From now until Feb. 15, the 18th annual Brown-RISD Dual Degree Student Exhibition is on display in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. The exhibit, the culmination of months of work by the artists and curatorial committee, opened on Jan. 20 and highlights the talent of BRDD students — and the tight-knit community they have formed.
The exhibition, titled “I left the room and it came with me,” explores “how the physical connects with the mental, emotional and natural realms,” said Mera Foster ’30, a BRDD student and member of the exhibition’s curatorial committee — a group of students that helps select displayed works.
The first step in selecting works for the exhibition is “gathering words that we want the theme to reflect, sort of as an entry point,” Foster said. Those words are then included in the call for submission. This year, those thematic words included “borders,” “permeability” and “rupture,” she said.
Each member of the committee independently scored each submission on a scale from one to five, said BRDD student and curatorial committee member Maximos Spatharakis '29. The committee then reconvened to discuss the works and ensure that the selected pieces are both diverse and harmonious.
“I really like the opportunity of being highlighted in the community,” Spatharakis said. “It’s wonderful to be able to show my art to other people who I respect a lot,” he added.
In addition to her curatorial role, Foster also has works in the exhibition: two paintings entitled “The Colour of Time” and “Glowstick Composition.” For these, she elected not to write labels, explaining that she likes “to have people sort of find their own meaning in them” and “get lost in everything that’s going on.”
For third-time participant in the BRDD exhibition Sofia Ruiz ’27, the showcase demonstrates the program’s strong sense of community. “There’s only, like, around 15 students per year,” she said. “People (are) typically pretty close.”
For Ruiz, this tight-knit community has been particularly important following the mass shooting on Dec. 13. Since the Dual Degree program lasts five years, her “close friends at both schools are graduating,” Ruiz said. She has leaned on her BRDD cohort for support, and the group has been “meeting up a lot more frequently.”
The exhibition’s Jan. 22 reception was “a lovely time to kind of catch up with people and also just see what everyone's doing,” Ruiz added.
BRDD student Daniella Pozo ’27 has had work displayed in the exhibition every year since her arrival on College Hill. “It’s always just a really great opportunity to see what everyone is up to.”
This year, Pozo’s work centers around “trying to develop a language for myself that can reflect what I’m seeing in the world” and drawing historical connections to the present.
“As you get older you tend to have less connection with the younger years,” she said. “It’s really nice to see everyone’s work come together.”
“People should make sure to go to all the floors,” Pozo said. “I'd love for more people to come see it before it comes down.”
Millie Barter is a senior staff writer covering RISD.
