Rhode Island School of Design – #2 Art Schools in Jerry’s Top 10

#2 Rhode Island School of Design

Jerry’s Artarama has always supported art education and so this year we wanted to show our support of some of the finest in higher art education available in the United States by honoring some of the best schools in our list of the 10 Best Art Schools in the Country.

Runner up to our Number 1 Art School in the Country is the Rhode Island School of Design.

The Rhode Island School of Design located in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the top schools for art and design as well as one of the oldest, being founded in 1877. RISD or riz-dee as its often called by its students has a student population of about 2,300 students and offers about twenty programs of study including apparel design, architecture, digital media, ceramics, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.

The school is noted for being particularly selective in their student selection process with applicants having to complete specialized “hometests” in addition to their applications and other submitted work. The hometests often include challenges such as creating your own drawing instrument and then drawing something with that instrument and their famous bicycle hometest where students must observe and draw a bicycle.

RISD also offers its students many places to gain inspiration not only sharing a combined campus with Brown University, it also has three art galleries on campus including the Gelman Gallery, the Woods-Gerry Gallery and the Sol Koffler Gallery.

The Breakdown

Professors- The school has a talented staff of around 350 faculty and curators and has included such famous professors as Friedrich St. Floria, the designer of the National Wordl War II Memorial, Richard Merkin, and graphic designer Michael Rock.
Notable Alumni- Actor and artist James Franco, Animator Seth McFarlane, Fashion Designer and Project Runway contestant Diana Eng, and such artsists as Cheryl Donegan, Romeo Alaeff, and Jenny Holzer.
Local flavor- RISD shares its campus with Brown University but art can be seen easily at the Gelman Gallery, the Woods-Gerry Gallery, the Sol Koffler Gallery and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
Currently on Display- Stop by the Museum of Art and see exhibits such as What Nerve! and Circus.