
Teach Wintersession
Every January during Wintersession semester, RISD faculty offer multi-disciplinary off-campus global learning 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.
Teach Wintersession


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
Wintersession 2019
Wintersession 2018
Wintersession 2017
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:
- Meet with RISD Global to learn more about these opportunities.
- Speak with faculty who have led recent Wintersession travel courses.
- Consider applying for a Global Engagement for Curricular Development grant to support your research towards a course proposal.
- Learn more about the course proposal process for Wintersession travel courses.
How to propose a Wintersession travel course
All RISD faculty, upon department head approval and TU confirmation, can propose a WS travel course for the following academic year, and submit a course proposal by the established course table process and deadline.
View detailsGrants
RISD Global and the Dean of Faculty collaborate each year to support RISD faculty (full- and part-time) to develop globally engaged curriculum for on- or off-campus programs and courses.
View detailsFaculty Advising
Have questions? The RISD Global team is available to meet for an advising session to help craft your application.
Schedule an appointmentEvents
Announcements
Explore:
Browse past and present programs
Virtual, Thailand | From Seed to Cloth: A Mindful Approach to Craft
Virtual, Denmark | Design Seminar + Workshop
Virtual, Italy | Form, Leather, Color & Craft
Virtual, Azores | Design with Nature
RISD in Rome: Perspectives on Piranesi
RISD in Rome: Form, Leather, Color and Craft
Design with Nature in the Azores
Paris: Urban Design Renaissance Through Edible Landscapes
Denmark: Design Seminar and Workshop
From Seed to Cloth: The Mindful Approach to Craft in Thailand
RISD in Rome: Trash
Australia: Witness Tree Project - Memory, Place and Cultural Ecology
European Honors Program - Spring 2020
France: Photography in Paris
Japan: Papers, Temples & Print
Mexico: Color, Mestizaje & Design Futures
Mexico: Pre-Columbian to Contemporary: Architecture & Crafts
Mexico: Material Propositions: Oaxaca
European Honors Program - Fall 2019
RISD in Rome: Illustrating Dante's Inferno
South Africa: Art + Science of Conservation
Denmark: Design Seminar and Workshop
RISD in Rome: Drinking, the Italian Way - Re-Evaluating the Vessel
Japan: Papermaking and Puppet Theater
Azores: Walk and Work with Wood
Of House and Home: Rethinking-Reworking, a Century of Korean Housing 1910-2010
European Honors Program - Spring 2019
France: Photography in Paris
Guyana: Exploring Art and Science of Bio Diversity
Japan: Papers, Temples and Print
Portugal: Mapping Portugal: Bio-geo Cultural Heritages
Italy: See Naples and Die - Panorama and the Poetics of City
Mexico: History, Pre-Colonial, Colonial and Contemporary Arts
Germany: Advanced Studio - Crystal Clear
Where is Africa?
European Honors Program - Fall 2018
Tokyo: Bike Building
RISD in Rome: Artistic Practice in Public Space
South Africa: Art and Science of Conservation
Ireland: Illustrating Irish Myths and Legends in the Burren
Denmark: Danish Design Workshop
Resources and Places: Focus Portugal
Tanzania: Between Content and Container Vol. 3
France: From Horizontal to Vertical
Morocco: Advanced Studio - Pattern | Performance | Clay
Sweden + Denmark: Beyond Borders - Designing Resiliency for the Urban Landscape
European Honors Program - Spring 2018
Portugal: Material Practices
France: Photography in Paris
Canada: Haida Made
Italy: Renaissance Painting Techniques/Perugia to Venice
Japan: Contemporary Works and Their Execution
Morocco: Crafting the City
Mexico: Un-Wall the Border
European Honors Program - Fall 2017
Japan: Book Shaping and Visual Ideas
RISD in Rome: Maps and Stories
Iceland: Artistic Practice in 24-Hour Light
RISD in Rome: Sensing The City: Augmented Interaction with the City of Rome
Ireland: Illustrating Myths and Legends in the Burren
South Korea: Housing Hybrids
European Honors Program - Spring 2017
Argentina: Hi/Low Tech
Cuba: Print & History
Guyana: Exploring the Art & Science of Biodiversity
Italy: Shoe Design - Perception, History & Prototyping
Italy: Travel Rome
Japan: Paper, Temples, Prints
Crafting the City: Focus Morocco
Global Futures Lab
European Honors Program - Fall 2016
France: Gastronomie + Printmaking in Richelieu
Rome: Discovery Through Drawing
Tokyo: Bicycle Design and Making
Ireland: Illustrating Irish Myths and Legends in the Burren
DIS (Danish Institute)
Berlin Through Your Lens
Nuremberg: Purposeful Play + Toy Design
Denmark: Seminar on Scandinavian Design
European Honors Program - Spring 2016
Italy: Shoe Design and Prototyping
Sri Lanka: Northern Visions
Japan: Papermaking, Temples and Prints
Italy: (In)Visible Venice
France: Photography in Paris
The Netherlands: Sneaker and Wearable Technology Design
Rome: Discovery Through Drawing
Paris: Urban Landscape Through a Cultural Lens
Denmark: DIS (Danish Institute)
Researching Cuba: Print and History
France: Photography in Paris
Guyana: Art & Science Of Biodiversity
Germany: Art, Jewelry
Italy: Shoe Design, Perception, History & Prototyping
Japan: Papermaking, Temples, and Prints
Sri Lanka: Northern Visions
Japan: Mindful Making in Japan - Ceramics & Contemplative Practice
RISD in Rome: Mapping Foundations – An Uncanny Exploration of Rome + Its Environs
Japan: Papermaking, Temples and Prints
Costa Rica: Design/Build Travel Studio
France: Photography in Paris
India: Creating an Archive
Italy: Shoe Design
Japan: Mindful Making in Japan
Mexico: San Miguae: Renewable Resource
Sri Lanka: Northern Visions
Guyana: Art & Science Of Biodiversity
Netherlands: Rotterdam
Italy: Techniques of Renaissance Painting
Italy: Shoe Design
Costa Rica: Design/Build Travel Studio
France: Photography in Paris
India: Creating an Archive
Japan: Papermaking, Temples, and Prints
Costa Rica: Design/Build Travel Studio
France: Photography in Paris
Italy: Renaissance Painting Techniques in Florence
Japan: Papermaking, Temples, and Prints
India: Creating an Archive
Japan: Papermaking, Temples, and Prints
India: Creating an Archive
France: Photography in Paris
Ecuador: Habitat and Construction
Italy: Renaissance Painting Techniques in Florence
Italy: Tiber Floods
Japan: Tsukiji Market Kitchen of Japan
Japan: Clay in Japan
France: Photography in Paris
Ghana: Design Collaboration in Ghana
India: Cosmic Comics: Imaging the Ganga-Jamuna Doab of North India
Mexico: The Environment - The Flora and Fauna of Cuernavaca
Mexico: The Ethnographic Museum
Switzerland: Prototype of a Wooden Hotel
Costa Rica: "Pura Vida" in Costa Rica: Exploring the Natural World Through Drawing, Science and Symbol
Costa Rica: Building Community, Design-Build Studio in Costa Rica
France: Photography in Paris
India: Creating an Archieve
Italy: Renaissance Painting Techniques in Florence
Italy: The Other Italy: Water / Wall
Mexico: The Environment - The Flora and Fauna of Cuernavaca

