As my time at RISD comes to a close and I continue both my personal work on my degree project and my involvement with RISD’s strategic plan I began to consider the place of the faculty perspective in my process. Knowing that Krzysztof Lenk (Graphic Design) was retiring, I became interested in offering retiring faculty the opportunity to speak with me about their philosophies, experiences, and pedagogies as a sort of exit interview. The importance of such an exercise cannot be downplayed and I was justifiably surprised to hear that RISD had no organization for such an activity.

Working under my own direction and motivation, I took the opportunity with three of RISD’s retiring faculty members, Krzysztof Lenk, Maria Tulokas (Textiles), and Brian Kernaghan (Interior Architecture) to hold a meaningful reflective conversation as we each “graduate” from RISD. The results were both surprising and exciting. Hearing from these three individuals who have dedicated much of their careers in service to RISD gave me a new perspective of not only RISD’s institutional structure but also insight into the leadership and organization of creative individuals. Throughout the separate one-on-one conversations I became increasingly aware of the overlap and commonality of their ideas and views. Repeatedly they turned over in their minds RISD’s greatest threats and challenges, each weaving in the richness of their personal philosophies and experiences.

While I could discuss several quotes that stood out to me personally from the conversations, I would rather examine the body of conversations as a complete narrative reflection of these individuals on their time helping to build RISD. By organizing the three conversations in concert, I am inviting the reader to see the connections I have worked to cull from their words. The work was an amazing exercise in discovering the subtext of our conversations and generating a list of themes (seen in the gutter throughout this book) that provide the foundation for their pedagogy and practice.

Though I have only been here for a fraction of the time they have, and in a much different role, lately I have found myself taking more and more time to reexamine and “unpack” my experiences from a broader view -allowing me to slowly form a more cohesive narrative of my time here. By no means am I claiming to have anything close to a complete understanding of RISD or any design institution but the combination of their perspectives and my other research has enabled me to undergo the most meaningful self-reflection of my life. By listening to their thoughts and stories I have found strength in the development of my own ideas. This experience is something I someday hope to pass on.