Juan Angel Chavez

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Patternmaking is at the heart of metalworking, woodworking, fashion, architecture and many other disciplines. Why? Because so many materials are available in sheet form. Students in this course will investigate a range of processes by which flat sheet materials like paper, wood, metal, fabric, vinyl, and plastic can be used to make volumetric, three-dimensional forms. Patternmaking for Sculpture will teach the student digital and analogue methods of designing, cutting, and assembling 3D work. Practical strategies as well as contemporary industrial use and the history of patternmaking will be explored to give each student a range of options for making their own work, whether it be art or design.

This course is a structural and poststructural investigation of sculptural site activation. The students explore the theory and practice of how work gets contextualized and redefined through its placement within a larger social, political, and economic sphere of meaning. Students investigate options and determinants operative in both indoor and outdoor sites, installations, and environments. Although the focus of the class is contemporary, topics of discussion range from Rodin's Burghers of Calais to the public projections of Krzysztof Wodiczko. An indoor space is available for student use and cooperative interaction is encouraged. Prerequisite: intermediate level work in any media or consent of instructor.

This course introduces students to the basics of sculpture fabrication and production. Students of this course will become authorized to use the department's facilities through a series of material projects and assignments that enable safe and competent work in three areas: Moldmaking, Metal Fabrication and Woodworking. The class will design and make molds suitable for casting models from simple and complex patterns in the mold-making studio. The class will use cutting, bending, rolling, welding and finishing techniques in the Metal Fabrication Studio to produce a project in steel. In the Woodshop, the class will learn to design a project in wood using the following machine tools: table saw, dado blades, jointer, planer, band saw, router, pneumatic brad nailer, and sanders. Upon completing Sculpture Bootcamp, students will have the authorizations and experience they need to take full advantage of the sculpture department open shop facilities.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.