Areas of Study
Sculpture
Program Description
The Sculpture major is a transdisciplinary department where space is the material of inquiry. As a student you will explore the relationships between material, technique, process, scale, and context; while learning the skills needed to articulate your work both visually and verbally.
Working in Sculpture gives you an opportunity to learn about an impressive array of materials and processes that range from video installation to performance, bronze/ aluminum/ copper casting, wood assemblage, welding, mold making and plaster casting, soft sculpture, sound and kinetic sculpture; to a variety of specialized courses in prosthetic make-up, stone carving, and figure modeling.
Our Sculpture Department offers many opportunities for you to find new ways to express yourself—technically, creatively, and conceptually. Our diverse faculty emphasize critical thinking and writing to help you communicate your visions with confidence, while gaining insight into the discipline of sculpture from a historical and contemporary cultural perspective.
Our faculty and staff are composed of practicing and exhibiting artists who are consistently Exhibiting their work worldwide. They will help guide you along as you build technical skills across a range of creative methods, and do the hard work of critically assessing and communicating the conceptual and formal aesthetics of your work and the work of others.
This exchange of ideas with your peers, faculty, visiting artists, and the local arts community will challenge you to advance your journey towards becoming a professional artist and an active learner within visual culture.
Life After Graduation
You will leave the program able to interpret and articulate contemporary modes of creating sculpture within your selected medium or practice in a way that you need to as a professional artist and creative problem solver.
Examples: Studio Artist, Mold Maker, Blacksmith, Tattooing, Artists Assistant, FX Make-up, Video Editor, Teacher, Graduate Studies.
Gallery
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Program & Outcomes
Faculty
Sample Courses
- SC 105 The Sculptural Imagination: Wood, Steel & Foundry Practices
- SC 106 Sculpture in Context: Installation, Multiples, Land Art
- SC 112 The Expressive Figure
- SC 264 Color Form & Space
- SC 267 Phantom Limb: The Art of Transformational Identity
- SC 272 Transdiciplinary Video Art Installation
- SC 321/322 Junior Major Studio
- SC 421/422 Senior Major Studio
Workspace & Tools
Wood shop: SawStop table saws; miter saws; bandsaws; chainsaws; skill saws; drill presses; hammer drills; belt/ disc sanders; angle grinders, die grinders; wire brush grinder; and, other hand tools
Metal shop: MIG welder; TIG welder; arc welder; oxy- acetylene welder; spot welder; plasma cutter; Ellis bandsaw; metal chop saw; sand blasting; propane forge; coal forge; sand casting; and foundry
a/v: 27” iMacs with Logic, Adobe suite, and DaVinci Resolve; multiple video projectors; sound equipment; media players; digital audio and video recorders; and DSLR cameras
Other construction tools: plaster/ mold-making studio; installation rooms; spray booth; industrial sewing machines; resin bonded sand; foundry furnace (240lb / 90lb capacity); crucibles for bronze, copper & aluminum; electric hoist; ladders; and outdoor tools for site work
Sculpture majors each have their own private studios during their third and fourth years with 24/7 studio access.
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
- Create sculpture that demonstrates the relationship and interdependence of form, material, content, and context.
- Speak critically about the sculptural work of others from both historical and contemporary perspectives.
- Demonstrate a professional practice within the field of sculpture.
- Employ technical skills with regard to traditional and contemporary sculpture techniques.
- Develop a creative process that is centered around the investigation of form in space.
- Select applicable materials and media to powerfully communicate an idea.
- Understand the importance of context in sculpture and its relationship to content and subjective expression.
Recent Visiting Artists
2016 – present
2023-24
2022-23
Danielle Scott
Raul DeLara
Jon Kessler
Christine Nguyen
2021-22
Hannah Epstein
Morgan Puett
Maria Molteni
Lee Mingwei
Alyson Shotz
Bonnie Collura
Matt Crane
2020-21(virtual)
Dr. Paul Farber – Monument Lab
Johannah Hutchison - ISC
Gary Ambrose
Vivian Beer (BFA ’00)
2019-20
2018-19
Shana Moulton
Angela Washko
Tom Sherman
2017-18
2016-17
Course of Study
Foundation Year
Fall
- FN 101 Digital Imaging
- FN 109 3D: Materiality
- FN 113 Two-Dimensional Design
- Studio Elective
- EN 100 English Composition
- SEM 100 First Year Seminar
Spring
- DR 100 Introduction to Drawing
- FN 110 4D: Space & Temporality
- FN 108 Research & Inquiry – Studio
- SEM 108 Research & Inquiry – Academic
- AH 101 Art History Survey I
Sophomore
Fall
- SC 106 Sculpture in Context: Installation, Multiples & Land Art
- Approved Studio Elective
- Studio Elective (Student Choice)
- AH 102 Art History Survey II
- Academic Elective
Spring
- SC 105 The Sculptural Imagination: Wood, Steel Foundry Practices
- SC 351 Intro to the Discipline
- Studio Elective (Student Choice)
- AH 250 Critical Approaches to Contemporary Art
- Academic Elective
Junior
Fall
- SC 321 Sculpture Majors Studio
- SEM 353 Junior Seminar – Fine Art Topics & Practice
- Approved Studio Elective
- Art History Elective
- Academic Elective
Spring
- SC 322 Sculpture Majors Studio
- Approved Studio Elective
- Studio Elective (Student Choice)
- Art History Elective
- Academic Elective
Senior
Fall
- SC 421 Sculpture Majors Studio
- SEM 451 Professional Studio – Fine Arts
- Studio Elective (Student Choice)
- 2 Academic Electives
Spring
- SC 422 Sculpture Majors Studio
- SEM 452 Senior Synthesis
- Studio Elective (Student Choice)
- 2 Academic Electives