Catalog Description

Hours: 90 (36 lecture, 54 laboratory)
Description: Introduces the fundamental issues of sculpture through a variety of materials, processes and techniques. Skills acquired in a wide range of techniques and materials, both traditional (wood, metal, plaster) as well as non-traditional (fabric, video projections, performance, sustainable/salvaged/recycled materials). Emphasis on conceptual idea development, connecting metaphorical ideas and symbolic meaning to the crafting/making of sculptural objects. (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Discuss, describe, analyze, and critique own sculptural artworks and works of other students using relevant studio terminology.
  • CSLO #2: Analyze and apply the formal three-dimensional design principles (such as mass, volume, size, density, surface texture, linear movement, and color) during project planning.
  • CSLO #3: Demonstrate strategies for integrating formal, technical and conceptual problem-solving approaches within each assignment.
  • CSLO #4: Demonstrate and apply skills, processes, technologies, and materials relevant to the practice of sculpture.
  • CSLO #5: Apply proper material handling, use, storage, and clean-up safety standards in the classroom & work environments.

Effective Term

Fall 2024

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

90

Outside of Class Hours

72

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

Lecture Objectives:
1. Identify and describe the skills, processes, technologies, and materials relevant to the practice of sculpture;
2. Identify strategies for integrating formal, technical, and conceptual problem solving approaches within each assignment;
3. Explain sculptural works of art with the use of appropriate vocabulary and reference to historical/contemporary perspectives.
4. Visually examine and orally discuss the formal three- dimensional design principles (such as mass, volume, size, density, surface texture, linear movement, and color) during project planning and critiques;
5. Examine and manipulate the relationship of three-dimensional forms to their environment and cultural context, learning to re-contextualize and re-invent meaning;
6. Discuss an artwork's content and context, how materials can contain meaning, and the ways in which sculpture interacts with the human body, site, and audience.
Laboratory Objectives:
1. Apply proper shop practices and effective use of hand and power tools associated with a variety of traditional sculpture materials and processes;
2. Employ occupational health and safety standards;
3. Utilize innovative and multi-media based approaches to sculpture, including sustainable or recycled use of materials, time-based performative video art and installation format;
4. Utilize and experiment with various methods of fabrication, modeling, and constructing that are most appropriate for a given sculptural material;
5. Evaluate and critique artworks based on the elements and principles of design, knowledge of materials and processes used.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Fine Arts
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - C1 Arts
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)

      Articulation Information

        Methods of Evaluation

        • Classroom Discussions
          • Example: Students will be evaluated on a combination of their participation in classroom discussions and formal critiques (a process of discussion based upon informed, structured analysis of the strengths and improvements of each work), their presentation of their artwork, their verbal evaluations of personal work and their participation in group activities.
        • Objective Examinations
          • Example: A safety test will be given before students are allowed to work in the woodshop. A question on the safety test would ask: When using the bandsaw, how far above the material being cut should the blade guard sit?
        • Projects
          • Example: Students will analyze and take measurements of an ordinary object that they will enlarge and replicate using cardboard. Students will present their own creations and they will critique the work of other students.
        • Reports
          • Example: Students will write one research paper based upon at least one example of contemporary sculptors and their processes.
        • Skill Demonstrations
          • Example: Students will be evaluated on their ability to choose the appropriate techniques and materials to create and complete art works of their concepts.

        Repeatable

        No

        Methods of Instruction

        • Laboratory
        • Lecture/Discussion
        • Distance Learning

        Lab:

        1. The instructor will demonstrate the technical process of mold-making with plaster. Discuss the process of model making or using a found object to create a plaster mold. Show the mold box setup and mixing ratio of water to plaster. Demonstrate how to cast various materials in a mold.

        Lecture:

        1. The instructor will show a slide presentation in which various artists address a given theme. Lead a discussion with students on how the artists' choice of material helps to convey a particular feeling or message. Present a handout with related elements and principles of design vocabulary terms used in sculpture. Students will begin figuring out the relationships between historical references, material choice, and sculptural elements. Instructor will assist students as they develop drawings into works of sculpture.

        Distance Learning

        1. Visually oriented image lecture demonstrating the creation of a pattern-making and the reproduction of an object via the creation of a pattern. Video examples of contemporary artists using pattern making in their artworks. Students will then be guided through a step-by-step process of creating the pattern for a specific object, such as a shoe which will then be constructed in cardboard. Students submit progress to the instructor for feedback. Completed projects are posted to the discussion board and critiqued through written format using appropriate vocabulary and terminology pertaining to the basic elements and organizing principles of three-dimensional art. Active and relevant participation includes students responding to each other's comments in the discussion board.

        Typical Out of Class Assignments

        Reading Assignments

        Read about a documented artist and give an oral presentation about their work in class.

        Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

        1. Maintain a notebook of lecture topics, assignment sheets and handouts. 2. Use drawing and quick sketches as a means to construct and record a thought process which connects ideas, images, and forms. 3. Use internet image section to research authentic forms from nature and other artists' work. Example #1: Develop a sketchbook which correlates visual imagery to written notes of related artistic thought processes. Utilize free association and descriptions of emotional/intellectual responses to different materials. Diagram color, methods of attachment, function, movement, etc. Record sequentially the development and evolution of form and ideas.

        Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

        Participate in three class critiques. Critique example: The critique process involves the student presenting a finished art piece, class response, and instructor input: a) The student presents a finished piece of artwork. They should describe their piece using formal design concepts and three-dimensional vocabulary terms; b) Students should address any technical issues important in the construction of their piece; c) Students should address how their piece fits the conceptual criteria of the assignment; d) Class and instructor should give feedback and elaborate their own responses to this information.

        Required Materials

        • Launching the Imagination
          • Author: Mary Stewart
          • Publisher: McGraw-Hill Higher Ed.
          • Publication Date: 2019
          • Text Edition: 6th
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • Sculpture Since 1945
          • Author: Andrew Causey
          • Publisher: Oxford University Press
          • Publication Date: 1998
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?:
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • A Sculptural Reader: Contemporary Sculpture Since 1980
          • Author: Glenn Harper, Twylene Moyer, Karen Wilkin
          • Publisher: ISC Press
          • Publication Date: 2008
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?:
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation
          • Author: Editors of Phaiden Press
          • Publisher: Phaidon
          • Publication Date: 2009
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?:
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • Unmade: Making and Unmaking in Contemporary Sculpture
          • Author: Lisa Le Feuvre, Stephen Feeke, Sophie Raikes
          • Publisher: Henry Moore Institute
          • Publication Date: 2010
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?:
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • The Language of Mixed-Media Sculpture
          • Author: Jac Scott
          • Publisher: The Crowood Press
          • Publication Date: 2014
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • Paper Sculpture: Fluid Forms
          • Author: Richard Sweeney
          • Publisher: Schiffer Craft
          • Publication Date: 10/26/2021
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER:

        Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.

        sketchbook, pens, metal ruler, box cutter