Anne West, faculty liaison and thesis book mentor extraordinaire, has curated the latest in her biannual exhibitions of exemplary thesis books. Don’t miss it—up for just two more weeks.
We're Back, at Last
My goodness, it feels good to be back at A&L and at RISD, with wonderful students and beloved colleagues. We wouldn’t be A&L without the incredible insight and energy of our nearly 30 student staff members. Welcoming everyone back and getting the year rolling together is an honor. Here’s a look into our first tutor education and v.1 (volume-1.org) editorial meetings. So much more to come …
A&L is Hiring Peer Tutors!
A&L is hiring grad and undergrad tutors for the 2021–22 academic year.
If you’re interested in …
helping and learning from others
sharing your appreciation for writing in the context of art and design
interpersonal, interdisciplinary, and intercultural connection
the interplay between identity and communication
developing your own knowledge and professional experience
… then see our job descriptions for more details and how to apply.
Undergraduate Tutor Job Description
Grad Assistant Tutor Job Description
No prior tutoring experience is necessary. All positions will be filled no later than August 31; early applications (by June 1) are encouraged.
Spreading the Writing Love
This week, we heard from two A&L tutors (one past, one present) and were so inspired, we just couldn’t keep it to ourselves. Fred Mathelier (BFA FAV 2020), thank you so much for sending and letting us share your awesome mini-book review, and Derek Russell (BArch 2022), thank you for sending and letting us share a snapshot of your off-screen writing process (we sure do need more of that these days!).
Okay, here you go, everyone, spreading the writing love …
Hey! It's Fred!
For my birthday earlier this year, my grandmother slipped me a gift card to Barnes and Noble, which I used as an excuse to browse the shelves for a few hours.
This one cover jumped out to me, "Murder your Darlings," by Roy Peter Clark. Up til that moment I misquoted the phrase as "Kill your Babies," and although I understood the spirit of the phrase, Clark's 2021 writing guide has crystal clarified what I already understood.
The book is an aggregate of different writing guides that Clark draws from when writing and coaching others, familiar faces like Aristotle and Strunk and White have passages, but in between, I meet writers new to me, like Ursula K. LeGuin, and Arthur Quiller-Couch aka "Q" (the originator of the title phrase!). The cover quotes Mingon Fogarty's review on the cover; "A party popper of inspiration" she calls it. I agree wholeheartedly.
When Clark went over techniques for helping writers get unstuck in chapter 8, I knew I had to share this with you guys, and use that as an opportunity to say hello and ask how you were doing.
Missing A&L like crazy today,
Wishing well,
Fred
And here’s Derek’s wall full of writing, of which he notes: “Replicating and rearranging passages has worked out great to help see the work in its entirety.” (You can read Derek’s writing up close in v.1, right here.)
"The Functions and Failures of Language"
Here’s a conversation we can’t wait to hear. See Color the Conversation’s Instagram page to learn more and to register.
English for Art & Design
English for Art & Design is a 1-credit language-intensive course for new graduate students in any of RISD’s programs. The course provides a linguistic, cultural, and academic foundation and connects graduate students across disciplines. The course serves as additional language study or an intro to US academic culture if you have never studied in the U.S. before. It is not a traditional language class; all course material is drawn from our academic fields, work, and interests.
The course meets online July 5-30, 2021, with live sessions Mon/Wed 8-10 PM EST, individual meetings with the instructor, and additional independent and interactive work, totaling 10 -15 hours per week.
Please contact instructor and Associate Director of Multilingual Learning Maya Krinsky to sign up or ask questions about this course or other recommendations for pre-arrival study. mkrinsky01@risd.edu.
Graduate Commons Grant Q&A/Info Session
The 2021 Graduate Commons Grant cycle is now open, and applications are due March 31.
Prepare to write your proposal by joining Grad Studies and Jen Liese from Arts & Language as we answer all of your questions about the Graduate Commons Grant application process for 2021.
Graduate Commons Grant Q&A Info Session
Wednesday, February 3, 12pm ET
Email cvasquez@risd.edu for Zoom link.
Wintersession 2021: Ways to Connect
At A&L, we’ve been thinking a lot lately about writing, speaking, listening, reading, and language as means of connection and care in difficult, dispersed times. With that potential in mind, we have a few invitations to share.
Writing Together
Tuesdays and/or Fridays, from 9-10 AM EST, join A&L director Jen Liese to write together in one shared Zoom writing room. We’ll start with a few minutes of intention-setting, then write together (cameras on or off), then reflect for a few minutes at the end. No pressure, just good company and a regular practice. Come once or ten times. All writers and writings (thesis, poems, papers, letters, notes for crit ...) welcome. E-mail jliese@risd.edu to get the Zoom link.
Conversation Practice
Multilingual and international students who want to improve their speaking skills can email Maya at mkrinsky01@risd.edu to sign up for a conversation group. Maya will be scheduling sessions based on your preferred day/time so let her know when you're free. Conversations will be guided by student work and interests.
Tutoring
Peer and professional tutors are available to meet one-on-one via Zoom to support any written, spoken, and visual communication projects—academic, professional, or creative—at any stage of development. Practice for crit, integrate your sources, hone a thesis abstract, brainstorm a cover letter ... we’re here to give you engaged, informed, and caring feedback. Make an appointment here.
v.1’s Fall Issue
And don’t miss the fall issue of v.1, RISD’s student-led publication, featuring text, image, and sound pieces that, in the words of the editors, “collectively re-imagine health, hope, family, connections, and life and death itself.” There’s also a redesign with interactive features and more experimental and participatory platforms on the way. Find the issue here: https://volume-1.org and submit here.
Two little birds, courtesy v.1
v.1 Is Zooming Out
A message from v.1 (volume-1.org), RISD's student-run publishing platform …
before, we might greet you:
"welcome back",
back as a return, as a retread,
back to behind us,
to the good old days,
to the routines and
familiar gestures of the season.
back to the thing that we
have done before and continue to do.
to simulate normalcy as best we can is not the solution;
the solution is only ahead.
through and around the
Zoom windows,
sanitary plexiglass windows,
bedroom windows.
when you look away from Zoom, what do you see?
here, from my desk,
i see my own window
humorously illuminate
a lamp for 15 minutes
before moving onward
let's start—
we invite you all to join us and share a view of your own
a picture maybe,
or poem,
or critical essay,
or sound piece
if you'd like to receive emails from v.1 about news, opportunities, and new pieces we publish, sign-up here.
and anytime, send us stories from quar or hopes for the future;
all kinds of verbal and non-verbal mediums are welcome:
theory,
scripture,
maps,
comics,
musing,
orchestral interpretation,
pleas,
demands,
tarot reading—
keep your eyes open and imagination wild, and send your submissions or ideas to v1@risd.edu and we'll respond very soon and walk alongside you till your submission reaches its destination—whether online or in printed form.
thank you for your participation,
we are here to welcome something new, and
Fall 2020: Notes on Screens and Selves
This Summer, A&L’s staff, taking in the fact that we would be working online for the year ahead and dispersed from our lovely home in 15 West …
took a good look at how we do things. We were grateful that while we couldn’t host students for collective writing events or cozy v.1 readings, our core work, one-to-one tutoring …
is remarkably resilient and transferable to an online space. Working one-to-one on a writing, speaking, or visual project in Zoom even has special benefits—from shared Google-doc editing or access to one’s own bookshelves or artwork to a certain kind of focused intimacy. It’s not that we won’t miss our physical togetherness while we’re visiting each other on screens, but we feel lucky that the essence of peer tutoring—two unique minds and selves meeting and thinking together—can be as constructive and meaningful as ever.
There’s one more big change we are about to make that you might notice: We’re reorganizing and expanding our handouts, videos, and links to allow for more topic-focused independent learning. Check out the link on our home page to A&L’s Resource Guides.
As you meet with tutors and access our resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out with feedback, suggestions, or questions. We are “here” for you, in our virtual office (see link on home page), every weekday, and always available by e-mail (artsandlanguage@risd.edu or jliese@risd.edu).
Formal Description: How and Why To
From one of our favorite artist-writers—thank you, Greg Allen, for your treasure of a blog, greg.org—comes an object lesson in formal description that suggests how looking, really looking, with the closest attention, is an act of respect and love, and helps us imagine what we want and need to see next.
Read Greg’s review of Muriel Bowser’s Black Lives Matter here.
The Center for Experimental Lectures Presents ...
A&L is thrilled to spread the word about a series of three lecture-performances that starts this week.
Programmed by the Center for Experimental Lectures (CEL), the series will feature new work by Pablo Helguera (May 7), Naama Tsabar (May 12), and Carissa Rodriguez (May 19).
CEL was started in 2011 by artist Gordon Hall, a 2019-2020 RISD Provost Fellow in the Sculpture Department, and has since commissioned 40 new lecture-performances at venues including Recess, MoMA PS1, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Artists Space, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
These three new pieces are site-specific to the internet, using a variety of online presentation platforms, and have been developed throughout the spring with RISD students in Hall’s course "Talking Is Dancing: Lecture-Performance As Form."
Pablo Helguera: Thursday May 7, 5 pm
Pablo Helguera Zoom link: https://risd.zoom.us/j/6715673877
Naama Tsabar: Tuesday May 12, 5 pm
Carissa Rodriguez: Tuesday May 19, 5 pm
All times Eastern Standard Time.
Pablo Helguera (b. 1971, Mexico City) is a visual artist living in New York City. His work involves performance, drawing, installation, theater and other literary strategies. He is often considered a pioneering figure in the field of socially engaged art. His work has been featured at many international biennials including Manifesta, Havana and Liverpool Biennial, and Performa. He has received the Guggenheim and Creative Capital Fellowships as well as the first International Award of Participatory Art in Bologna, Italy. Recent projects include a two-person exhibition with artist Suzanne Lacy at the UC Santa Barbara Museum and the 8th Floor in NYC and a mid-career survey of his work at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City. He is the author of many books including Education for Socially Engaged Art (2011) and The Parable Conference (2014).
Naama Tsabar (b. 1982, Israel) lives and works in New York City. She received her MFA from Columbia University in 2010. Solo exhibitions and performances of Tsabar have been presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Museum of Art and Design (New York), The High Line Art (New York), Nasher Museum (Durham, NC), Kunsthuas Baselland (Switzerland), Palais De Tokyo (Paris), Prospect New Orleans,
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Herziliya Museum for Contemporary Art in Israel, MARTE-C (El Salvador), CCA Tel Aviv (Israel), Faena Buenos Aires, Frieze Projects New York, Kasmin Gallery (New York), Paramo Gallery (Guadalajara), Dvir Gallery (Israel), Spinello Projects (Miami) Shulamit Nazarian (Los Angeles). Tsabar’s work has been featured in publications including ArtForum, Art In America, ArtReview, ARTnews, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Frieze, Bomb Magazine, Art Asia Pacific, Wire, and Whitewall, among others.
Carissa Rodriguez (b. 1970, US) lives and works in New York City. Solo exhibitions include the Art Institute of Chicago (2020); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2018); SculptureCenter, New York (2018); CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2016); Front Desk Apparatus, New York (2013); Karma International, Zürich (2012); House of Gaga, Mexico City (2010); New Jersey, Basel (2009). Rodriguez participated in the Whitney Biennial of 2014 and 2019. She received a BA in Literature from Eugene Lang College at the New School, New York in 1994, and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in 2001. She was a core member of Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York from 2004 to 2015. She is currently Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Art, Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University.
Quick Tips and Deep Dives
Looking for insights and advice as you approach assignments for the end of the term? We have some resources to recommend:
We collaborated with Disability Support Services to bring you advice for getting started on a paper.
If you’re working on a research paper, check out our research paper video tutorial that guides you through the whole process, from active reading to citation to integrating sources into your writing.
And don’t forget our collection of handouts with instructions and advice on over 50 topics.
If you don’t see what you’re looking for or want help applying what you’ve learned, sign up for an appointment on our online schedule: risd.mywconline.com.
And don’t miss these other resources RISD staff have created to support you this semester:
RISD Global helped us create this workshop-turned-tutorial on the statement of purpose (scroll down to “Application Prep Resources”) for those applying to the European Honors Program.
Check out DSS’s other tips on organizing your workspace and making it sustainable.
The Career Center has a host of videos for all your professional development needs, including everything you need to know about resumes and cover letters.
All of RISD’s academic support resources can be found here.
Remote Tutoring Available this Spring
In keeping with RISD’s virus-preventative shift to remote learning this Spring, A&L’s physical doors will be closed for tutoring starting March 15, but student tutors and professional staff will continue to offer tutoring via Zoom conferencing throughout the Spring. Until March 30, please e-mail us at artsandlanguage@risd.edu to make an appointment. Starting on March 30, click on “Make an Appointment.”
In her 2013 book The Faraway Nearby, essayist Rebecca Solnit portrays the deep roots and value of writing and storytelling in helping us make sense of our lives. She drew her title from a phrase in a letter Georgia O’Keeffe wrote when she’d moved from New York to New Mexico. As this public health emergency sends many of us from RISD in different directions for a while, A&L hopes to be a place for storytelling and solace, a “faraway nearby” that eases our temporary separation.
Spring Studio Language Workshops
This semester’s multilingual workshops will focus on developing vocabulary and critique fluency. Open to all multilingual learners. Bring your lunch!
It Was a Dark and Cozy Night
v.1 (volume-1.org) kept Wintersession cozy with a mid-January reading from the Fall issue, along with a special performance by Glory West and assorted fondues. v.1’s Wintersession issue, a riso-printed “interlude,” will be out any day now …
Asher White opens the ceremonies with a reading from v.1’s letter from the editors.
Glory awaits.
Glory pulls us in and doesn’t let us go.
Angela Lobel reads from Ali Dipp’s “Smooth Stones.”
Tiger Dingsun reads from “Ballast” …
While the gathered read along.
And yes, there really was fondue …
New Events and Resources for Grad Thesis Book Writers
Hey grads, ready to write and design your thesis? A&L is here for you … in more ways than one.
1. This Wintersession, A&L invites all grads to the A&L “thesis writer’s room.” Join us Monday through Friday from 9-11 AM, all Wintersession long, for: good company, great views, comfy couches, free coffee, and perhaps most importantly, dedicated writing time. We’ll start each morning with a quick check in together; staff and tutors will be on hand to share resources and feedback on request. No need to RSVP, just come on in, as many days as you like.
2. Check out our brand-new Guide to Thesis Book Design. Written by recent GD alum Marcus Peabody, this book will walk you through every step in the design process, from choosing fonts to image strategies, from software selection to finding the right printer. If you haven’t come across it yet, see A&L’s Book of Thesis Books—a tour through content “highlights” in 37 exemplary thesis books from every grad program. And finally, don’t miss the original thesis guide: Anne West’s The Master’s Written Thesis Handbook, which offers inspiration and instruction in equal parts.
3. Did you know that you can meet weekly or biweekly with the same A&L tutor throughout the year? Lots of grads do. It’s a great way to get focused, informed, and continuous feedback on your thesis, along with built-in, friendly deadlines. E-mail artsandlanguage@risd.edu to set up ongoing tutoring. Or, as always, make a single appointment here. (We also compile a list of copy editors for hire. See our handouts page under “Grad Written Thesis.”)
If you have ideas for additional thesis book workshops, events, or resources, let us know and we’ll see if we can make it happen.
Workshop: Pronouncing East Asian Names
Tonight, from 5-6 PM, at A&L:
In celebration of International Education Week, HPSS Assistant Professor Xiangli Ding is offering a workshop on how to pronounce East Asian names. Nearly a fifth of RISD students, staff, and faculty have East Asian backgrounds; understanding correct pronunciation is important to the whole community. All are welcome!
Opening & Happening ... forever!
Sincerest thanks to all who joined us on September 27 for our Opening & Happening. What a thrill to see everyone sharing in so many ways together in our new space. We learned a lot on this day about how expansively the center can operate and welcome all. Stay tuned for announcements about how we plan to keep the happenings happening throughout the year.
Everyone was everywhere …
Olive Godlee (Sculpture BFA 2019 and A&L tutor emeritus) was our very first artist-in-residence. Olive shared bread and research conversation.
Who knew that ideas are the perfect condiment for fresh-baked bread? (The homemade jam was amazing, too!)
A group of grad students took a first shot at Scrabble!
Jessina and LAS Professor Mike Fink, all smiles in the “interview a tutor” room.
The New Yorker caption-writing table … clearly a big draw!
Boggle (and Bananagrams) kept us playing late into the day.
& v.1 Info Session ...
v.1 (volume-1.org), RISD’s student-led publication, hosts its first info session of the year as part of A&L’s (grand) Opening & Happening. Come meet v.1’s editorial staff and learn how you can contribute.