“When I moved to Rhode Island I discovered the RISD Continuing Education offerings, and chose to grow as an artist and further my knowledge. A summer credit course, Book Design, challenged me the most. It helped me improve my skills in presentation of my work and expanded my understanding of how I could show my work to a broader audience. Douglas Breault (Photography: Making Images) and Doug Scott (Book Design) were both very encouraging regarding the quality of my work. It was their encouragement that prompted me to put my work out for consideration for inclusion in LensWork #157 (Feb 2022).

I suspect that my experience (during the COVID-19 pandemic) is similar to what many other artists have experienced. I worked at home on my portfolio, researched grants, calls for submissions and other opportunities online. What creative work I did was largely done alone, but there were a number of virtual conferences and workshops on Zoom that I attended.

The advice I have for someone who’s thinking about taking a RISD CE class is go for it! The challenge of the work and the community with your fellow students will help you move to the next level in your work.”

—Reed Pike, RISD CE student, photography and graphic design courses; Photography certificate program student

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