When RISD Graphic Design Professor Hammett Nurosi was a young art student, he and his classmates would sit in a café for hours, discussing "the world, politics, our opinions on current affairs. We would talk about everything," Nurosi recalled.
But now that he is a professor, Nurosi said he finds students hesitant to speak openly about politics. To combat this shyness, he dedicates half an hour of his weekly class, "Making Meaning," to a freewheeling discussion of any topic of the students' choice.
Politics often enters the discussion, according to Nurosi, and he said he was pleased to learn that over two-thirds of his students plan to vote in November's presidential election.
But even though RISD is located in the most Democratic state in the nation and the election is just a month away, RISD professors, alumni and undergraduates say artwork coming out of RISD classes has remained apolitical.
"A very small percentage (of RISD students) actually attempt to incorporate their political views into their artwork," said Amy Kravitz, the head of the Film, Animation and Video department. "Occasionally we have a few, but it has never been a major thread."
Nurosi said political discourse tends to be absent from RISD classrooms and studios because RISD students are largely driven by personal interest and are serious artists who attend art school with the goal of perfecting their craft and honing their talent.
Colin Lidston RISD '05, an Illustration major, spent a good part of last spring working on a proposal for a final project centered on the war in Iraq and American soldiers stationed there. Lidston said he had planned on portraying soldiers during their downtime, so as to convey their paradoxical roles as "killing machines" and also the every-man enjoying a cigarette and good conversation.
Lidston abandoned the proposal over the summer, however, for another senior project, one that he says has little political significance. "Craftsmanship is more important - we come to RISD to learn. We don't view it as an opportunity to carry out a particular agenda," Lidston said, voicing a common opinion among RISD undergraduates.
Lidston considers himself one of the few RISD students who make the extra effort to follow current events closely, and he said he tries to be as sensitive as possible to the subtleties and nuances of the current political situation. He said he loves both politics and art, but remains adamant that the two should not be mixed.
"It has been said that political art expresses the clichés you agree with and propaganda expresses the clichés you don't," Lidston said, explaining his aversion to overtly political pieces.
Yet there are those who still believe in the powerful influence that political art has on people's hearts and minds. Cameron Davis RISD '05 said his first foray into political art was in high school, when he sketched a political cartoon about a company that had dumped chemical waste into the Willamette River in Oregon, his home state. Davis depicted a mutated fish with feet that could walk out of the water. His work won him a trip to Germany.
Davis's work at RISD, however, has never been intentionally political in nature, apart from one or two required assignments on his interpretations of the war. As a student in art school, there is a difference between disliking the president and expressing this dissatisfaction in art, Davis said.
But Davis's disapproval of President George W. Bush has led him to work with political cartoonist Matt Grinell on a Web-based political cartoon encouraging people to vote. "(Bush) is in office for the wrong reasons - the oil, the money, the power, the political ties - instead of doing what's good for America," Davis said.
Grinell attended RISD as a graduate student from 2001 to 2002 but left the school after three semesters - in part, he says, because he found RISD a constricting environment in his quest to mesh his politics with his art.
Grinell graduated from Wesleyan University in 1993 with a degree in American studies and then came to RISD to study illustration. Though he enjoyed his time at RISD, Grinell said he felt the focus on perfecting technique during class time did not allow him to further his dream as a political cartoonist or his goal of creating political awareness.
In his animation, Grinell uses a simple set of images to create visual hyperbole. His latest work, available at IslandintheSky.com, is a rallying call for young Americans to gather around Democratic candidate John Kerry and vote for him in November. The colorful, catchy animation is set to the Beastie Boys tune "Check It Out."
Grinell believes wholeheartedly in the influence of art on people's opinions. "You see three pieces of typewritten paper on the wall, versus one image conveying the same idea next to it. The effect is undeniable. What you have is effective, immediate and impactful," he said.
Industrial design major Minnie Kim RISD '05 said RISD students interested in politics often express their views away from school, just as Grinell chose to do. "At RISD, we are kind of in a bubble," Kim said.
