Teach Wintersession

Every January during Wintersession, RISD faculty offer multi-disciplinary, off-campus travel courses. Wintersession Travel Courses are 4 to 5 week long courses led by RISD faculty that bring together RISD students from across disciplines in the exploration of a wide spectrum of topics related to art, design and global thinking.

Wintersession Travel Courses are an opportunity for faculty to propose and teach on topics of special interest, and to engage geography as a key piece of the curriculum. Each course is distinct, shaped by the interests of the faculty member, their specific expertise, and network of relationships. The intensive timeframe creates an experimental space for faculty to test ideas and explore new modes of teaching, and to deepen connections between their pedagogy and practice.

Supported by academic departments, Wintersession Travel Courses are central to RISD’s internationalization and global engagement; in the last years courses engaged with practices and traditions in such geographies as: Argentina, Cuba, Guyana, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, among others.

Guyana: Art and Science of Biodiversity

Surama, Guyana 2014

How to propose a Wintersession Travel Course

RISD faculty, upon approval from their Department Head and Dean, and TU confirmation, can propose a Wintersession Travel Course for the following academic year, and submit a course proposal by the established course table process and deadline.

View details

Recent Wintersession Travel Courses

Recent Wintersession Travel Courses have led students to particular sites in the world to study: contemporary applications of traditional heritages of making in specific cultures and locations of the world, sustainability and biodiversity in global art and design, sustainable materials for the built environment. As such, these courses support RISD’s strategic vision to contribute to the creation of just societies, a sustainable planet, and new ways of making and knowing that equip humans to live in mutually enhancing ways with each other and with the earth.

Wintersession 2020

Australia: Witness Tree Project - Dale Broholm (Faculty, RISD Furniture Design) + Daniel Cavicchi (Vice Provost + Faculty, RISD History, Philosophy + the Social Sciences)
France: Photography in Paris - Thalassa Raasch (Faculty, RISD Photography)
Japan: Papers, Temples & Print - Daniel Heyman (Faculty, RISD Printmaking) + Elena Varshavskaya (Faculty, RISD Theory + History of Art + Design)
Mexico: Color, Mestizaje & Design Futures - Kate Irvin (Curator, RISD Museum + Faculty, RISD Textiles)
Mexico: Material Propositions: Oaxaca - Silvia Acosta (Faculty, RISD Architecture)
Mexico: Pre-Columbian Architecture and Traditional Crafts/Pre-Colonial to Contemporary - Winifred Lambrecht (Faculty, RISD Theory + History of Art + Design/History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences) + Sean Nesselrode Moncada (Faculty, RISD Theory + History of Art + Design)

Wintersession 2019

France: Photography in Paris - Thalassa Raasch (Faculty, RISD Photography)
Guyana: Exploring Art & Science of Biodiversity in Guyana - Thomas Doran (Faculty, RISD Literary Arts & Studies) + Lucy Spelman (Faculty, RISD History, Philosophy + Social Sciences)
Italy: See Naples and Die: Panorama & the Poetics of a City - Nick De Pace (Faculty, RISD Landscape Architecture) + Mark Sherman (Faculty, RISD Literary Arts + Studies)
Japan: Papers, Temples & Print - Daniel Heyman (Faculty, RISD Printmaking) + Elena Varshavskaya (Faculty, RISD History of Art + Visual Culture)
Mexico: History, Pre-colonial, Colonial and Contemporary Arts - Winifred Lambrecht (Faculty, RISD History of Art + Visual Culture/History, Philosophy + Social Sciences) + Sean Nesselrode Moncada (Faculty, RISD History of Art + Visual Culture)
Portugal: Mapping Portugal: Bio-geo Cultural Heritages - Eduardo Duarte (Faculty, RISD Interior Architecture) + Nicole Merola (Faculty, RISD Literary Arts + Studies)

Wintersession 2018

Canada: Haida Made - Patricia Johnson (Faculty, RISD Furniture Design)
France: Photography in Paris - Anna Strickland (Faculty, RISD Photography) + Thalassa Raasch (Faculty, RISD Photography)
Italy: Renaissance Painting Techniques/Perugia to Venice - Richard Gann (Faculty, RISD Illustration) + Pascale Rihouet (Faculty, RISD History of Art + Visual Culture)
Japan: Contemporary Works and Their Execution - Silvia Acosta (Faculty, RISD Architecture) + Yoko Inoue (Faculty, RISD Ceramics)
Morocco: Crafting the City - Eduardo Duarte (Faculty, RISD Interior Architecture) + Leora Maltz-Leca (Faculty, RISD History of Art + Visual Culture)
Portugal: Material Practices - Laura Briggs (Faculty, RISD Architecture) + Nicole Merola (Faculty, RISD Literary Arts + Studies)

Wintersession 2017

Argentina: Hi/Low Tech - Paula Gaetano-Adi (Faculty, RISD Experimental and Foundation Studies) + Alejandro Borsani (Faculty, RISD Experimental and Foundation Studies)
Cuba: Print & History - Winifred Lambrecht (Faculty, RISD History, Philosophy + the Social Sciences) + Henry Ferreira (Faculty, RISD Printmaking)
Guyana: Art & Science - Lucy Spelman (Faculty, RISD History, Philosophy + the Social Sciences) + Nicole Merola (Faculty, RISD Literary Arts + Studies)
Italy:(In)visible Venice - Leslie Hirst (Faculty, RISD Experimental and Foundation Studies) + Mark Sherman (Faculty, RISD Literary Arts + Studies)
Italy Shoe Design & Protoyping - Kathleen Grevers (Faculty, RISD Apparel Design)
Italy: WS Travel Rome - Elettra Bordonaro (Faculty, RISD Architecture)
Japan: Kyoto and Naoshima - Silvia Acosta (Faculty, RISD Architecture)
Japan: Paper, Temples, Prints - Daniel Heyman (Faculty, RISD Printmaking) + Elena Varshavskaya (Faculty, RISD History of Art + Visual Culture)

Preparation + Research

Leading a Wintersession Travel Course is a wonderful and challenging experience, to begin to prepare and research this possibility, we encourage faculty to: