This is a list of notable people from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Notable alumni
Academia
Business
Politics
Architecture
Interior design
Fine Art
Art collectives
Forcefield
Jim Drain (BFA 1998) — Artist
Matt Brinkman (BFA 1997) — Artist
Ara Peterson (BFA 1997) — Artist
Art collectors and art dealers
Mary Boone (BFA 1973) — Owner of Mary Boone Gallery. David Whitney (B. Interior Architecture 1963) — art collector and curator; longtime companion of architect Philip Johnson.
Digital arts
Rebecca Allen (BFA 1975) — Pioneer of early computer art, installation art, interface design, and professor
Guggenheim fellowships
MacArthur Fellowships
Multimedia, mixed media and installation
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture
Fashion
Film and television
Actors
Furniture design
Glass
Graphic design
Illustration
Industrial design
David Hanson (BFA FAV 1997) — Robotics designer of Sophia (robot) Charles Tsunashima (BFA Industrial Design, 1997, MFA Textiles 2000) — Industrial designer, Tama Arts University faculty Archduke Dominic of Austria, Prince of Tuscany (BFA Industrial Design, 1960)
Literature
Music
Musical bands
Bands formed by students while attending RISD
Black Dice – Formed in 1997
Hisham Bharoocha (BFA 1998) — Artist and musician, former member of Black Dice and Lightning Bolt Sebastian Blanck (BFA 1998) — Artist and musician, former member of Black Dice
Fang Island – Formed in 2005
Les Savy Fav – Formed in 1995
Tim Harrington
Syd Butler
Lightning Bolt – Formed in 1994
Hisham Bharoocha (BFA 1998) — Artist and musician, former member of Black Dice and Lightning Bolt Brian Chippendale (no degree) — Artist, founded Fort Thunder Brian Gibson (BFA 1998) — Artist Rubber Rodeo — band formed in 1980
Talking Heads – Formed in 1974
David Byrne (no degree) Chris Frantz (BFA 1974) Tina Weymouth (BFA 1974)
Textiles
Pia Camil (BFA 2003) – contemporary artist
Cynthia Schira (BFA 1956) — textile artist known for adding relief and irregularity to weavings made on a Jacquard loom Ruth Adler Schnee (BFA 1945) — a founding figure of contemporary textile design in America and best known for her modern prints and abstract-patterns of organic and geometric forms.
Notable current and past faculty
Fine Arts Division
The Fine Arts Division includes the following departments; ceramics, film/animation/video, glass, illustration, jewelry and metalsmithing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles.
Ceramics
Otto and Vivika Heino — ceramics
Film, animation, video
Janet Perlman — animator, Oscar nominee for The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin Steven Subotnick — professor in animation Yvonne Andersen — professor in animation, department head
Illustration
Jean Blackburn (artist) (BFA 1979) — archaeological illustrator, sculptor, and painter Fred Lynch (BFA 1986) — journalistic illustrator David Macaulay (BArch 1969) — Illustrator and author Barry Moser — Illustrator Kelly Murphy (BFA 1999) — Illustrator and author, E.B. White Award winner for Masterpiece Chris Van Allsburg — (MFA Sculpture 1975) children's book author/illustrator, Caldecott winner for Jumanji and The Polar Express Lars Grant-West — Illustrator for Wizards of the Coast
Jewelry and metalsmithing
John Prip — silver design
Painting
Richard Merkin (MFA 1963) — Professor Emeritus, painter. Duane Slick — painting faculty since 1995. George William Whitaker — first instructor of oil painting Mabel May Woodward — painting faculty for over 20 years; during the early 20th century introduced the "action class," in which students studied the human figure as a machine rather than as a stationary object
Photography
Diane Arbus — Photographer
Harry Callahan — Photographer, former Chair of the Department of Photography
Joe Deal – photographer, Professor Emeritus, former Provost
Ann Fessler — author, filmmaker, installation artist, former Department Head and Graduate Program Director Henry Horenstein — Photographer Aaron Siskind — abstract expressionist photographer who, with Callahan, founded the photography department at RISD