3D & Extended Media

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The 3D & Extended Media Division is grounded in a comprehensive interdisciplinary understanding of traditional and extended media, which includes sculpture, ceramics, performance, installation, and new generation digital art practices. In order to enhance your development as an artist, our program offers a curriculum that promotes conceptual investigation and a critical understanding of contemporary issues through the exploration of diverse media and expertise achieved in a range of technical processes.

The 3D & Extended Media faculty encourages the development of your ideas and passions by challenging you to hone the analytical and critical ability needed to effectively express your personal vision. Importantly, you will have the opportunity to become an active participant in the broader cultural and global discourse as well as gain the tools to succeed in graduate art studies and as an arts professional.

CERAMICS

The Ceramics Area offers you a distinctive opportunity to fully engage in an open, dynamic, rigorous and supportive studio environment to explore personal expression in clay within a broad, fine art context. Faculty has in-depth and varied expertise gained through a long history of art practice in and engagement with ceramic art at both national and international levels.

You will have every opportunity to immerse yourself in concepts and techniques related to your particular needs and personal vision while mastering beginning to advanced ceramic processes. To inspire your evolution in the field of art and art-making, faculty expose you to historic and contemporary ceramic art issues and practitioners while guiding you in undertaking your own research, peer presentations and work in clay. You are further encouraged to investigate and incorporate mixed media, installation, digital, performance, and interdisciplinary approaches in your work.

SCULPTURE

Students working in sculpture take courses designed to combine current art theory, an understanding of relevant cultural and historical issues, and the application of specialized technical skills to create works of art having clarity of intention.

The diverse philosophies of our faculty foster a range of traditional processes and contemporary practices for the effective exploration of ideas. You are expected to develop professionalism in terms of technical skills, conceptual formulation and critical thinking.

Initially, you are introduced to strategies to successfully integrate concepts, processes and materials. Modeling, casting, carving, construction and welding are explored in depth. Respect for and safe use of tools and machinery are emphasized. At the intermediate and advanced levels, you are encouraged to develop personal visions using traditional and experimental processes.

EXTENDED MEDIA

Extended Media emphasizes experimental contemporary studio practice that includes combined media installation, performance, environmental and site-specific art, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, video, audio and AR/VR installations, community based practice, and interactive and relational strategies. Students develop an integrated approach in the studio, where research combines conceptual development with the most appropriate media for the project at hand.

Undergraduate Resources & Facilities

The 3D & Extended Media facilities are extensive and include:

separate undergraduate and graduate metal and wood fabrication shops
a metal casting foundry
a ceramics atelier
project development rooms
individual graduate studios
open spaces for large scale work and installations
computer labs and maker spaces for digital fabrication and production.

Within each facility a complete array of specialized machinery, tools, and software are provided to develop both traditional and new media projects. Please see the links below for detailed descriptions of facilities and equipment for Undergraduate and Graduate Ceramics, Sculpture, and Extended Media.

CERAMICS FACILITY

The ceramics facility has a complete, properly ventilated, indoor clay-mixing space, three large gas kilns, four electric kilns in a roofed, out-door kiln area next to a well-stocked glaze area with a spray booth, and in the two classrooms are electric potters wheels, an extruder, and a slab-roller, along with several work tables and ample shelving.

SCULPTURE FACILITIES

The sculpture facilities include a woodshop, metal shop and foundry and are well equipped to accommodate both traditional and extended media processes.

Woodshop

18″ planer
8″ jointer
16.5″ wood lathe
10″ SawStop left tilt table saw
12″ compound miter saw
Panel saw
14″ and 16″ band saws
Scroll saw
Drill presses
Oscillating spindle sanders
1″ band sanders
6″ x 48″ belt saner with 12″ disc
30″ disc sander
Wide variety of clamps, hand, air, and electric power tools

Metal Shop

Metal lathe
Milling machine
Drill press
12″ and 24″ disc sander
1″ band sander
22 gauge hand roller
16 gauge brake
Large band saw
55 ton punch, 24″ plate and angle shear
30 ton press
3/4″ plate plasma cutter
Forge, Tig, Mig, Spot, and Oxy/Acetylene welding capabilities
Various hand, air, and electric power tools and large capacity air compressor system with enclosed cabinet sand blaster

Foundry

Ceramic shell room
Melt furnace
Dewaxing kiln

EXTENDED MEDIA RESOURCES

Digital resources include the robust computer labs across the campus, and School of Art equipment that may be checked out by students including cameras, audio recorders, video cams (DSLR and conventional), augmented and virtual reality display devices, digital video projectors, LCD monitors, media players, and lighting and microphone kits.

Visit the Resources and Facilities page to learn more.

Graduate Resources & Facilities

GRADUATE STUDIOS 3D & Extended Media FACILITIES

The Visual Arts Graduate Research Laboratory has spacious and well-equipped project studio spaces for wood and metal fabrication, ample common space for developing large-scale pieces, and individual studios.

Joseph B. Heller Wood Fabrication Studio