Students who want to explore metal fabrication as a medium for their artwork are welcome to take this class. New students will learn Oxy-acetylene welding, basic metal fabrication and safe operation during the first couple of months, and then they can start working on their own project. Students must comply with the class rules for safety. All students are allowed to work freely in terms of form/style; however it is important to discuss what is technically appropriate for their levels, as well as conceptual and artistic concerns. Students can learn welding, cutting, grinding, bending, forming, polishing and more in various methods. Beginners are encouraged to work mainly with steel using Oxy-acetylene or MIG. Advanced students can learn TIG, which can weld steel, stainless steel, aluminum, bronze, and brass. Our conversation is open to combining metal and other mediums, but because this is a fully equipped metal studio, the workability other than metal in the classroom is very limited. Metal is an amazing medium to realize seemingly impossible visual art projects possible if you learn how to use it.

In this class, students will learn different techniques to carve wood and stone. Students will learn to carve by traditional means with chisel and hammer as well as modern air or electric tools, depending on their goal. Figurative and nonrepresentational artistic approaches are welcome. Students will be encouraged to create a maquettes out of clay, plaster, or other materials to help them plan their design prior to carving their final piece. The instructor will work individually with each student to help them transfer their design into stone or wood.

Through the versatile medium of terracotta and ceramics, this class will address ideas of figurative sculpture. Terracotta is unique within the technical range of sculpture, it can capture immediate expression within moments of being dug from the ground and last eons after being exposed to heat. This course will investigate the life cycle of clay. Natural water clay, as a medium of art, goes through an important sequence of material characteristics, all of which can be useful to the artist. This unique nature of terracotta lends itself well to dynamic short-pose bozzetto. The class will address the representation of the figure from mass to volume to surface.