Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art in Studio Art - Sculpture

University of Texas - Arlington

The sculpture program offers courses that explore a wide range of processes and techniques including: woodworking and fabrication, clay modeling, molding and casting in plaster and resins metal fabrication with electric arc, MIG and TIG welding, oxy/acetylene welding / cutting and plasma cutting. Other resources include a centrifugal casting machine, investment studio and large outdoor work space. A recently installed foundry includes a Speedy Melt furnace, gantry crane and wax burnout kiln, facilitating aluminum and lost wax bronze casting. While the initial study in sculpture begins with traditional processes, students are also introduced to installation art, environmental art, performance art and the use of sound, video and time-based projects realized in a spatial context. The curriculum facilitates a functional knowledge of the history and theory of sculpture, an understanding of aesthetic principles, and their application to sculptural works. Sculpture majors are also required to take classes in ceramics, glass and drawing.Course objectives and syllabi require students to create their own projects and engage in individualized material and process research in conjunction with their instructor. In sculpture classes students choose not only what ideas they wish to state through a work of art, but also what materials they will use to state them. This philosophy is aligned with the department’s Intermedia program at the graduate level, and corresponds to an increasingly relevant definition of what it means to be a contemporary artist.