A picture of geometric sculptures on display in a gallery setting

Graduate Curriculum & Courses

Graduate Curriculum & Courses

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is designed to offer maximum flexibility in addressing the needs of each individual student. Following admission through a department, students design their two-year plan of study based on optimizing the offerings and opportunities available throughout SAIC. 

AreaCredit Hours

Studio

  • MFA 6009 Graduate Projects (21)
  • MFA 6009 Exhibition (3)

24

 

Seminar

  • Graduate Level Seminar
12

Art History

  • ARTHI 5002 OR ARTHI 5120 (3)
  • Art History Courses, 4000-level or above (9)
12

Electives—any course in any area at 3000-level or above 

  • Additional Graduate Projects sections used as electives must be approved by the Graduate Program Advisor
  • Students interested in writing a thesis must take a research methodologies course elective
12
Participation in four graduate critiques 
Participation in ONE of the following as appropriate to artistic practice: Graduate Exhibition, Graduate Performance Event, Graduate Screenings. Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the dean of graduate studies. 
Total Credit Hours60

* Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the Dean of Graduate Studies. The AIADO Department encourages students in their MFA design programs to participate in the AIADO and Fashion Graduate Exhibition.

Degree Requirements & Specifications

  • Completion schedule: You have a maximum of four years to complete your MFA in Studio degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Students will have access to studios for four semesters only.
  • Transfer credits: You must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in residence at SAIC. You can request up to 15 transfer credits at the time of application for admission, which are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credits are permitted after a student is admitted.
  • Art History requirement: MFA students are required to take ARTHII 5002 Graduate Survey of Modern and Contemporary Art OR ARTHI 5120 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Design. Art History courses must be at the 4000-level and above.
  • Undergraduate studio courses: Graduate students are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000-level and above) per semester without permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000-level are allowed only with permission.
  • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours

MFA 6009 Graduate Projects

MFA 6009 Graduate Projects advising, an ongoing individual dialogue with a wide range of faculty advisors, is at the heart of the MFA program at SAIC, encouraging interdisciplinary study across the curriculum. Standard enrollment consists of two MFA 6009 Graduate Projects advisors, one graduate-level seminar, and an art history course each semester. The remainder of credits required for the full-time 15-credit hour load may include academic or studio electives. All MFA students must register for a minimum of one and no more than two MFA 6009 sections each semester. Students may request permission from the Graduate Program Advisor to take a third MFA 6009 section after priority registration.

In their final year, students must take one MFA 6009 Exhibitions section. The advising and grade for this course will be tied to the final exhibition. When taking undergraduate studio coursework, the student is responsible for understanding the faculty member’s expectations about completion of assignments, attendance, and any other criteria for earning credit. MFA students interested in completing a written thesis must take a research course and MFA 6009 Research section and obtain approval from the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies.

Graduate Critiques

As one of the principle means of assessment each semester, you will be required to participate in Critique Week, a week-long schedule of critiques during which classes are suspended.

Fall semester critiques are organized by department with panels representing the discipline. This provides you with an opportunity to understand the department’s expectations, have your work reviewed from a disciplinary point of view, and to reiterate the expectations for graduate study.

Spring semester critiques are interdisciplinary, with panel members and students from across SAIC disciplines. Interdisciplinary critiques allow for a broad range of responses to your work, and are intended to assess the success of your work for a more general, albeit highly informed audience. Critique panels include faculty, visiting artists, and fellow graduate students.

Graduate Exhibition or Equivalent

At the conclusion of your studies, you will present work in the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition, other end-of-year events at SAIC, or the Gene Siskel Film Center—or arrange with the graduate dean or division chair for an alternative thesis of equal professional quality. Each year more than 200 graduate students exhibit work, screen videos and films, and present time-based works, writings, and performance to a collective audience of 30,000 people.

Students wishing to install work around prevalent themes, strategies or stylistic affinities can participate in a juried and curated section of the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition. A faculty and staff committee conducts extensive studio visits and as a collaborative project with student participants, organizes and installs the show in designated space at the exhibition.

Undergraduate Courses

MFA students are advised to understand the expectations of their faculty when enrolled in undergraduate studio classes. Although graduate students are an asset to the group dynamic, faculty requirements for graduate students in undergraduate classes are variable. The student is responsible for understanding the faculty member's expectations about completion of assignments, attendance, and any other criteria for earning credit. To assure that graduate students are working at degree level, they are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000 level and above) per semester without permission of the dean of graduate studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 level are allowed only with permission.

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Prerequisites

Open to Freshmen only.

Class Number

1706

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 015

Description

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Prerequisites

Open to Freshmen only.

Class Number

1716

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 015

Description

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Prerequisites

Open to Freshmen only.

Class Number

1723

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 015

Description

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore or above.

Class Number

1700

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 015

Description

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore or above.

Class Number

1708

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 015

Description

This course is an introduction to the materials, methods, and concepts of sculpture. We will investigate making in relation to material, time and space. We will consider aspects of sculpture such as meaning, scale, process, social engagement, ephemera and site; and explore the formal properties and expressive potential of materials including mold making and casting, wood, metal and experimental media. We will combine the use of materials and methods with ideas that reflect the history of contemporary sculpture. Demonstrations and authorizations will provide students with experience and technical proficiency in sculptural production while readings and slide lectures venture into the critical discourses of sculpture.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore or above.

Class Number

1718

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 023

Description

This course offers instruction in various methods of casting, including simple plaster molds, hydrocal-cement casts, simple body casts, thermal-setting rubber molds, wax, terra cotta, and paper casting. Students are advised to bring objects they desire to cast. (No hot metal casting in this course.)

Class Number

1703

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 030

Description

Patternmaking is at the heart of metalworking, woodworking, fashion, architecture and many other disciplines. Why? Because so many materials are available in sheet form. Students in this course will investigate a range of processes by which flat sheet materials like paper, wood, metal, fabric, vinyl, and plastic can be used to make volumetric, three-dimensional forms. Patternmaking for Sculpture will teach the student digital and analogue methods of designing, cutting, and assembling 3D work. Practical strategies as well as contemporary industrial use and the history of patternmaking will be explored to give each student a range of options for making their own work, whether it be art or design.

Class Number

1714

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

280 Building Rm 127

Description

This course introduces the aesthetic, technical, and historical aspects of the casting process as it relates to sculpture. Students learn basic skills in waxworking, investment applications, furnace and kiln operation, metal finishing and chasing, and patination. Lost wax and ceramic shell will be the primary techniques utilized for pattern generation and molding in this course. Students develop these skills through a series of studies that culminate in a final project.

Class Number

1701

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 030

Description

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

2100

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 032

Description

This course is a structural and poststructural investigation of sculptural site activation. The students explore the theory and practice of how work gets contextualized and redefined through its placement within a larger social, political, and economic sphere of meaning. Students investigate options and determinants operative in both indoor and outdoor sites, installations, and environments. Although the focus of the class is contemporary, topics of discussion range from Rodin's Burghers of Calais to the public projections of Krzysztof Wodiczko. An indoor space is available for student use and cooperative interaction is encouraged. Prerequisite: intermediate level work in any media or consent of instructor.

Class Number

1709

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Community and Social Practice, Interaction and Participation, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Public Space, Site, Landscape

Location

280 Building Rm 127

Description

This studio course explores the 'performing object' in contemporary, avant-garde, and traditional sculpture, installation, performance, and theater. Through experimentation and critical discussion, issues specific to performance art, puppetry, mask and street theater are probed, including: material, movement, sound, text, spectacle, scale, environment, and relationships among performer, puppet, and audience. In addition to in-class exercises, students build and perform a newly conceived, object-based performance piece.

Class Number

1712

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Animation

Location

280 Building Rm 127

Description

The figure in contemporary art has long been debated, but just as painting never died as forecasted so, too, the figure. It has morphed, become cyber, stayed representational, been found in the world and fashioned of any medium, while dissolving the line between it and abstraction, making it permeable and evocative. In this course students will be challenged to redefine the boundaries of traditional sculptural representation using the figure as a catalyst for evoking a range of content. We will consider human and animal bodies broadly, as cultural, historical, and constantly changing entities. Through an examination of diverse approaches related to figurative sculpture, students will be encouraged to engage with a variety of sculptural processes and media (such as assemblage, mold making, modeling, carving, welding, mixed media, fund object) to configure forms, as well as and conceptual frameworks in order to articulate personal and social narratives, and cultural critiques.
Addressing a range of cultures and historical periods, our inquiry will focus on: To what ends has the figure been employed (portraiture, faith, identity, gesture, embodiment, fragment, ritual, allegory, affect)? How does a work refer to without fully representing the figure? Why has it been an enduring subject/form? What are challenges and opportunities does it offer us today? Our inquiry will be guided by readings (Gordon Hall, Elizabeth Grosz, Katarzyna Trzeciak, Elaine Scarry, Sara Ahmed, and others) and viewing/museum visits of such artists as Jaime Isenstein, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Simone Fattal, Sarah Peters, Hew Locke, Rachel Harrison, Nicole Eisenman, Anna Mendieta, Yinka Shonibare, Simone Leigh, Kiki Smith, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Wangechi Mutu, Louise Bourgeois, Thomas Houseago, Kimsooja, David Altmejd, Lee Bul and Cajsa von Zeipel.
Course work includes assignments, readings and in class activities that support the development of three finished projects for critique.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: SCULP 1101 or SCULP 2001

Class Number

2101

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality

Location

280 Building Rm 023

Description

This course is designed for students who have prior moldmaking and casting experience. Students investigate in-depth project development, implementing and articulating ideas through class discussions and proposals. This course also aims to offer a deeper understanding of the social, historical, and aesthetic implications of replication. Such subjects as the instability and significance of object/material relationships, and the complex and expansive nature between the authentic, the surrogate, and the copy are explored.

Class Number

1713

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 030

Description

In this course, students will explore the art and craft of working with various soft metals, such as brass, bronze, copper, and silver. The curriculum covers a wide range of techniques such as soldering, forming, and centrifugal casting, enabling students to manipulate and shape metal into intricate forms. Utilizing a combination of hand tools and specialized equipment, students will learn to transform raw metal materials into functional and decorative objects. Emphasis will be placed on artistry and craftsmanship, with students developing their unique designs. This course bridges traditional practices with modern innovations, offering a comprehensive understanding of this ancient yet continually evolving art form.
Readings will explore topics of the historic metal eras including the Bronze and Iron Age, The Forge and the Crucible by Mircea Eliade, Metalworking Through History: A Modern Encyclopedia by Ana M. Lopez, Alchemy + Mysticism by Alexander Roob, A History Of Metallography: The Development Of Ideas On The Structure Of Metals Before 1890 by Cyril Stanley Smith, and The Secrets of Metals by Wilhelm Pelikan. Some contemporary metalsmith artists will be studied such as Michele Oka Doner. This class will also include a variety of handouts from the Metal Smith Society to demonstrate specific metal smithing techniques and tools. 
We will have a midterm critique to review progress and then students should expect to produce a body of work consisting of 3-5 finished pieces during the semester.

Class Number

2397

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Costume Design, Product Design, Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 028

Description

The history and techniques of bending and shaping wood are explored, from the stage coach wheel to the sculptures of Martin Puryear, from the cambered truss to the violin. Projects include a variety of practices such as laminate bending, form fashioning, steam bending, and vacuum pressing.

Class Number

1705

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 023

Description

Metalworks is a let¿s-get-to-basics class for working with steel. Join the class to learn basic metal fabrication, including: cutting, forming, forging, welding and finishing. This class will guide you as you build your projects in steel. You¿ll learn about structural systems and histories relevant to art and design with an emphasis on techniques and methodologies relevant to metalwork. You will integrate your learning to produce a set of finished works using historic and contemporary technologies. If it¿s metal, It¿s here. Designing, Fabricating, Forging, Finishing. Make it in metal.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: SCULP 1101 or SCULP 2001

Class Number

1722

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Digital Fabrication

Location

280 Building Rm 127

Description

This studio course explores the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the objectness of sculpture practices. Our weekly classes address such issues as monuments, earthworks, and performance; history and temporality; materiality and dematerialization; research, manufacturing, and consumption; tensions and connections between sculpture, architecture, and designed objects; and the ways new media, especially the internet and other virtual sites, alter our notions of the permanent and the ephemeral. Each week we'll discuss readings from contemporary and art historical texts and critique student work. Students will be given assignments and projects to be completed and critiqued throughout the semester.

Class Number

1724

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 015

Description

This course provides students with a semester-long concentration on a sculptural project of their own choosing. Students are encouraged to focus on a cohesive body of work that shares a material or conceptual framework. Multiple individual critiques will enhance their ability to identify, develop and clearly express their artistic intentions. Image and video presentations will expand students' familiarity with a range of sculpture practices. Individual research methodologies are emphasized and structured to take advantage of the institution's resources. Class discussion of contemporary sculpture and theory will underscore students? understanding of the social production of meaning and help them to contextualize their work.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: SCULP 1101 or SCULP 2001

Class Number

1715

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 023

Description

This studio course explores the interconnected nature of our physical and digital realities and their implications as technical, physical, and conceptual tools for understanding and presenting spatial ideas. This course teaches students to integrate the digital and the analog through process demonstrations including 3D modeling, 3D scanning, digital visualization, 3D printing, CNC output, mold making, pattern making, as well as metal and wood fabrication. This course covers planar and spatial construction methodologies.

This course engages themes of identity and place in sculpture and presents the idea that these concepts are expressed uniquely via this hybrid process. However, students in this course are free to choose the content of their own work. Practical application of technical demonstrations build on lectures and discussions considering works by Tauba Auerbach, Macarthur Freeman, The Long Now Foundation, Charles Ray, Spurse, Rokudenashiko (Megumi Igarashi), Amanda Williams, and Wim Delvoye among others. Students will work individually to create 3 artworks to be presented in a final critique. Students will share these artworks in-process in 2 or 3 informal critiques. Each student will also complete a short written research project.

Class Number

1710

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 127, 280 Building Rm 127A

Description

Advances in metallurgy and foundry practices provided the spark for the Industrial Revolution that transformed the world. In this intermediate level metal casting course, students explore how technological developments, material innovations, principles of mass production and distribution, and the mechanization of work have influenced the shape of contemporary social, economic, and political structures. While emphasis is placed on foundry techniques in this course, a variety of industrial materials and processes are explored including computer scanning, data manipulation and rapid-prototyping technologies. Students learn to access industrial services via the internet and off-campus field trips.

Class Number

1707

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

280 Building Rm 030

Description

This advanced, interdisciplinary course provides a generative space for developing and understanding creative projects through the discourse of the field of Sculpture. Students in this course come together from various departments to enrich the content of their work through critique and conversation with Sculpture faculty and other advanced level students from across the school. Weekly readings inform the development of self-directed creative projects which form the basis for discussion and may form the basis for a thesis body of work.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: 3 credits SCULP 2000 or SCULP 3000-level; open to Juniors and Seniors only.

Class Number

1721

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 127

Description

Using the Columbus building?s living laboratory as a classroom and research site, students will consider ways that humans, fungi, plants, insects, animals, microorganisms, objects and architecture are enmeshed in complex ecological systems together. We will use literal explorations of decomposition and material transformation through the practices of vermiculture (worm composting) and myco-remediation (mushroom remediation) and with a metaphoric sensibility, consider the promise of cohabitation, cooperation and survival on a damaged planet. The Nonhuman Turn, a cross-disciplinary movement within the arts, humanities, and social sciences, will inform our research. Students can expect to engage in: readings, field trips, presentations, the collaborative production of artworks, the design and development of habitat for worms, microorganisms and reishi mushrooms, and a good amount of growing, eating and composting of plants.

Class Number

1704

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Art and Science, Sustainable Design

Location

280 Building Rm 010

Description

This course provides a forum for in depth critiques and exploration of students' individual directions within the context of sculptural practice. Both technical and conceptual input will be given on a tutorial basis. Group discussions, readings, slide/video presentations, field trips and visiting lecturers may augment this class. Enrolled students will be assigned a studio space in the Columbus building. A maximum of 15 students will be admitted per semester. Enrollment is by application only.

Class Number

1702

Credits

6

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 032, 280 Building Rm 032

Description

This course provides a forum for in depth critiques and exploration of students' individual directions within the context of sculptural practice. Both technical and conceptual input will be given on a tutorial basis. Group discussions, readings, slide/video presentations, field trips and visiting lecturers may augment this class. Enrolled students will be assigned a studio space in the Columbus building. A maximum of 15 students will be admitted per semester. Enrollment is by application only.

Class Number

1702

Credits

6

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 032, 280 Building Rm 032

Description

Industrial robots and digital fabrication processes are more accessible to artists and designers than ever before. Students will learn to create and simulate complex tool paths for programming a Kuka industrial robot using Rhino, Grasshopper, and Kuka PRC. In-class projects will include scaffolding exercises to develop skills with software and hardware with an eye towards learning skills appropriate for additive manufacturing processes. Readings will focus on the ¿why¿ of using industrial robots in an art or design practice, featuring Joris Laarman, Madeline Gannon, Wendell Castle, Dirk Vander Kooij, and other contemporary creatives engaging in robotic fabrication.

Class Number

1720

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 127A

Description

Advanced students pursue individual casting projects while continuing to develop and refine casting skills. Alternative investment techniques are explored. Emphasis is placed on individual experimentation and development.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: SCULP 2113 or SCULP 3113

Class Number

2382

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Location

280 Building Rm 030

Description

Design for Nonhuman Kinds is a course series that asks students to think ¿outside the human,¿ by decentering human perception and subjectivity in favor of animal knowledge and experience. Design for Nonhuman Kinds challenges students to design and build forms that enrich the lives of animals in captivity by engaging their behaviors, cognitive thought processes and perceptions. In an era of climate collapse, mass extinction and a greater recognition of the ways humans and non-human beings co-constitute one another, we are beginning to recognize the limitations of anthropocentric thinking and making. This interdisciplinary course encourages design inclusivity and speculative thinking. Students will work with scientists, sanctuary staff, as well as contemporary theorists to study animal subjectivity and the relationship between design inclusivity for disabled persons and animals. Students will work in teams to design and build appropriate forms for animal enrichment. Courses included extensive collaboration with The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee in which students designed and built prototypes for African and Asian elephants, and collaboration with the Center for the Great Apes in Florida in which students design and build prototypes for orangutans and chimpanzees. Future courses will introduce various plant and animal species.

COURSE GOALS:
The investigation is experimental, in that it addresses design inclusivity and thinking outside of the human; interdisciplinary, as it will draw from the histories and practices of both disciplines relying on speculative and even metaphoric thinking alongside concrete design and build strategies; and practical, as we will be working with an existing organization allowing students the opportunity to work in a partnership capacity outside of the school. This course asks students to think in a `non-anthropo-normative¿ manner, a challenge posited by very contemporary theoretical frameworks (the nonhuman turn, the animal turn, disability studies) that have had a strong influence on art and design. Yet, as the process involves responding to a specific scenario and making objects whose material properties are responsive to the scenario, students will have an opportunity to grow familiar with complex materials and forms. This is a critical maker¿s course.
Please contact the instructor for details on joining the class.

Class Number

2103

Credits

3

Department

Sculpture

Area of Study

Product Design, Art/Design and Politics, Sustainable Design

Location

280 Building Rm 127

Take the Next Step

Visit the graduate admissions website or contact the graduate admissions office at 800.232.7242 or gradmiss@saic.edu.