Sculpture/Intermedia Special Topics

Sculpture, Special Topics/ ART-3490 and ART-4490 is a course which focuses on a specialized aspect of art making. The topic of this specialization changes each time the course is taught. Types of investigations might include site specific environmental installations, architectural designs, community and social projects, specialized techniques, or performances. This is a challenging and inventive curriculum for both student and instructor. Here we present several of the different topics previously offered to give you an idea as to the possibilities this course can offer you.

Sculpture, Special Topics: Foundry This course delves into the casting of metals. The students investigate historical and contemporary foundry practices and conceptural considerations with cast works. The students start with lost wax process and ceramic shell investment with bronze as the first metal that is cast, from there we move on to aluminum, sand molds direct burnout, direct pour and finish the semester with an iron pour. Other than foundry practices, we teach patina and welding of the castings and their incorporation with other materials. The class is designed to give students a wide range of techniques and an even wider conceptual base.

Sculpture, Special Topics: Fresco Techniques and Contemporary Art
The course introduced fresco painting, the art of painting with water-based pigments on freshly laid plaster, in a workshop format. Students explored fresco and mural painting from planning to completion. Visiting artist Michael Hearn and Department faculty from the areas of art history and Sculpture/Intermedia offered lectures and discussions on historical aspects of fresco painting. Students experienced practical techniques of the process. Artists from Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci to Diego Rivera were included in discussions as well as contemporary artists. Class members learned how this interdisciplinary activity is shaped by history, science, art, and the humanities.


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Sculpture, Special Topics: Environment/Site
Students investigated different types of environments in which our contemporary culture functions. They focused on three environment types: the natural world environment, the constructed environment, and the synthetic (digital) environment which exists on computers and the Internet. Through their experiences and investigation students developed studio works that explored elements of site, both the current state of a site and its history. Other important components in studio projects included three-dimensional form, photography and documentation, and digital imaging and the internet. The course included co-teaching faculty from the Department of Art and Art History in the areas of photography, Sculpture/Intermedia, and digital imaging.

The class made several field trips to sites in Utah: Promontory Point, San Raphael Swell, and Goblin Valley. Field trip agenda included on-site lectures from guest speakers in the areas of art history, geology, and anthropology. Field trip lectures and activities focused on site-specific information and workshops that made use of the particular environment. Experiences and information gathered from the trips were used to develop final studio projects.


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Sculpture, Special Topics: Artist and Community
The course focused on how artist and community may interrelate. Curriculum presented information and activities that helped students explore their relationship, as an artist, to the cultures and people that make up our society.

As an important component of the curriculum, students worked with groups from Salt Lake's Sorensen Multicultural Center. They engaged in a series of in-depth discussions with people from the Sorensen Center. Discussions focused on ways in which art is important to different cultures and the relationships a community can have with art and artists. Student's concepts were formulated through their interactions at the Center. Each student's piece was specific to a site and a cultural-group experience at the Center. Pieces from the class were on exhibition at the Center during the following summer.


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