This course emphasizes student understanding of formal elements of line, plane, mass, volume, and compositional strategies for these elements. Projects are designed to help students develop a source for art making by translating the environment through perspective drawing and through seeing how 3-dimensional objects work spatially. Examples of student work.

The objective of this course is to understand sculpture as the relatioship between ideas and 3-dimensional forms. Students examine the use of the figure throughout art history, up to and including contemporary work. Students work through ideas of abstraction and metaphor. They develop a vocabulary of the material processes of clay, concrete, plaster, paper, and basic woodworking that gives them the flexibility to begin to develop their ideas. Click here to view a first day History of Sculpture Powerpoint Presentation. Examples of Sculpture I student work. Examples of Sculpture II and Sculpture III Student work.

Basic drawing methods are introduced using various drawing materials, with an emphasis on charcoal. Students work primarily from still-life and develop compositional strategies, the effective use of positive and negative space, the relationship of image to page, methods of controlling spatial illusion, and various means to creating images. Examples of student work.

The objective of this course is to introduce a variety of visual art techniques and ideas.   We will work with 2 dimensional mediums of drawing and collage.   We will experiment with clay as a 3 dimensional art material. The class will look at children's literature to find stories to perform a puppet show for the last half of the semester.   The project will include the design and fabrication the puppets, building the puppet theater, drawing the backdrops, and performing the puppet show.   All projects are designed to introduce the basic idea of each medium and to begin to emphasize the ideas inherent in each.  

Metaphor informs understanding of our experience.    Our everyday conceptual system uses a system of metaphors that guides how we think about and come to understand abstract concepts.   We will look at metaphor as a tool for understanding abstract ideas such as time, love, morality, emotions, and memory. Our primary purpose is establish a foundation that will allow you to better understand, notice, analyze, and to make use of metaphors that are implicit in the structure our thought, structures we are normally unaware of.

Ceramics course for freshman and sophmore level classes that introduce hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques. Projects are designed to develop student understanding of clay as an art material and to explore issues of personal relevance, visual metaphor, and space. Examples of student work.

This course emphasizes understanding of formal elements of line, plane, mass, volume, and compositional strategies for these elements. Projects are designed to help students develop a source for art-making by translating the environment through perspective drawing, understanding the figure as volume, and through seeing how 3-dimensional objects work spatially. The design process is presented in terms of problem solving strategy. Examples of student work.

Combines 3 dimensional principles with an introduction to woodshop machines and hand-tools. Metal, plaster, clay, paper, and found objects are also introduced, stressing the different communicative qualities inherent in each material. Projects are designed to teach specific technical skills, help students identify individual concerns, develop a framework for individual decision-making, and situate results within the context of contemporary art. Examples of student work.