Instructor: Raina Wellman


Classes by this instructor


Speculative Futures: Biology, Health, and Technology by Design

Breakthroughs in technological capabilities relating to gene editing, robotics, and AI are anticipated to greatly change the way we live. How might we challenge new technologies to respond to real human needs, the undervalued power of playfulness, and the tricky, tangled problems affecting people globally? Students will imagine new realities that might allow for engagement with the life forms all around us. How does a microscopic being feel? If an infectious agent could see, how would it see? Instruction will include presentations and guided discussions covering the works of artists and designers who have used art to conceptually respond to "wicked problems," including infectious disease, decreasing clean water resources, and endangered species.
June 15, 2026 to July 22, 2026, Hybrid/ Manhattan

The Future of Food: Digitally Led Experiments to Inform Eating

Learn about the ways in which artists and designers have investigated the way that food relates to design thinking, equity, pageantry, community, and culture. Subjects of focus will include elaborate conceptual dinner parties, speculative food designers, provocative performance pieces, food styling and photography, and equity-based food practices. Students will be encouraged to think broadly about how design can shape and support food related projects and will be introduced to a wide range of design styles. Through visiting class speakers, conversation, and critique, students will be encouraged to think about the ways stylistic processes tell a greater story related to food subject matter.
June 15, 2026 to July 22, 2026, Hybrid/ Manhattan