Rhode Island School Of Design Students Learn All Things Paper!
The Morgan has been lucky enough to host students from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for the past week. The students have mostly been working with our founder,
Tom Balbo, in our paper studio learning how to pull sheets of western-style paper, paper cast, and marbling. One of our previous Artist-In-Residence, Shadi Ayoub, has worked with the students in our letterpress studio on our Heidelberg Press, creating a two-color print. They also worked with our Vandercook and Lin-O-Scribe utilizing our extensive supply of moveable metal and wood type. Lastly, students worked with Morgan volunteer Paula Damm, creating a paper thread, with a technique similar to the Shifu process adapted from the Japanese. Preserving the art of papermaking, closest to its original method, has been the lifeblood of our organization, and something we want to continue to celebrate in the new year!
The Rhode Island School of Design is a private, nonprofit college founded in
Providence, RI in 1877. It is one of the first art and design schools in the US. About 2,500 students from around the world engage in liberal arts studies and rigorous, studio-based learning at RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”), where they earn bachelor’s or master’s degrees in 22 majors. The program the Morgan participated in fills the requirements for their winter session, which every student must complete before they graduate. All of the students who partook in this session are of different majors at RISD, including textiles, printmaking, and furniture design. Since this was the first time the majority of students were introduced to working with paper, this session was not necessarily tied to anything they were studying in school or projects they were working on. They have been reveling in the exploratory + tactile work that is paper arts, and we could not have been happier to host these artists! Take a peek at all of the photos from RISD's time at the Morgan on our Facebook album titled, "RISD Winter Session 2022".