Every winter, between the fall and spring semesters, students at the Rhode Island School of Design take a five-week course known as Wintersession. These classes aim to provide students with an opportunity to dive deeper into topics that are difficult to explore during the semester.
During Wintersession, students typically take one on-campus class that meets two to three times a week. Students also have the opportunity to study abroad during this time period.
The Herald spoke to four RISD students about their Wintersession experiences, which spanned both on-campus and international courses.
PHOTO 5300-101: “Introduction to Darkroom Photography”
Django Lewis, a RISD sophomore, spent her Wintersession in PHOTO 5300-101: “Introduction to Darkroom Photography.” During the course, students learned how to take photos, as well how to print in a darkroom — a specific technique used to develop film photos.
“You can’t see what your photos are going to look like until you develop them,” Lewis said. “There’s a lot that’s unknown about the process.”
Lewis, a painting major, described darkroom photography as a “meticulous craft,” different from her usual painting courses, which she feels are more “free.” The class also helped her discover that she enjoys art forms with aspects she “cannot control.”
Wintersession was a “breath of fresh air” for Lewis, enabling her to take a course about a topic she wanted to learn more about, but did not have time for during regular semesters.
TEXT W470-102: “The Woven Rug”
Textiles course TEXT W470-102: “The Woven Rug” examined different rugs and floor-coverings from across the world while teaching students how to use a loom and weave.
Brown-RISD Dual Degree student Charlotte Park ’29 hoped taking the course would help her decide whether to major in textiles. Students at RISD typically declare their majors in early February of their first year.
“I was worried that I would end up hating weaving,” Park shared, “but I enjoyed it enough that I was pretty comfortable declaring it.”
At the end of the class, students were tasked with creating their own rug. Park told The Herald that she enjoyed being able to have a “tangible project” at the end of the course.
Park also said that Wintersession felt like a “mini-break” where she could spend more time with friends. As compared to her typical first-year schedule, the five-week intensive gave her a “taste of what it was like to do something that isn’t just studios or spacial dynamics.”
SCULP 1010-101: “Immersive Worlds”
In “Immersive Worlds,” 12 first-year students worked together to transform a classroom using sculptures. With no previous knowledge of sculpture required, students were given the creative freedom to design the room as they liked. After the course ended, the room was opened as an exhibit for the public to enjoy.
“I’ve never really done sculptural stuff,” said RISD first-year John Driscoll. Despite knowing that he would likely major in illustration, Driscoll wanted to see what a three-dimensional class was like. Even though he decided against majoring in sculpture, Driscoll felt like if he hadn’t taken the class he would have always wondered “what if I did?”
Combining levers, cameras, interactive elements, revolving doors and more, the class turned the room into a hallway with several different mini-rooms to explore. When people came to see the exhibit, a security camera in the room captured their reactions.
“My favorite part was seeing people engage and play,” Driscoll said.
Jaimie An, who co-taught this course with Isabel Mattia, said that Immersive Worlds aimed to provide a “tasting menu” of different elements of sculpture. The collaborative nature of the course is where she saw the students “shine the most” as they matured “minute by minute.”
RISD Global — India_Sensed
In addition to their own campus courses, RISD also hosts opportunities for students to spend Wintersession abroad.
Tenley Dugan, a RISD sophomore, spent her Wintersession taking a textiles course in India. During her time in South Asia, she looked at different crafts made by Indian artisans. Dugan liked the fact that Wintersession allowed her to study abroad without having to spend a whole semester away from campus.
“Being in India meant the structure of our class was a lot more laid back” compared to an on-campus Wintersession course, Dugan said. During her time in India, Dugan went sight-seeing, explored different cities and worked in four traditional craft studios.
Dugan said she valued the experience of working with local artisans, who had “incredible expertise that none of us could learn in our lifetime and certainly not in a month.”
She also shared that being abroad opened her eyes to a way of working that was less “intense.”
“Not everything has to be this big conceptual masterpiece,” she added. “Things can just be beautiful for the sake of being beautiful.”
