Richard Fishman

Richard Fishman is a professor in the Visual Arts Department of Brown University, and a member of the Public Art Committee and the Creative Arts Council. He studied at Boston University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Tulane University before coming to Brown in 1965.

Much of Fishman's work focuses on themes of connectivity, inter-dependence, and life-affirmation. His most recent work at Brown is the Elm Tree Project: art built around the wood, bark, branches, even the leaves of a 100-year old campus elm tree—affectionately known as Elmo—that had succumbed to Dutch elm disease. Under Fishman's supervision, students and visiting artists are transforming what is left of the tree into art. The tree lives on, a new cycle of life.