RECONSIDERING VISUAL STORYTELLING History of Illustration (Fairchild Books–Bloomsbury), a new book edited by Illustration Department Head Susan Doyle 81 IL/MFA 98 PT/PR, captures the global impact of illustrators on human knowledge. With nearly 600 pages enlivened by 950 images, the book offers an expansive view of illustrative communication. RISD professors Robert Brinkerhoff, Bolaji Campbell, Nick Jainschigg 83 IL and Winifred Lambrecht are among the dozens of researchers, curators and practitioners who contributed new scholarship to the book, as did associate editors Jaleen Grove and Whitney Sherman. Covering a diverse range of topics— from Renaissance-era anatomical and medical illustration to Muslim illustrative traditions, wartime propaganda and digital forms of image making— History of Illustration sheds light on multiple histories, says Grove, a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University who will begin a visiting faculty appointment at RISD in the fall. Among the primary needs it addresses is going beyond the Eurocentrism of previous histories to include the emergence and development of image-making practices in the eastern and southern hemispheres. Doyle emphasizes that as new technologies make it increasingly easier to create and share images, the need to understand their social role is greater than ever. As educators “we’re not here to tell students how to make a picture,” she says. “What we want to do is give them the critical skills to question why they’re making it and who they’re making it for.”
Remarkable Range in Faculty Show During its month-long run, the 2018 RISD Faculty Exhibition & Forum offered a fascinating display of the range of talent and vision among the individuals who teach here. Painting, furniture, sculpture, photography, video, digital installations and more shared gallery space at the RISD Museum and Gelman Gallery in what Providence Journal critic Channing Gray called a “mind-dizzying array” of concept, color, form and scale. Faculty members also spoke about various aspects of art and design practice as part of the associated forum series.
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