Course Descriptions

At the foundation level, the sculpture area offers four courses which investigate three-dimensional concerns. They are: ART 2701C "Shaping Form and Space;" ART 2702C8 "Gravity and Buoyancy;" ART 2930C "Sculptural Appetizers" which is offered on an irregular basis as a special topics course; and ART2804C "Spatial Interventions."

ART 2701C Sculpture: Shaping Form and Space
This course provides an introduction to the basic design principles involved in all three-dimensional sculptures. Students begin by studying simple concepts such as line as it interacts with space and build upon that knowledge base with projects relating to planes, and finally to volumetric forms. Each of these principles is studied in its relationship to the space the object occupies. Both traditional and non-traditional materials and approaches are used. The course demands rapid work on many small projects to get students moving quickly through a vocabulary of principles and forms. Later in the semester, once basic principles have been grasped, students may move into larger, more complex projects. Emphasis is based on conceptual as well as formal development. Students are not introduced to highly technical processes until the 3000-level courses. However, students are expected to put into practice a high level of craftsmanship with the simplest of materials. All assignments are informed by the context of the development of twentieth century sculpture and assignments are supplemented with slide/lectures, videos and field trips.

ART 2702C Sculpture: Gravity and Buoyancy
This course provides an introduction to the more complex three-dimensional principles of mass, weight, gravity, compression as well as lightness, buoyancy and resilience. Student work may incorporate things that float, inflate, suspend, or stretch. Students learn techniques for creating specific physical effects in the sculptures they make. As in ART 2706, students are not introduced to highly technical processes as these are better taught in the 3000-level courses. However, students are expected to put into practice a high level of craftsmanship with the simplest of materials. All assignments are informed by the context of the development of twentieth century sculpture and assignments are supplemented with slide/lectures, videos and field trips.

ART 2703C Sculptural Appetizers
This course is a technical course that introduces students to several sculptural processes, including steel forging using a gas forge, metal fabrication using gas, arc and mig welding techniques, basic woodworking with an emphasis on jointing, and basic wiring for simple electrical objects such as lamps, motion detectors and fans. The course is designed to introduce prospective sculpture majors to some of the crafting issues that will be useful later on during the program. The course emphasizes the mastery of specific skills that are then applied to a sculpture or functional object.

ART 2930C Spatial Interventions
This studio course is an introduction to Installation Art. Through a number of small projects and investigations students will familiarize themselves with the process of conceptualizing, designing, fabricating, and executing spatially-oriented and site-specific works. Important aspects in this course are the often-temporal dimensions of the work, the emphasis on the role of the act in creation (process) and often times an interest in the role of the audience or general public in the creation of meaning.

ART 3710C Figure Sculpture Model
This course is not being offered at this time. For work in figurative sculpture, see ART 2704C in tthe Ceramics area.

ART 3711C Sculpture: Materials and Methods
This course provides an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculptural form. The course allows students to explore the material properties and expressive potential of fibers, plaster, cement, wood, metals, and other materials. Students work on a larger scale that in the 2000-level courses. The course combines the use of materials and methods with ideas that trace the history of twentieth-century sculpture from early modernism and abstraction to more contemporary concerns with the body and society. Emphasis is placed on both the formal properties of a sculpture, the processes used in the making of a sculpture and the conceptual/theoretical issues that form the basis of the work. In addition, the course addresses historical and contemporary issues relating to modern and contemporary sculpture.

The course includes four projects: "Textile Tectonics: The Structure and the Skin;" "Wood Jointing;" "Metal Fabrication: The Container and the Dialectics of Inside and Outside;" and "The Body: Form, Function and Politics." This sequence takes students through the concerns of twentieth-century sculpture and reiterates in a more complex fashion the formal issues that students were first introduced to at the 2000-level. In the "textile tectonics" project, students must invent a fiber from which they then construct a textile from which a structure is built. This project introduces the sculpture student to the problems of architectural space, to the notion of tectonics, and to the idea that a material can be invented. The "wood jointing" project takes students through all of the major pieces of woodworking equipment from the tablesaw, joiner, planer, band saw, chop saw, and disc and belt sanders. In addition students learn to make four specific joints which can later be used in sculpture projects. In the "metal fabrication" project, students are introduced to all types of gas and electric welding. On the technical level, they learn to cut metal, weld metal and fabricate structures. On a conceptual level, they learn about spatial and volumetric issues as well as the psychological and haptic effects of a dialectical form that has an inside and an outside. Finally in "the body" project, students deepen their knowledge of any material or technique previously learned in the course or they may work with moldmaking and casting which are introduced through demonstrations.

All projects are introduced with a slide/lecture, required readings which students must respond to in writing and demonstrations. All of the technical information is imparted to students in writing, verbally and through hands-on demonstrations. Students are taken through each step on a one-on-one basis. Safety issues are incorporated into the demonstrations. completion of each project, the work is critiqued with the class as a whole. In addition a mid-project critique helps to motivate students to keep working on a regular basis and to detect major problems prior to the completion of the project.

ART 3712C Sculpture: Concepts and Strategies
In keeping with the philosophy of inquiry, this course provides an introduction to art making using strategies other than traditional art approaches as a starting point. The entire course is devoted to conceptual approaches to art making rather than to technical mastery of specific techniques. It is understood that students already have established a foundation in metals, woodworking, moldmaking and casting in ART 3707 which is a prerequisite of ART 3712 Sculpture II. The actual content of each project is dependent on the strengths and interests of faculty assigned to teach this course each year. The following is one approach:

1. Growth and Form: Biological/Botanical Sciences where the theory is that physical forces shape organisms directly; some acting on the surface or area, while others, above all gravity, act on all particles, internal and external; that the shape/form of structure is imposed by the material used and the way the materials are put together, that the object has an internal logic, the result of its own processes of generation and development.
2. Abstract Geology: Geological/Geographical Sciences which concerns structures, leveling processes, atmospheres, geothermal activities,and so on in the earth we walk upon. Students may explore any process that fall within the parameters of this science such as stratification, saturation, fracturing, crystallization, compression, sedimentation, erosion, fossilization, metamorphosis, and so on.
3. The Collection which is an examination of data as the subject matter and form of art by studying taxonomic and organizational systems used by artists, collectors, and museums.
4. The Body and Its Senses: Anatomy/Prosthetics which allows students to explore the body as a feeler and sensor of its environment; the idea of technology as an extension of our human biology; the relationship between the private body and the public environment; and the relationship between mechanical processes and biological processes.

In all of these projects, students read extensively from a variety of sources: scientists, historians, fiction and non-fiction writers, artists on art, philosophers and psychologists. They respond to the readings through written papers and group discussion in class. Ideas are discussed in group sessions with each student having input into every project. A great deal of brainstorming takes place since the point of the course is to use new ways of looking at the world and the possibilities for art making. Works are critiqued and evaluated using an experimental laboratory mentality.

ART 3730C Machine Sculpture
This course is a required course for sculpture students taught through the electronic intermedia Area. This course explores the boundaries of physical and electronic media including the use of sound, light, computers and motion in sculpture. Students are introduced to the possibilities involved in incorporating electronic and mechanical equipment into sculptural or installation work. Assignments covers a range of equipment from the use of simple wiring and audio/video configurations, to more complex switches and computer triggering. The course also addresses the cultural references engendered by the presence of this equipment and its effect on content. Students are exposed to a number of artists using light, motion, electronics and computers in their work.

ART 3731C Figural Sculpture: Direct Carving
This course is not being offered at this time. For work in figurative sculpture, see ART 2704C in tthe Ceramics area.

ART 4710C Advanced Sculpture
provides a structure within which sculpture students may begin to develop their own individualized program of studio research that will ultimately lead to the creation of a body of work that has breadth and depth. This structure enables students to define goals, find research methods that are tailored to their individual needs and deepen personal understanding of their own work and the work of others.

At the beginning of the semester, students are required to write a statement articulating their sculptural concerns and, more specifically, delineating in detail what they hope to accomplish over the course of the semester. This statement must include specific projects, art historical and contemporary references, philosophical and social issues, issues of knowledge, experience, identity, and personal narrative. Students must create their own reading list and present readings to the class. They must also keep an extensive notebook/sketchbook on their reflections in general and ideas for sculpture in particular. In addition, students must produce an extensive body of work.

At this level, students are introduced to lost-wax bronze casting and ceramic shell moldmaking. Lectures are presented on a weekly basis on contemporary artists and contemporary issues. Students must also complete five sculpture/sketches based on materiality and process the objective of which is to keep students open to new options and to keep their work fresh.

Professional practices are introduced at this level. Students must write a resume, an artists statement, learn to make professional quality slides and label them properly.

Work is reviewed on a regular basis with critiques scheduled nearly every week. Work is evaluated on the basis of conceptual rigor, material inventiveness, technical competence or appropriate craftsmanship, physical investment, emotional commitment, and contribution to the critique process and to the class as a whole. Dialogue is crucial.

In addition to the above described courses, we urge our sculpture students to take ceramic sculpture, performance/installation and video all of which will aid in broadening their knowledge base for a life in sculpture.