ART 117: Sculpture

Course Name: ART 117: Sculpture

Instructor: Andrew Heisey, Chairperson for the Fine Arts Department and Associate Professor of Art

About the course: A course in the fundamentals of three-dimensional art. Clay, plaster, and casting are used to exploring both the additive and subtractive approaches to sculpting, with an emphasis on personal expression and creative thought. Approaches to subject matter include realism, abstraction, and non-representation. 

Faculty Commentary: As you see in the description, this class works on 4 to 5 large projects:

1. Plaster Caving - Students are given a block of plaster and have to carve out a non-representative sculpture (An object that doesn’t look like a person, place, or thing).  
2. Clay Bust - The most extensive project in this course is to make a human clay bust. The pictures that Paul Hicks took of my class were of my students working outside on these clay heads. Usually, the students pair up and sculpt the faces of each other. Since we had to wear masks in class last fall, we went outside when the weather was good, so they could see each other’s faces. The students are often terrified to make a realistic sculpture of a person. However, after they go step-by-step through every facial feature, they are frequently amazed at what they can accomplish. 
3. Body Casting – Using various materials, the students cast body parts. Then they are challenged to use the casts to create a sculpture that “has a message.” Often these sculptures deal with identity and body image. I am always fascinated with the profound concepts they come up with for this specific project. 
4. Collage Sculpture – This last project varies every semester. Sometimes the students are challenged to make sculptures out of wire. Other years I gave them a specific object that they had to transform into something new. 

Overall, the class is a great experience, and I would recommend it to any student looking for a low stress, fun class."

Erica Fitzgerald

Student Commentary: "Professor Heisey's Sculpture class was one of the most unique classes I have had the opportunity to take here at Waynesburg. Most art classes tend to stick to one medium, material, process, etc. but Heisey's sculpture class allowed students to experiment with many different materials and techniques to create something unique and different! We experimented with materials like plaster, different types of clays, tape, and silicon molds." - Emily Petro, senior EAM major (visual arts)

"Sculpture was a very fun class where we got to work with materials such as plaster and clay. There was so much freedom with our projects, but Professor Heisey was there to guide us, and he was more than eager to help us when asked. Overall, the class is a great experience, and I would recommend it to any student looking for a low stress, fun class."- Erica Fitzgerald, senior psychology major