Sculpture
The Sculpture Department at SFAI is an interdisciplinary studio program emphasizing conceptual and material-based inquiry that provides students with a range of technical and programmatic options.
This innovative curriculum allows individual emphasis and potential combinations of contemporary and traditional sculptural practice, such as sound, kinetics, interactive art, environment art, installation, ceramics, wood, and metal. Students are encouraged to experiment, question artistic intentions, and develop critical strategies as they learn the technical, problem-solving, and conceptual processes of sculpture.
Through a curriculum that offers a range of avant-garde and traditional ideas, techniques, and history and theory, students gain the materials and conceptual tools for critical and effective engagement with the constantly evolving issues of contemporary sculpture.
Facilities
The Sculpture Department facilities are generally organized into shops or spaces of common material, process, or emphasis. Students can work both within and between these areas, allowing for cross-media interactions and fabrication. The shop/work areas include: ceramics, woodshop, metal shop, walk-in spray booth, electronics lab, sewing and digital technologies mezzanine, plaster and flexible mold area, an installation gallery, outdoor work space, mixed classroom-fabrication spaces, and access to a wide range of alternative media, including video, photography, film (claymation, etc.), and digital technology in adjacent departments.
Specific equipment in the Sculpture shops include: fully equipped glaze room; clay mixers; electric and gas kilns; slip casting area; vacuum forming equipment; soldering; testing and repair for electronics; air tools for a variety of media; drill press; panel, chop, table, and band saws; stationary sanders for wood; metal milling and lathe equipment; consumer and industrial sewing machines; Macintosh G4s; scanners and printers; and a tool room well equipped with hand and power tools.
Other Resources
Augmenting the Sculpture Department’s interdisciplinary and cross-media approach is the richness and diversity of the Bay Area’s material and cultural resources. Museums and presentation venues of sculpture include the galleries and gardens at SFMoMA, the de Young Museum, Asian Art Museum, and the di Rosa Preserve. Numerous experimental and alternative spaces and temporary and permanent public art programs such as the Headlands Center for the Arts, Exploratorium, Southern Exposure Gallery, New Langton Arts, Adobe Books, The LAB, Pacific Rim Sculpture Group, and other underground organizations provide a rich variety of opportunities for up-and-coming artists.
The Sculpture Department at SFAI is an interdisciplinary studio program emphasizing conceptual and material-based inquiry that provides students with a range of technical and programmatic options.
This innovative curriculum allows individual emphasis and potential combinations of contemporary and traditional sculptural practice, such as sound, kinetics, interactive art, environment art, installation, ceramics, wood, and metal. Students are encouraged to experiment, question artistic intentions, and develop critical strategies as they learn the technical, problem-solving, and conceptual processes of sculpture.
Through a curriculum that offers a range of avant-garde and traditional ideas, techniques, and history and theory, students gain the materials and conceptual tools for critical and effective engagement with the constantly evolving issues of contemporary sculpture.
Facilities
The Sculpture Department facilities are generally organized into shops or spaces of common material, process, or emphasis. Students can work both within and between these areas, allowing for cross-media interactions and fabrication. The shop/work areas include: ceramics, woodshop, metal shop, walk-in spray booth, electronics lab, sewing and digital technologies mezzanine, plaster and flexible mold area, an installation gallery, outdoor work space, mixed classroom-fabrication spaces, and access to a wide range of alternative media, including video, photography, film (claymation, etc.), and digital technology in adjacent departments.
Specific equipment in the Sculpture shops include: fully equipped glaze room; clay mixers; electric and gas kilns; slip casting area; vacuum forming equipment; soldering; testing and repair for electronics; air tools for a variety of media; drill press; panel, chop, table, and band saws; stationary sanders for wood; metal milling and lathe equipment; consumer and industrial sewing machines; Macintosh G4s; scanners and printers; and a tool room well equipped with hand and power tools.
Other Resources
Augmenting the Sculpture Department’s interdisciplinary and cross-media approach is the richness and diversity of the Bay Area’s material and cultural resources. Museums and presentation venues of sculpture include the galleries and gardens at SFMoMA, the de Young Museum, Asian Art Museum, and the di Rosa Preserve. Numerous experimental and alternative spaces and temporary and permanent public art programs such as the Headlands Center for the Arts, Exploratorium, Southern Exposure Gallery, New Langton Arts, Adobe Books, The LAB, Pacific Rim Sculpture Group, and other underground organizations provide a rich variety of opportunities for up-and-coming artists.
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