The Art of Critical Making

Describes the world's leading approach to art and design taught at Rhode Island School of Design At Rhode Island School of Design students are immersed in a culture where making questions, ideas, and objects, using and inventing materials, and activating experience all serve to define a form of critical thinking—albeit with one's hands—i.e. "critical making." The Art of Critical Making, by RISD faculty and staff, describes fundamental aspects of RISD's approach to "critical making" and how this can lead to innovation. The process of making taught at RISD is deeply introspective, passionate, and often provocative. This book illuminates how RISD nurtures the creative process, from brief or prompt to outcome, along with guidance on the critical questions and research that enable making great works of art and design. Explores the conceptual process, idea research, critical questions, and iteration that RISD faculty employ to educate students to generate thoughtful work Authors are from the faculty and staff of the Rhode Island School of Design, which consistently ranks as the number one fine arts and design college in the United States The Art of Critical Making shows you how context, materials, thought processes, and self-evaluation are applied in this educational environment to prepare creative individuals to produce dynamic, memorable, and meaningful works.

Foreword 5 John Maeda Preface 11 Frank R. Wilson The Art of Critical Making: An Introduction 19 Rosanne Somerson Groundwork 32 Leslie Hirst Text and Context: Outward in All Directions 52 Daniel Cavicchi Conversation: Drawing 74 Patricia C. Phillips Thingking 94 John Dunnigan Object Lessons 116 Sarah Ganz Blythe Conversation: Materials 138 Kelly Dobson Graphic Design, Storytelling, and the Making of Meaning 164 Lucinda Hitchcock The Nature Imperative 190 Neal Overstrom Conversation: Critique 210 Eva Sutton Acting into the Unknown 230 Pradeep Sharma Afterword 245 Mara L. Hermano Acknowledgments 251 Contributors 253 Illustrations 261 Index 265