SPRING 2017
Sculpture Foundation: 3-D Design
Tues Fri 9:00am-10:50am
Tory Fair 6-2676
office hours: Tuesdays and Fridays 11 to 12 and by appointment
This is an introduction to the language and process of making sculpture. No previous experience is necessary because we are all sculptors from a very early age, and therefore you are all experienced and ready to transform materials into a visual experience. This course is designed for those students who are fulfilling university requirements as well as those students who plan on going further to minor or major in the Fine Arts Department.
I like that feeling when you’re making art, that you’re taking the energy out of your body and putting it into a physical object. I like things that are labor-intensive : you make a little thing and another little thing and another little thing, and eventually you see a possibility. Kiki Smith
In the studio we will examine what it is to be an artist by articulating sculpture with different materials and processes; wire, wood, cloth, paper, plaster, metal, and found materials from the environment. All these materials have different qualities that we will attempt to transform into a specific, personal language.
Students are expected to be ready to work in a studio atmosphere and take on visual and conceptual challenges. This is a hands on laboratory where we continually experiment and welcome new approaches to making and thinking about art. A significant part of the course is participating in critique and trying to articulate what we see. Your skills will advance as a maker, and also as a more informed viewer.
Learning Goals
Literacy: be able to create, critique and analyze works of art based on their formal elements such as form, space, color, surface, gesture, composition, and site.
Visual Rhetoric: understand how works of art are conceived and designed as an experience to convey meaning and personal voice.
Equip students with foundational skills to fabricate in sculpture shop, including paper, wood, wire, plaster, and mixed materials.
Enable students with the skills to document, edit, and create a personal portfolio of original artworks.
Advocate the attendance of art events on and off campus to encourage a diversity and breadth of experience in contemporary practices.
Requirements:
-Performance in class and being prepared to work for the full two hour studio time twice a week.
-After three unexcused absences, your grade will be affected. Please try and be on time.
-Completion of projects that will require several hours outside of class time. For this 4-credit course you are required to spend 8 hours a week outside of class working on your projects.
-Willingness to take risks and participate in class critiques and field trips if required.
In the Studio and Shops:
Rebecca Strauss is the Shop Technician. She is available on Thursday afternoons for shop demonstrations and questions. Please contact her directly at to make an appointment.
There are monitored shop hours to work in the evenings. Please check the calendar that is posted on the shop bulletin board for this semester’s schedule. You may work in the studio at any time there is not another class being held. **For welding, table saw, and advanced tools, you must receive clearance from myself or Rebecca directly, on an individual basis**
Please use the buddy system when working. You are responsible for keeping the studio and shops clean. Put your work on the shelves allocated to this class when you are finished for the day. Clean any mess you have made. Always follow shop safety rules. Do not use tools you have not received instruction on. Be aware of the people around you. Do not use toxic materials in the shop.
Grades:
Grades are based on the above requirements. No experience is necessary! Each project will be graded individually with added considerationto the ongoing qualities you bring to the
studio such as: effort, ambition, willingness to experiment with materials and learn techniques, completion of projects on time, participation in group discussions. You are expected to work outside of class time during monitored shop hours.
Hybrid Object20%
Wire Structure20%
Material Opposition Project25%
Self Portrait Project25%
Written Response paper 5%
Effort and Attendence 5%
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
Academic Integrity:
You are expected to be familiar with and to follow the University’s policies on academic integrity (see Faculty may refer any suspected instances of alleged dishonesty to the Office of Student Development and Conduct. Instances of academic dishonesty may result in sanctions including but not limited to, failing grades being issues, educational programs, and other consequences.
CALENDER subject to change
** You are required to attend one artist lecture on campus at the Rose Art Museum or one that is sponsored by the Fine Arts Department. Several will be posted and announced in class. After you attend, e-mail me a short response paragraph via e-mail. Include what you liked or didn’t like about the talk, and how it might relate to your own experience in the studio.
January
Friday 12Introduction to shops and schedule
First Sculpture: Hybrid Object (Jan 16, 19, 23, 26 due 30)
In this project we will be using cardboard to fabricate replications of two familiar objects. Choose an object that represents your interests in some way and scale it to the size of a soccer ball (roughly). This may mean that you scale down a piece of architecture, or scale up an object that is smaller than your hand. In the end, we will be combining both object to form one, unique, hybrid object.
Materials: cardboard, hot glue, and paint
Skills: Fabricating and rendering form with planes. Seeing shape and scaling objects to size.
Artists introduced: Martin Puryear, Matt Higgs, Allan McCollum, Rachel Harrison
Second Sculpture: WireStructure (Feb 2, 6, 9, 13, 16 due the 27th)
Using wire and paper (and/or fabric), make a structure that is 4 feet tall. The structure must stand by itself and incorporate its own title in the form. The base of the sculpture must not exceed 12” by 12”.
Materials: wire, paper, fabric
Skills: needle nose pliers fabrication with wire, matte medium and sewing techniques.
Artists introduced: Calder, Louise Bourgeous, Guo-Qiang
ThirdSculpture: Material Opposition (March 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20 due on the 23rd)
Make a sculpture that has two components that are the opposite of each other. You must use two different materials and the two parts must be connected.
Materials: Wood and Plaster introduced
Skills: Shop talk and tool demonstrations. Wood as both a constructive and deconstructive process of fabrication, including nail gun, screw gun, carving, and sanding. Plaster forming, surface modeling in coordination with wood, wire, or cardboard
Artists introduced: Phoebe Washburn, Rachel Harrison, Xu Bing , Alison Saar, Dianna Al-Hadid, El Anatsui, Doris Salcedo, Leonardo Drew, Lynda Benglis, Jackie Winsor, Martin Puryear
Fourth Sculpture: Self Portrait(March 27,April 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, due 25)
Make a sculpture that represents you in some way. Bring in materials that express something about you personally, and incorporate materials and methods we have worked on during the semester to complete your project.
Materials: your choice, bring in from the outside, use anything we have been introduced to in the shop throughout the semester. Combine!
Skills: Show me! Construct, deconstruct, build, assemble, carve, craft, compose and curate.
Artists introduced: Bill Woodrow, Tom Friedman, Rachel Harrison, Eva Hesse, Damian Ortega, Maya Lin, Tim Hawkinson, Liz Larner, Do Ho Suh