni #news

Bridget Skenadore, MA' 12 has been selected and one of three Native American museum fellows by theMountain Plains Museum Association. The fellowship provides Bridget with scholarship support to attend conferences and workshops throught the year; additionally, she will be paired, during that time, with a Tribal Museum professional as a mentor. #alumni #news

Artist-in-Residence and photographer Jo Sittenfeld collaborated with teens in a Project Open Door after-school program at Shea High School in Pawtucket to produce some extraordinary images. The photographs have now been installed as a mural in the Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design's reception area in the CIT Building at RISD. The collaboration between Jo and the Shea teens led to the work being exhibited at the Atrium Gallery of the Rhode Island Statehouse and

The 2nd Teachers' Studio Institute (TSI) entitled Grand Scale is scheduled to take place at RISD fromJuly 22nd - July 27th. This year, Rhode Island K-12 art teachers, some of whom are TLAD alumni, will be joined by a number of alums that are teaching out-of-state. The Institute is directed by Dr. Paul Sproll, TLAD's Head of Department; its three artists-in-residence are David Frazer, Nancy Friese, and Jane Masters. The Institute culminates in an exhibition of teachers' work

Saba Qizilbash, MA '04 (Community Arts Education track) has never lost her commitment to community-based work and matters of social justice. In Dubai, where she now lives and works, Saba with the support of a group of friends bridge the social divide and distribute food and essential supplies to construction workers. Saba writes: "Mums Who Share came together as a collective in 2008. What began as an initiative of two friends to share food with manual workers in the newly dev

Adrienne Gagnon, MA 2008 (Community Arts Education track), Execuitive Director of Downcity Design, was one of two individuals, the other Lynn Taylor, MD, to recently be awarded a 2013 Innovation Fellowship each worth $300,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation. Adrienne Gagnon (right) "Adrienne's project, Innovation by Design, will help foster the next generation of Rhode Island innovators by bringing the transformative tools of “design thinking” to students across the state. H