There is no textbook for this course. Readings will be supplied by the instructor. Work is due at the beginning of class on the day it is due.

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5 Fall 2013 Mark Rhodes Sculpture Methods This course fulfills the Visual and Performing Arts field of study requirement. Though it will be principally made up of practical experience in the skills, critical understanding, and techniques of sculpture, these experiences will be presented within a historical and theoretical framework. This course is carefully designed to be appropriate for all students, art majors and non-majors alike. This course is completely appropriate for students who have had no prior experience with art. The field of visual and performing arts considers questions having to do with the forms, traditions, meaning and historical contexts of works in visual and performance media, and explores issues of method, process and personal resources in the media. Courses satisfying this requirement are centrally concerned with the roles of creation and interpretation in the study of art. They develop in students an enhanced understanding of art by fostering their intellectual appreciation of works of art and by involving them in the creative process. These courses are suffused with the notion that the arts are a powerful and profound influence on human perception and understanding. Attendance Policy: You may miss three classes without penalty. For every class that you miss beyond three, ½ a letter grade will be taken off your final grade. If you are late you will be marked absent. If you leave a mess you will be marked absent. You have paid a $90 materials fee with your tuition. This will cover all of your material needs, except for materials, parts, tools, etc which are clearly outside of the normal selection supplied to students in this course. You should always bring some kind of notebook or sketchbook to class. There will be days when you will be given a great deal of information in class, from safety procedures to technical demonstrations, and you will also want something handy at all times to record ideas and designs. There is no textbook for this course. Readings will be supplied by the instructor. Work is due at the beginning of class on the day it is due. One letter grade will be deducted for every day a project is late. Grades will be based upon the specific criteria for each project. Final grades will be the average of all graded projects. Graded Projects:

6 There will be four major projects. Each will count for 20% of your final grade. There will also be several short exercises and written work having to do with museum visits and readings. These will count for the remaining 20% of your final grade. Schedule Week 1-3: Object making from an additive approach, basic design and elements of composition in space, armature building and formal development. This section will begin with lectures on a broad range of historic ceramic and bronze sculptural traditions, ranging from ancient Jomon vessels and figures in Japan to Pre- Colombian sculpture, and covering a wide range of European traditions. Students will study at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and will write a descriptive/analytic paper on a specific object. Students will develop and execute an abstract figure in clay, based on the formal and aesthetic foundation of the piece they researched. Week 4-6: Object making from a reductive approach, model development, transposition of scale, carving techniques. This section will begin with a series of lectures on historic stone and wood sculpture, with a broad emphasis on abstract figurative work. Traditions covered will include the Cycladic tradition in the Mediterranean, but will mostly cover numerous African and Oceanic traditions, with an emphasis on Papua, New Guinea. Students will study the carved work in the African and modern collections at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and will develop and execute a carved wood sculpture variant based on their research. They will also write a descriptive/analytic paper on their chosen piece. Week 7-10: Object making from a constructive approach, drawing and transfer development, construction techniques and materials. This section will begin with a series of lectures on modern and contemporary constructed sculpture, covering artists from Picasso and Duchamp to Richard Serra, David Smith Martin Puryear and beyond. The students will study several good examples of constructed sculpture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and develop and execute a sculpture constructed of Styrofoam, cardboard and foamcore. Week 11-13: Exploration of Installation, individual and group projects. This section will begin with a series of lectures on modern and contemporary site-specific and installation work. These lectures will cover artists like Braco Dimitrijevic, David Hammons, Lucas Samaris, Nan Hoover, and Beth Galston. Students will develop ideas based on existing installation projects, and will break up into small groups to execute a small installation piece. Each of the four sections of the class will end with a class critique. Students will be expected to speak analytically and articulately about their work and to articulately analyze and critique the work of their peers.

7 General Safety and Health Rules I will give you specific safety and health training for any tool, substance or piece of equipment you may need to use. If you obey the following general Rules, we will have no problems: Rule #1 If one person in the room needs health or safety equipment, everyone does. Rule #2 If you don t know what it is, and if it is not yours, don t touch it. Rule #3 If I haven t trained you on its use, don t touch it. Rule #4 Always be aware of the safety and health of bystanders. Rule #5 Always clean up and return tools to their proper place. Rule #6 Always report improperly functioning tools to me immediately. Never use a tool which seems to be malfunctioning. Rule #7 Always be aware of where your clothing and hair are. Rule #8 Always use the health and safety equipment I direct you to wear. Rule #9 Never leave a heat source unattended. Rule #10 Always be alert and attentive and conscious of what you are doing.