This beginning sculpture studio encounter is organized to train students to workshop their ideas and concepts with the basic materials and processes of the sculpture studio. In this department we teach visual vocabulary on the basic principle of, Thinking while making and making while thinking. The assignments in the Fall Sophomore studio parallels the exercises in technical skills taught in Wood and Metal Shop Practice I. Students will begin working in sculpture specific metal fabrication methods. Students may expect to gain proficiency in gas, TIG and MIG welding techniques, along with hot and cold forming methods. The second half of the fall semester is focused on sculpture specific wood fabrication methods. Students will acquire skills in methods of cutting and joining alongside methods of forming and lamination.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Students are required to purchase a substantial selection of tools.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

Sculpture is a particularly expansive field. Sculptors embody the possibility to create not only new objects for the world we live in, but whole new worlds unto themselves. In this class, we will work collaboratively across several mediums to create a temporary immersive installation that builds a shared world from our collective imagination.

In this course, students will work collaboratively to transform classroom Metcalf 320 into a new, immersive world. This course is designed for students with no prior experience with sculptural materials or processes to experience a fast immersive dive into the pool of major foundational sculptural practices including: welding, woodworking, and casting. We will use metal and wood to create an armature onto which cast elements, and other materials such as found objects, textile, paper/cardboard, paint, and digital projection can be incorporated. We will document the project along the way and create a documentation record of our work together. 

The course will culminate in a public exhibition of our temporary collaborative installation, and a printed documentation booklet, which will serve as the historical record of our shared, temporary world. 

This course is designed for first year students who are considering majoring in sculpture. 

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00

Elective

This course utilizes experiential learning and hands-on research to connect sophomore Sculpture majors to resources held in the collections the RISD Museum, the Nature Lab, and the holdings of the Fleet Library, including the Visual and Material Resource Center. Over the course of the semester, students will select, compare, research, and contextualize objects of study from these collections as part of the larger material and conceptual framework of their trajectory in Sculpture. In addition to supervised, hands-on study, students will deepen their relationship to the themes and discourses including the relationship between Modernism and Imperialism, politics and aesthetics, digital communication and global image distribution, museum collections and cultural appropriation, power and knowledge, economic superstructures and available material resources, among others.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture