Best art classes for sculpture/metal-art
don schad
aesthetic art, with my major interest in forged work (e.g.
blacksmithing). I have taken a number of classes where I get to work
on the more technical/craftman aspects of the art (that is, how to
make the metal do something which you desire), but now I feel that I
should get some training in the "how to make art" realm.
So, with respect to that latter point - what type of classes should I
be looking for (i.e. names, types, etc)? "Design" classes? "Graphic
design" classes? Two and three-D modeling classes? I have looked at
local community college courses/curriculums (-i?) and of course there
are lots of history type classes, then drawing, painting, sculpting,
but these seem to be more focused on exploring a medium, as opposed to
the more fundamental question of what to do with the medium. Is that
the more fundamental question? I guess I don't even have enough
knowledge to ask the right questions, thus this post.
I realize that any art class will have a benefit to my
artistic/creative abilities (history is important, painting helps to
visualize, etc), but I'd like to maximize my return on my
time-investment. I'm just looking for a good spin up on how to
enhance the way that I look and see and visualize things to help me
become a better artist.
Also, any suggested readings and/or online course suggestions would be
welcome.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
don
Janet G. Duncan
I don't know how much help I can be, but I wanted to throw my 2 cents worth
in...
Let me start by saying I have a Master's degree in Art, specifically
sculpture, ceramics, and electronic art... In another year I'll have a
Master of Fine Arts... not that it makes me anyone, but I've also received
Fellowships which have allowed me to do my art and pay me a monthly
stipend... all tuition free...
I hear what you're trying to ask and here's my experience of it... For the
most part... the universities I've attended didn't exactly teach me what
you're asking to be taught. I wouldn't have got it, if I hadn't been
fortunate enough to study with someone who was a Cranbrook graduate who
really knew and understood art... and even he didn't teach me as much as
lighting a spark... then I went and learned what I knew I needed to know...
So here's the deal... Chances are, you're not really gonna get it at any
educational facility. They don't know it... especially in your chosen
genre... The best you can do for yourself is to find some magazines, if
possible, the specifically target your area of expertise as an artist...
Find out, and study who is doing what and why... start digging big time. Go
to the nearest biggest library you can find... look up black smithing and
see who is tops... Even consider some seminars or workshops...
If you just want aesthetics... design... then find a good sculpture
instructor. Graphic design(I have a Bachelor's degree in this) has more to
do with the printed page. Sculpture will be the only class you can take that
will actually teach design...
It might help, if you can find any classes that cover the history of art,
and or the history of the philosophy/critique of art to help you see, know
and understand the various movements in art... A contemporary art course
might also be beneficial...
But you can also do these things on your own... You'd probably go nuts
trying to read Clement Greenburg, the premier art critic of our time... but
you can probably find books that discuss him... There are also a number of
books out there about the philosophy of art, etc... One of the best things
you can do for that... is to go to Amazon... search for books by subject...
then find out which one's sell the most. The big sellers are going to be the
ones you want because most of them are used as text books. Holler if you
want a few examples... I've literally got a library full...
The other thing is... that today's art often references various aspects of
science... or crosses disciplines so the artist is not just an object maker,
but has a philosophy about what they are creating... For you... this will
probably be the answer why... in your search for why you're creating what
you're doing... you'll begin to discover something else... Are you making
it just to be pretty...? Then it's aestheticism... Are you creating abstract
lines in space that reflect your journey through the universe? Then it's
abstract expressionism...
What are you doing and why? In a nutshell... that's what today's art is
looking at...
Then there's whether or not it's good or bad art... Who is to say? If you're
selling everything you make hand over fist... Is it good art? Not
necessarily... But if you want to be marketable... do you care? It could be
great art... but who will buy it...? That's also a great part of what you're
doing.
Many professors... especially those who are famous will tell you that what
you're creating should not be geared towards selling... If it is... it's bad
art... Some will even go so far as to tell you that if it's selling like
crazy, it's too commercial, and hence... automatically bad art...
But then you can find... scattered few and far between... those who look at
art as mastering what you're doing... regardless of anything else... and
that if you can't make a living at it... what good is it?
These are all things you need to look at for yourself and consider... There
are hundreds of thousands of artists out there who never make it into the
MET... but they do beautiful work that's a mastery of skill and
aestheticism, they're making huge money... and they're really happy doing
what they're doing because their whole life feels like some answer to what
was once a distant dream but has become their reality... They're living
their dream...
So in the end... the only difference between them and you... is they've
established themselves and their work in a market... they're doing it...
and yeah... they probably read a lot about others doing the same thing...
because it's exciting... inspirational even... It helps keep them fresh and
aware of the world outside their studio... while inside... they just keep on
creating..
:-)
Janet
"don schad" <dsc...@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:abf4fb36.0307...@posting.google.com...
Gary Waller
"Janet G. Duncan" <be...@gbronline.com> wrote in message
news:66GdnZDTes-...@gbronline.com...
> Hey Don...
>
> I don't know how much help I can be, but I wanted to throw my 2 cents
worth
> in...>
Janet, I am glad you responded to Don's enquiry in such a frank and eloquent
way. I think you give excellent advice.
I think the challenge of Don's quest will be to find some way to experiment
and 'what if' in his chosen medium. I can take a chunk of clay, or a
sketchbook, and play with a wide variety of ideas - but in metal fabrication
this would seem to be much more difficult, expensive and time consuming
(??). It would be hard to fill a gallery with 50 or 60 pieces in the $500 to
$3000 range.
Here is a neat 'toy' which may be helpful, or totally useless:
http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=1&page=45419&category=4,104,45481
if this link crumbles - search for magnetic kits. I know people who build
waterslides and the like use kits like this all the time to conceptualize
and problem solve. We (humans that is ) seem to need 3D objects to solve 3D
problems, and computers just seem to get in the way. Also look into
polystyrene and metal parts, as used by model makers etc.,
www.smallparts.com is one of many.. I think this skill, plus a healthy
'tickle file' (photos, snippets, etc. of anything which catches your eye
artistically) will put you well on your way. It may be possible to make high
quality mockups of a piece, and then superimpose it in photoshop for
presentation. I think the very best career advice is to try, anyway you can,
to hang around people who buy art, not the people who make art. Remember
that most people don't know what they like, they only know what they don't
like, and they will proceed to tell you all about it. Learning how to deal
with this is both the challenge and the curse of the working artist.
don schad
Thanks very much for your responses. I do find them helpful (and
those magnets are pretty cool looking), and them help me articulate my
thoughts/desire (regarding arts education) a bit more. There are a
lot of good questions for me to consider. But you did hit on the
biggest that I think that I'm looking for - the "spark". I don't
really expect to be taught how to make art, but for more formal
training to act as a catalyst for the spark and to facalitate my
"coming out", artisticly. As I study other's work from books, in
museums, I am trying to identify common threads in those items that I
like (figure out why I like it), and think about things that I don't
like, and why. But, as Gary pointed out, it's easier to id what you
don't like.
But then it comes to actually designing the art that I into a couple
of problems. The first is the idea of "planned art", versus "inspired
art". It seems that the movies/whatever portay the more romantic idea
of the "brilliant artist" as waking up in the middle of the night and
running to the studio and creating something in a frenzy of artistic
genius. The reality I see (and that I employ in my thought process)
is that most sketch, modify, re-sketch, mockup, etc for a long time
before they start to take hammer to steel (or whatever). It is during
this design phase I become overwhelmed, indecisive and/or fickle. I
often sketch something while I have the "inspiration" and then put it
away, only to come back to it and say "hmmm...I don't like that". Or
say I could do it this way, or this way, or this way...
So what to do...am I thinking too hard about it? Should try to just
go crazy and build? More sketching? Is it necessary to build a story
(I was fortunate to attend a nice demo/discussion with a blacksmith
who seemed to have built much of his art around a story or concept or
image, and explained it as he talked "...I wanted to make a gate
symbolizing two people's lives flowing together and walking for
eternity into the sunset...". At first I was a bit amused/though he
was a bit ...flakey (I'm an engineer afterall, and we don't view our
things in such a manner), but when I really could see what he was
talking about (albeit after he told me), and it seemed perhaps *that*
is why I need to do. So, is a lovely bent piece of metal just a
lovely bent piece of metal, or must it tell a story? These are they
types of "how-to" questions that I'm getting at, and what I was hoping
to discover/learn.
Again, thanks for your responses. I have and will consider your
suggestions more. I think that just being exposed/talking about these
things will help foster my ideas and confidence.
don
"Janet G. Duncan" <be...@gbronline.com> wrote in message news:<66GdnZDTes-...@gbronline.com>...
Janet G. Duncan
Hang in there... sounds like you're getting it... About the sketch book,
building, thinking, thing... I've had instructors who just down right demand
the sketch book thing... Luckily, my present sculpture professor doesn't
really care. As sketch book can be a record, inspiration, a guide...
whatever... but for me... I've created more by just doing...
I honestly think the key is to find what works for you. Sometimes I have to
do the sketchbook for structure or technical aspects... Other times... I'm
better if I jump into it and run... I'm an environmental type artist... most
of what I do is outside and has to fit the landscape... it also sometimes
utilizes found objects... Much of what I do arises from my own responses to
just being outside...
And to comment on what Gary said about hanging with those who buy art... I
think that's great... but they don't help much with creative juices... So
I'm thinking there's probably a balance there...
Keep us posted and let us know what happens!
:-)
Janet
"don schad" <dsc...@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:abf4fb36.03071...@posting.google.com...
Gary Waller
collectors, gallery owners, corporate art consultants and ordinary people
with good taste during the week, and then he can hang around with fellow
artists on the weekends.
Janet G. Duncan
collectors... Maybe I wanna get some of that action!
Are there any single, not to bad to look at 40ish?(giggle)
:-)
Janet
"Gary Waller" <moz...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:Df2Sa.18317$xn5.2...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Will
"An artist can never fail, for it is a success just to be one."
All the best,
Will
"Janet G. Duncan" <be...@gbronline.com> wrote in message news:<IJSdnVJV9tu...@gbronline.com>...
don schad
out with those rich customers!).
Warren Townsend
self taught metal sculptor (at least I think I classify as a
sculptor)with no degree in art. I knew how to weld etc and work with
metal for many years before starting sculpture. But through tinkering
with the metal I just started building. From the artist critia I was
missing several aspects in my sculpture - perportions, space, lines
etc. I found this out by taking some community college drawing and
painting classes. You say that you are making sketches, are they good
representative of what you want to build? Maybe have somebody (another
artist) critique your sketches. I at time use sketches but more to get
the overall feel of size of the piece. But I work more of just having
an idea and start exploring on techniques until I get there. Heck, the
best drawings and ideas does not mean that it can be made in metal,
something you learn is what can and cannot be done.
As far as graphic design or Cad design classes these are good for
larger sculptures. Gives a visual feel of how to build.
warren
dsc...@frontiernet.net (don schad) wrote in message news:<abf4fb36.03072...@posting.google.com>...
Dan S
--
Dan S
Memphis 44 Ole Miss 34
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