MFA Sculpture & Post-Studio Practice

FALL 2023 Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice
Graduate Seminar ARTS-5504
TOPICS: SENSES OF SPACE & PLACE
Group Sessions Wednesdays 9:05 - 11:35 AM
Studio Visits Mondays and Tuesdays by Appointment

Andrea Zittel, *Flat Field Works (Middelheim Variant #2)* (detail), 2015. Installation view, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp. Courtesy of the artist, Sadie Coles HQ, London and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York. Photo: Simon Vogel.

Week One

Aug. 28 Seminar: Course Introduction, Newspaper Club RADIUS: notes from the field / SPS Annual
Reading: The Creative Act: A Way of Being

Aug. 30 Individual Student Introductions - 10-15 minutes each student.
Professionally present your work, what you are working on now / what you’re thinking / goals, etc
Readings Due:
Dave Hickey, Blockbusters
Yi Fu Tuan, Common Traits in Perception: The Senses
Awareness of Sound
Discussion + Alvin Lucier, I’m sitting in a room

Week Two

Sept. 04 No Class. Labor Day Holiday

Sept. 06 4 Presentations
Readings Due:
Nodar Case Study, Three Years in Nodar, Introduction
Lucy R. Lippard, Surface Tension: Problematics of Site Land Art in the Rear View Mirror
Discussion

Week Three
Sept. 11 Studio Visits / Publication Work

Sept. 13 Due: Newspaper Club Design Collectively Chosen and Template Downloaded
Studio Tours - 5-10 minutes each student in studio
Due: Artist Statements emailed to Richard before class

Week Four

Sept. 18 Studio Visits / Publication Work

*Friday, Sept. 22 Field Trip: National Science Foundation Ice Core Lab + Andrea Zittel Outdoor Commissions
Readings Due:
William Wycoff, Navigating Western Landscapes
Inside Out Reading Collection - ArtForum

Week Five

Sept. 25 Studio Visits / Publication Work

Sept. 27 Work on RADIUS: notes from the field / SPS Annual
Readings Due:
RIP SITUATIONS: https://www.situations.org.uk/about/
Due: First Design Mock-ups for Publication

Week Six
Oct. 02 Studio Visits / Publication Work

Oct. 04 Process Crit Publication Work
Readings Due:
Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another: Art and Site-Specificity
J.B. Jackson, Understanding the Vernacular Landscape On the Word itself
Due: Final Topics and Scope Defined

Week Seven
Oct. 09 Studio Visits / Publication Work / Field Research

Oct. 11 Work on RADIUS: notes from the field / SPS Annual
Readings Due:
Robert Smithson, Cultural Confinement, Monuments to Passaic, New Jersey
Cornelia Butler, A Lurid Presence, Smithson’s Legacy and Post-Studio Art
Due: First Draft

Week Eight
Oct. 16 Studio Visits / Publication Work / Field Research
Readings Due: Critique Methods

Oct. 18 Midterm Studio Crits:
Readings Due: Critique Methods
____Delaney______
___Cody___________
___Brianna___________
_____Abi__________

Week Nine
Oct. 23 Publication Work

Oct. 25 Midterm Studio Crits:
______Dati_______
_____Ana_____
______Asa_______

Week Ten
Oct. 30 Studio Visits / Publication Work / Field Research
Nov. 01 Publication Work - Final decisions are made today

Week Eleven

Nov. 06 Studio Visits / Publication Work
Nov. 08 Publication Work - Final decisions are made today

Week Twelve
Nov. 13 Studio Visits / Publication Work
Nov. 15 Due: Final Contributions (All edited Images, Text)

Week Thirteen
Nov. 20 No Class: FALL BREAK
Nov. 22 No Class: FALL BREAK

Week Fourteen
Nov. 27 Studio Visits / Publication Work

Nov. 29 Studio Visits / Publication Work

Week Fifteen
Dec. 04 Radius Mailing Prep

Dec. 06 Studio Critiques:
____Asa______
____Ana______
___Brianna____

Week Sixteen

Dec. 11 Radius Mailing and Out the Door

Dec. 13 Studio Critiques:

_____Cody_______
_____Abi_________
_____Delaney_____
_____Dati________

Week Seventeen

Dec. 18 Final Portfolios and Artist Statements Due

* This schedule is subject to change - as in life, things don’t always work out as originally planned. Please stay up to date on schedule changes in class weekly.

*Readings are available through our shared google folders, if you have an issue with a link, please send me an email notifying me.

*Please schedule individual studio visits with Richard via email.

Feminist Futures of Spatial Practice by Meike Schalk
The Old, Weird America by Greil Marcus
Poems from An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
I’m Sitting in a Room by Alvin Lucier
The Lure of the Local by Lucy R. Lippard
The Aesthetics of Silence by Susan Sontag
Surveying our Common Landscape by Jeff Brouws
Astral America by Jean Baudrillard
Sculpture Projects Muenster Glossary
How to Work with Galleries and Collectors as an Emerging Artist

FALL 2023 Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice
Graduate Seminar ARTS-5504
TOPICS: SENSES OF SPACE & PLACE
Group Sessions Wednesdays 9:05 - 11:35 AM
Studio Visits Mondays and Tuesdays by Appointment

Course Description:

The Graduate Seminar in Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice is designed as a forum for presenting and discussing student work through the lens of contemporary Sculpture and Post-Studio Practices. Through projects, critiques, class discussions, readings and field trips, we will explore what it means to practice art today. The SPS seminar should provide fruitful terrain to explore the questions we all face as artists; How will you adapt to the continual disclosure of new ideas and theory; how does your accumulation of knowledge affect the evolution of your own practice; what will your work and your contribution be? This course is for you and your colleagues in the SPS MFA program to create new work, learn about current and past work in the field, discuss your methods and philosophies, and ultimately continue establishing your own personal creative visions. We will also discuss issues of professional practice, finding opportunities and produce a broadsheet newsprint publication.

Course Requirements:

Each week on Wednesday we will gather for Seminar - which will include lectures, reading discussions, and critiques around your work. Any critiques we hold will focus on new work that you have made this semester. The Wednesday sessions might be located off campus at the beginning of the semester in order to connect our readings and experiences. As we go through the semester, Wednesday will be a chance for you to share your work, ideas, opinions and receive critical feedback. You are required to participate as an artist, viewer, researcher and critic throughout the semester.

You will have 2 formal critiques for this course. It is imperative that you be open to the ideas of other students in this course and take into consideration critiques and new ideas for your work. As a viewer and class participant you need to be respectful when critiquing work but are also asked to be honest and open in order to help make your colleagues’ work better. You will be asked to submit artist statements and project briefs for each of your critiques. Periodically, I will ask you to write or respond to experiences or certain works of art or activities from class.

Studio Visits – These are 1-on-1 sessions, virtual or in your studio - we will discuss various topics that are important to you: your work, your career, your vision, theories, breakdowns and breakthroughs. It is your responsibility to schedule at least two 1-on-1 studio visits this semester with me. Additionally you are required to bring in at least 2 other faculty or visiting artists into your studio this semester for studio visits.

RADIUS - This year our group field trip will be parsed out and publication rebranded as RADIUS: Notes From the Field an SPS Annual. As part of the SPS Graduate Seminar you will dig deeper into your work alone and/or together through field research. We will embark on 2 field trips together as a group and then you will self-direct your own field research trip focused around your creative work interests. As a finished “deliverable” the class will collectively design, edit and print a broadsheet publication that celebrates the experience and documents your processes.

Course Expectations for Graduate Students:

I expect that you are reading, listening, watching films and doing field research to inform your work on a daily basis. You should be doing something to advance your creative practice everyday. Surfing the web mindlessly doesn’t count and you have to do it even when you’re exhausted from teaching, from working in the studio, or just from the intensity life. Even if it’s a simple sketchbook entry. Every single day is a day to improve your practice. I expect that you are staying up on what is happening in your sub-field(s), and that you be looking for institutions and other support agencies for your work - both currently and for when you finish graduate school. You should be internalizing and recording future opportunities, goals, vision, and approach to art making regularly and updating your artist statement and written research in preparation for your thesis on a weekly basis. I expect that you are carrying yourself as a professional student artist and that you respect the group through valuing the exchange of ideas that takes place each time we gather, even when those discussions are difficult.

Classroom Behavior:

Students and faculty are responsible for maintaining an appropriate learning environment in all instructional settings, whether in person, remote, or online. Failure to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, political affiliation, or political philosophy.

For more information, see the classroom behavior policy, the Student Code of Conduct, and the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance.

Requirements for Infectious disease:

Members of the CU Boulder community and visitors to campus must follow university, department, and building health and safety requirements and all public health orders to reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases.

The CU Boulder campus is currently mask optional. However, if masks are again required in classrooms, students who fail to adhere to masking requirements will be asked to leave class. Students who do not leave class when asked or who refuse to comply with these requirements will be referred to Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution. Students who require accommodation because a disability prevents them from fulfilling safety measures related to infectious disease will be asked to follow the steps in the “Accommodation for Disabilities” statement on this syllabus.

For those who feel ill and think you might have COVID-19 or if you have tested positive for COVID-19, please stay home and follow the further guidance of the Public Health Office. For those who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 but do not have any symptoms and have not tested positive for COVID-19, you do not need to stay home.

Accommodation for Disabilities, Temporary Medical conditions, Medical Isolation:
Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the academic environment. If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, submit your accommodation letter from Disability Services to your faculty member in a timely manner so your needs can be addressed. Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu for further assistance.

If you have a temporary medical condition or required medical isolation for which you require accommodation, please email your professor. Also see Temporary Medical Conditions on the Disability Services website.

Preferred Student Names and Pronouns:
CU Boulder recognizes that students' legal information doesn't always align with how they identify. Students may update their preferred names and pronouns via the student portal; those preferred names and pronouns are listed on instructors' class rosters. In the absence of such updates, the name that appears on the class roster is the student's legal name.

Honor Code
All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code. Violations of the Honor Code may include but are not limited to: plagiarism (including use of paper writing services or technology [such as essay bots]), cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud, submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from all course instructors involved, and aiding academic dishonesty.

All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution: honor@colorado.edu, 303-492-5550. Students found responsible for violating the Honor Code will be assigned resolution outcomes from the Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution as well as be subject to academic sanctions from the faculty member. Visit Honor Code for more information on the academic integrity policy.

Sexual Misconduct, Discrimination, Harassment and/or Related Retaliation:
CU Boulder is committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming learning, working, and living environment. University policy prohibits protected-class discrimination and harassment, sexual misconduct (harassment, exploitation, and assault), intimate partner violence (dating or domestic violence), stalking, and related retaliation by or against members of our community on- and off-campus. These behaviors harm individuals and our community. The Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) addresses these concerns, and individuals who believe they have been subjected to misconduct can contact OIEC at 303-492-2127 or email cureport@colorado.edu. Information about university policies, reporting options, and support resources can be found on the OIEC website.

Please know that faculty and graduate instructors have a responsibility to inform OIEC when they are made aware of incidents related to these policies regardless of when or where something occurred. This is to ensure that individuals impacted receive an outreach from OIEC about their options for addressing a concern and the support resources available. To learn more about reporting and support resources for a variety of issues, visit Don’t Ignore It.

Religious Holidays:
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. See the campus policy regarding religious observances for full details.

Mental Health and Wellness:
The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to the well-being of all students. If you are struggling with personal stressors, mental health or substance use concerns that are impacting academic or daily life, please contact Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) located in C4C or call (303) 492-2277, 24/7. Free and unlimited telehealth is also available through Academic Live Care. The Academic Live Care site also provides information about additional wellness services on campus that are available to students.

Link to additional CU-Boulder Academic Policies here