At SFAI, sculpture is conceived as a process through which artists probe diverse questions in three-dimensional, and sometimes four-dimensional, form.
Working in ceramics, wood, metal, plaster, textiles, and new materials, students merge the conceptual with the material not only in objects, but also in installation, site-specific works, environmental public artworks, and social practices. Students are also encouraged to integrate video, sound, and electronics into their work, and to work with found objects.
The Sculpture curriculum introduces students to various materials used to produce three-dimensional forms, while also emphasizing drawing skills, and a knowledge of the historical context for contemporary sculpture practice. Coursework emphasizes three areas—3D Materials and Practices, Kinetics, and Environments and Systems.
Past Courses
Virtual Tour of Sculpture Studios
Facilities
Sculpture and Ceramics facilities are organized into shops and labs of common material, process, or emphasis. The fully equipped work areas include ceramics, with multiple electric kilns and two large gas kilns, large slab roller, glaze laboratory, extruders, and a clay mixer; wood shop, with table saw, two bandsaws, drill presses, sanders, mitersaw, table router, and panel saw; and metal shop with CNC plasma cutter, MIG welders, TIG welder, cold forming equipment and milling equipment. The tool room also carries a wide section of hand and power tools. There is a walk-in spray booth, electronics lab, sewing mezzanine, plaster and flexible mold area, an installation gallery, and mixed classroom fabrication spaces. Through adjacent departments, students have access to a wide range of alternative media including video, photography, film, and digital technology.
Curriculum
For students entering 2017–2018:
See a sample four-year academic plan in the BFA in Sculpture program to help you decide what courses to take and when.
For students entering 2018–2019 and later:
See a sample four-year academic plan in the BFA in Sculpture for 2018–19.
Title | Units |
---|---|
Liberal Arts Requirements (Examples: Global Social Movements, Un/Natural Ideologies, Concepts of Creativity, Mathematics: A Visual History, Extinction) | 33 |
Studio & General Elective Requirements | 72 |
Art History Requirements | 15 |
Title | Units |
---|---|
Beginning Sculpture | 3 |
Beginning Ceramics | 3 |
Design-Based Drawing | 3 |
Ceramics or Sculpture Seminar/Lab | 3 |
3D Material/Practice Distribution | 3 |
Kinetics Distribution | 3 |
Systems & Environment Distribution | 3 |
Advanced Sculpture | 6 |
Sculpture Elective (Ex: Three-Dimensional Collage, Nomadic Structures) | 6 |
Contemporary Practice | 3 |
Electives in any Studio Discipline (Ex: Expressionistic Drawing, Introduction to Robotics, Soundscape 5.1) | 24 |
General Electives (Ex: Sacred and Profane II, Letterpress for Artists) | 9 |
Senior Seminar | 3 |
BFA Exhibition | 0 |
Title | Units |
---|---|
Topics and Foundations in Global Visual Culture | 3 |
Topics and Foundations in Contemporary Art | 3 |
History of the Major | 3 |
Art History Elective | 3 |
Art History Elective | 3 |
Faculty
Ebitenyefa Baralaye (AICAD Fellow)
See the full list of current faculty.
Program Learning Outcomes