Author Archives: Edward Newhall

About Edward Newhall

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions, RISD '75

Learning From Others

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SharedAmong the possibilities available to fill your day at RISD are the many creative visitors who stream to the campus.  Artists, designers, musicians, writers and leaders of every possible stripe spend time here speaking, in critiques and learning and observing themselves.

One of our most expansive lecture series is Shared Voices, which is sponsored by the President’s Office and brings thinkers from beyond the immediate boundaries of art and design.  From particle physicists to learning technologists, these speakers expand the connections that visual creators have to one another and to the broader universe.  The pace of change we are all experiencing can be both unsettling and exhilarating, and these Shared Voices visitors help us capitalize upon our moment in this broad arc of the path into the future.

Shared by Ed Newhall -  Contact me at enewhall@risd.edu

Something Fun from Rome

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Melanie Steinway, a RISD student from Illustration, made this stop-motion animation while attending our European Honors Program in Rome.  I’m stop-motion interested and thought you might enjoy spending a couple of minutes watching this as well.  If you are YouTube interested, there are many other pieces about RISD out there.  Enjoy your browsing!

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions  – contact me at enewhall@risd.edu

Super Initiative

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Many RISD students have an entrepreneurial mindset, and that focus has been part of the culture here long before the idea gained such recent and widespread popularity.  Although the majority of our graduates find the path of working for someone else – individual or company, large or small – just fine for them, many others do not want to be told what to do and when, or to share their ideas and creativity for the benefit of someone else’s business.  The power of independence and individuality is certainly part of the personality for many creative people.

Our Career Center has really amped up their efforts in the last two years to formally support students who want to develop their own business, pre or post graduation.  Recently, they sponsored a conference to wrap together an energetic introduction on how to chart an independent career path.  Check out the recap of the Mindshare event and, while you’re there, hit the links to the RISD pages at Etsy and Kickstarter.

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions

Questions, thoughts?  Contact me at enewhall@risd.edu

Outside of the Studio

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We recently expanded the opportunities available for students in what used to be known as the sphere of student life.  Now renamed the Center for Student Involvement, the new name reflects a re-energized focus on a broader range of activities and support for students as a complement to their investigations in the studio and classroom.  RISD students are truly dedicated to their creative passions and invest a lot of time in their studios but the world is full of possibilities and CSI is there to help you explore that universe of other interests.

Finding a New Way

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RISD was just cited as a top college in the US for Visionaries by the Huffington Post, the online news site, and is the only art and design college featured in the article.

One of the core beliefs of learning at RISD is creative problem-solving, whether that problem is commenting on the world we inhabit using a hundred pounds of clay or finding a new way to provide housing for people forced into refugee status by disaster, natural or manmade. Students are encouraged to think critically, an essential element to guide what they are making. The approach is to dive deeply into the assignment, looking for new ways to find an innovative solution and not being satisfied with an effort or result that has not considered every possibility.  It’s curiosity, intensity, passion and energy that lead to those undiscovered opportunities, solutions and outcomes.

It’s been part of our core since the beginning and still going strong after 135 years.

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions, contact me at enewhall@risd.edu

What RISD Students Do – Part 4

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guildposters

So, if you are a student at RISD and don’t get a buzz from The All-Nighter or RISD Expose or RISD Quickies (all posts below), what else might there be for you?

Another group of students has created the RISD Design Guild, which offers graphic design services for clients within the RISD community.  Guest lecturers, parties, bike trip extravaganzas, student government meetings and just about everything else have been promoted on campus through the work of guild members.

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions.  Contact me at enewhall@risd.edu.

What RISD Students Do – part 3

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RISD Expose
More about students forging an interesting path … this time, Quickies

RISD offers hundreds of classes each year, taught by faculty with enormous expertise in  the subject matter and years of experience in the “art” of teaching.  Technology, however, is unleashing a new way of approaching teaching and learning.  Students are discovering that the informal exchange of knowledge and support in the studios, that has always been a wonderful source of learning and growth, can now be more purposefully organized through the web to create a new learning environment.

Thus was born Quickies.  Students are using web communication to create an alternative course catalog, offering their own expertise and special interests in short, skill-based workshops.  You can get a little history and insight about the program in this article from The All-Nighter.

Creative thinking is the focus of learning at RISD and our students exhibit that every day in their lives.  Learning to make a single, particular thing is not our reason d’etre but rather learning to think and to create anew is what we aim to develop, as that can be applied over and over and over again to whatever new challenge might come around the next corner.  Here in the early part of the 21st century, we all know that something new is guaranteed to be coming at us around every corner and RISD students are well-prepared to offer ways to meet those challenges or capitalize on the opportunities.

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions.  Contact me at enewhall@risd.edu

What RISD Students Do – part 2

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RISD Expose

My colleague LeeAnn wrote recently about The All-Nighter, a great new online publication created by RISD students.  You can read about it below.

That new venture got me thinking about the very long list of unusual efforts that our students undertake, a number of which we have posted about in this blog.  What is it about RISD students that, on top of the passion to invest so much effort in their own work and interests, they are inspired to launch lots of wonderful, collaborative projects.

Check out RISD Expose, a seasonal gallery/store created and managed by students to take advantage of the mad shopping energy of the holiday season.  Located nearby to RISD in the Providence business district, students negotiate with a local, real estate entrepreneur to transform an unused retail space into a creative wonderland.  Beyond making their own work to place in the gallery, students have to design the space, conduct the advertising, manage the schedule, handle the commerce and all of the pains and pleasures of running a business enterprise.  Real-time learning and problem solving, connected to the focus of our educational efforts.

Check it out and get your gift-giving mojo cranked up.  Any sane person loves to receive a work of art for some special occasion.

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions.  contact me at enewhall@risd.edu

RISD Leads the Fulbright World

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One of the most prestigious grants a U.S. student can achieve is the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which offers opportunities for American scholars, artists and professionals to conduct research, lecture, or consult with other scholars and institutions abroad.  It was recently announced that RISD has more recipients in the current funding cycle than any other college in the specialized college category.  These seven Fulbright scholars will be pursuing projects in Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, Morocco, Sweden and Trinidad, extending their innovative thinking around the globe.  The RISD Careers Office provides a very active support program to guide students through the rigorous application process and support these very special aspirations of graduating students and alums.

Ed Newhall, Director of Admissions.  Contact me at enewhall@risd.edu