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Topics in Studio Art: The Sculpture Garden   

ART 233.01

Spring 2013, MW 2:00-4:30 am

Professor Lisa Scheer        

 

Office:                       Montgomery 146

Email:                        lnscheer@smcm.edu

Office hours:              T 1-3 pm and by appointment

Class meets:              MH 135

Required Materials:   $65 Materials Fee

 

Course Description

This introductory level sculpture course focuses on creating landscape inspired sculptural artworks for outdoor installation culminating in the creation of a small sculpture garden in a space adjacent to Montgomery Hall. Students will learn how to respond to specific site conditions and understand how sculpture and landscape components can be coordinated to create a holistic, integrated garden experience. Class activities focusing on design development, presentation practices, and audience directed exhibition strategies will include creating scale models, digital mockups, written proposals, and the development of interpretive materials. Talks on historical garden design and field trips to area gardens will provide context for the project.  Basic wood and metal fabrication techniques will be taught. No pre-requisite.

 

Course Objectives

 

á         Learn how to analyze the specific conditions of a selected outdoor site as a way to generate an integrated art and garden design.

á         Learn how to create a complete design proposal including visual and written materials

á         Learn how to fabricate all aspects of the garden including sculpture fabrication and site preparation.

 

Requirements and Course Evaluations

Class Activities / Assignments

Class sessions will include a mixture of activities including AV presentations, critiques, technical instruction, and work time sessions. All class activities and assignment details (descriptions and due dates) can be found on the class schedule. Be aware that assignments will require a significant amount of work outside of class time. Over half of the class assignments are completed in groups. Anyone found to not be contributing effectively to group work might be removed from that group and receive failing grades.

 

Late Work Policy

Because one task leads to the next in this class, it is crucial that all assignments are completed on time.  Any work turned in up to 3 days late will be lowered one half a letter grade (5 pts) and any assignment turned in over 3 days late will be lowered by a full letter grade (10 pts). I will check assignments for on-time completion when they are due. The work should then be submitted as described on the assignment summary page. If any assignment is late it is your responsibility to call my attention to it when you do submitted (otherwise I will assume it is incomplete.)

 

Attendance

Attendance in this group effort class is crucial! Please be aware of my attendance policy:

You are allowed 3 absences that you can use for any purpose (illness, sports, medical appointments, day off, etc). Each additional absence will lower your final grade by one quarter of a letter (2.5 points)

You must arrive on time and stay in class for the full session to be counted as present. There is no such thing as an excused absence so there is no need to bring notes, send emails, or notify me of reasons.  If circumstances outside of your control lead to chronic absenteeism you must come and speak with me about it as it is happening (not long after the fact) for me to consider any modification of this policy.

 

Grading

The semester is divided into 3 grading periods that correspond to phases of our garden project: research and development phase, the design phase, and the production phase. Each of the three phases will be counted as roughly a third of the final grade. Which assignments fall under which phase and the grade weight breakdowns for each are available on the assignment summary page. Students are required to complete a self-assessment for each grading period and I will consider these self-grading exercises when I assign grades. Grades will be based on a 100 point scale with the following grade equivalencies: A 94-100, A- 90-93, B+ 87-89, B 84-86, B- 80 to 83, C+ 77-79,C 74-76, C- 70-73, D+ 66-69, D 64-66, D- 60-63, F 0-59). All missing/incomplete assignments will receive a score of 50.

 

Materials and Shop Use

The art department provides certain expendable tools, general supplies and construction materials. Each student is also supplied a personal sketchbook. An $65 materials fee is charged to each enrolled student to help cover these costs.

 

The sculpture studio may be used at any time during regular building hours up to 12pm (excluding other class meeting times.) Tabletops must always be cleared after use and work stored in designated areas. You must clean up after yourself. Any work or materials left out will be collected and disposed. You can have access to power tools and other restricted facilities during shop monitor hours (T/TH 7-10 pm and Sunday 1-4 pm unless otherwise posted). The shop supervisor, Tara Hutton will be present to assist and monitor your use of power tools, and help you complete technical practice assignments. You will not be able to use power tools yourself unless you have been trained and OkÕed by Tara or I. You must read and sign a Studio Use Rules contract to use the studio.