Reason I Still Dream

What a sweet time reconnecting with my fellow alums from Rhode Island School of Design‘s Class of 1980 last week! We missed our 40th reunion in 2020, thanks to the pandemic. When the invitation came in to celebrate the inauguration of the school’s 18th president, Crystal Williams, I wanted to be there.

Ged Kenslea (Film & Video) flew in from Los Angeles, where he has been the Senior Director of Communications for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for 27 years. On October 6, we drove to Barrington where Rika Smith (Painting) hosted a lovely dinner for us, joined by David Hicks (Painting) and Madeline Sorel (Illustration) with a stop at the beach for sunset (above).

Friday was a fine day in Providence!

We gals got spiffy. This amazing mural is by Gaia Street Art.

I could hear the strains of a brassy band…yes! It was the Undertow Brass Band (FKA What Cheer Brigade) honking up a storm.

Here comes the parade of regalia!

During greetings from the RISD Community, Rex Wong (Architecture) represented alumni, and said he discovered what RISD also stands for: Reason I Still Dream. Yes!

During her Inaugural Address, Crystal Williams spoke about the need for five actions: Amplify, Engage, Cultivate, Evolve, and Connect. Amen!

Afterwards, our little tribe mingled, a bit incredulous that it’s been 42 years since we graduated.

After a hearty lunch during the Community Celebration at Market Square, we shopped at the RISD Store and strolled over to the Nature Lab, one of my all time favorite places.

Everyone had specimens to explore, memories to unpack. I quickly sketched the resident bear.

I couldn’t find a chickadee, but this scarlet tanager would do nicely as a sketch subject.

Unbeknownst to me, Ged had just picked up this souvenir for me! Such serendipity.

I also sketched this cute turtle, just the right metaphor for poking around the school.

There’s much more to the Nature Lab these days. We found serenity in the Bio Lab’s greenery and organic forms.

We headed down College Hill, where this sign made so much sense: “Trees show us the beauty of letting things go.”

We found our way to the Open Studios in the Apparel Design Department, where a gracious faculty member, Jeung-Hwa Park, gave us a tour.

The best serendipity of all was running into Crystal Williams on our walk back to our car! Cheers and congratulations all around!

That exchange truly topped a glorious day on campus. Back when we were students this river was paved over. Soon it would be the scene of Water Fire.

We hung out at Ged and David’s rental for happy hour, joined by two more from our class, Sue Gilzow and James Finkle, both Graphic Design majors who fell in love at RISD.

We dined at a vintage gem in Providence’s historic Federal Hill, Joe Marzili’s Old Canteen.

For some reason, the service was as slow as molasses, but it gave us ample time to catch up and imbibe the vintage decor.

We hugged farewells under a nearly full moon, vowing that we won’t let years roll by before we connect and engage again. Thank you, RISD, for the warm welcome and all those formative years learning to cultivate our aesthetic identities. Our careers have evolved over decades during which we have creatively solved one problem after another. May President Williams’ leadership bring RISD into a more inclusive future that amplifies the endeavors of students and alumni making the world a better place.

Thanks for reading!