History of Art and Visual Culture faculty member Margot Nishimura’s recent exhibition of marginalia in medieval manuscripts lives on in the virtual world - as an interactive guide that allows visitors to explore the marginalia on select pages of two late medieval manuscripts. Described by Margot as “The New Yorker cartoons of their day,” the images expand on the narrative of the manuscripts themselves, often poking fun at their lofty themes and human foibles. Margot’s catalogue of manuscripts from the British Museum and the Getty, Images in the Margins, accompanied the “Out of Bounds” exhibition.

The other day I spotted one of our Digital + Media grad students carrying around a pizza-like object. It was heartening to see a spaghetti-ish, old-school protoboard setup. That evening I heard from Prof. Mark Milloff that his team taught class with Prof. Clement Valla that their students experimental Foundation Studies work was on display, and that I should check it out. As described by Prof. Milloff, “The assignment, given and done in 1 week, began by building an image in Processing, exporting and printing the image, and then reacting/responding to the image with paint or pencil.” A true marriage of digital and analog! Lastly, that evening I caught the nighttime mood of our much revered Edna Lawrence Nature Lab and freshmen getting their hands waaaay dirty. -JM

Keith Campbell BARCH ‘78 hosted a reception for President Maeda at RTKL Architects in Chicago last night.  It had been some time since the Chicago alumni had gotten together, and the air was full of the energy created by alumni and parents connecting with each other. The President shared some of his thoughts about his paths of discovery as he looks to articulate RISD’s core beliefs, and his experiences meeting new alumni, many of whom do not fit into traditional molds - words that resonated with many of the alumni in attendance, among them an artist residency administrator, a painter and fashion designer who teach in an after school arts program, and an architect turned architectural photographer. Proof that a RISD education allows for endless possibilities!

Photos by John Weinstein ‘77 PH

How exciting to see John Maeda, Grad Studies faculty member Amber Frid-Jiminez and grad research assistant Kate Hollenbach MFA ’11 GD on Bloomberg Television last weekend. They were interviewed as part of an Innovators episode called Turning Point, which focuses on the g-speak spatial operating environment (SOE) currently under development by Oblong Industries. RISD is one of three schools beta-testing g-speak and is running a second studio using the SOE this fall. In addition to suggesting the huge ramifications of Oblong’s venture, the Bloomberg piece points to the value of working with artists in the development of groundbreaking technologies like this one.

Imagine our delight walking the streets of New York to happen upon the AIGA’s 365 exhibit honoring the year’s best in Communication Design. And our further delight at seeing RISD’s graduate viewbook among the honorees again this year!  The viewbook was designed by RISD’s own Isaac Gertman MFA ‘07 GD as The Independent Group in Brooklyn, with our very own Liisa Silander as editorial lead. The only thing more wonderful than the catalog is all of the graduate students it helps to bring us!

I caught the Foundation Studies exhibition in the Waterman Gallery with work by students of Prof. Alba Corrado (left) and Prof. Thomas Mills (right). It was an excellent juxtaposition of three-dimensional work and two-dimensional work. What struck me most deeply was the RISD emphasis on process such that the critical thinking and critical making on display was absolutely sublime in both 2D and 3D representations. -JM

After beating out two other talented finalists, Philadelphia-based artist Ryan Trecartin ’04 FAV has just been named the first winner of the Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts, which comes with a $150,000 cash prize – the world’s largest given to a visual artist in a juried competition.

Created earlier this year by Jack Wolgin, a real estate developer, banker and philanthropist in Philadelphia, the competition was established at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art “to recognize an emerging artist with a significant studio practice who critically and creatively engages with existing histories and images, and whose work transcends traditional boundaries.”

Ryan certainly fits the description. Through both his amazing video output and a collaborative sculpture practice with artist Lizzie Fitch, he produces outlandish but bizarrely true-to-life work that you just may want to check out on Ubuweb and Vimeo. Way to go, Ryan!

RISD Professor of Architecture Kyna Leski spoke this past weekend at Pop!Tech. Here is Ethan Zuckerman’s summary of Kyna’s talk on creativity.