News
Elizabeth Kronfield

The New York Times talks to Elizabeth Kronfield, director of the School of Art and the School for American Crafts, about the rising interest in blacksmithing.

A new whimsical mural, painted by fourth-year student Emma McCarthy, debuted in the Booth Hall elevator just before the November holiday break. The artwork adds some vibrancy to the formerly dark-colored walls.

RIT students created artworks to benefit Keeping Our Promise, a local nonprofit that provides resettlement assistance for Afghan, Iraqi and Kurdish interpreters and support personnel who served U.S. interests in conflicts and warzones. 

RIT students will have more opportunities to flex their creative muscles outside of the classroom through a new program called ArtEx, housed within RIT’s College of Art and Design. The new program creates opportunities for students outside of the college to engage with the resources and expertise available within the School for American Crafts and School of Art.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 57: In every art course and studio environment at RIT, technology is integral to the delivery of content and production of work. Elizabeth Kronfield, director of the School of Art and School for American Crafts, and Abigail Benkovich, an MFA metals and jewelry design student, discuss how RIT is in a unique position to blur the line between technology and making for students in the College of Art and Design.

Two outdoor sculptures are adorning RIT’s campus this academic year, with more on the way. Works by artists Joshua Enck and Letha Wilson have revived an outdoor sculpture initiative that is part of the School of Art’s Anna Ballarian Visiting Artist Series.

In virtually every art course and studio environment at RIT, technology is integral to the delivery of content and production of work, whether it’s an “ancient” technology like using a hammer and anvil to forge metal or a computer numerical control plasma table to cut metal forms.

RIT joined the William Warfield Scholarship Fund, The Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, and the City of Rochester in a collective celebration earlier this week honoring iconic performer and trailblazer William Warfield with a bronze sculpture.

RIT's Schools of Art, American Crafts, Film and Animation, and Photographic Arts and Sciences are all under new leadership.

COVID-19 has challenged the university to consider an even more creative academic portfolio with blended, online, split A/B, and flex class options. To prepare for in-person instruction, RIT has upgraded academic buildings and classrooms. And physical distancing and face coverings, required of faculty and students in classrooms, together provide some of the greatest protection against the spread of COVID-19.