The Sculpture and Post-Studio (SPS) faculty work one on one with students to help develop each individual’s ideas and work based on individual, historical, and theoretical perspectives. Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice faculty represent varied points of view, however, each is thoroughly committed to helping develop students into creative, ambitious, and engaged artists.
Studio Work and Exhibition Opportunities
The SPS curriculum synthesizes a commitment to the studio and the community, emphasizing the interplay between concept, material, and context. The program encourages various approaches to the creation of new works from concept to realization. Our courses explore the development of participatory and object-based works, ephemeral activities, public and installation art, and socially engaged, collaborative and site-specific approaches. Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice is dedicated to fostering a nurturing environment for the discovery of new and diverse possibilities that exist in the contemporary art realm. Students have the opportunity to present work in installation and exhibition spaces in the Visual Arts Complex, collaborate with the CU Art Museum, CU Museum of Natural History and Norlin Library. Students also continually pursue opportunities in Denver and sites along Colorado’s Front Range.
Locational Practice and Field Opportunities
There are many ways to participate in field practice through the SPS curriculum. Most of our undergraduate courses have at least one unit focused on making artwork beyond the studio and in the field. These courses include Land and Environmental Art; Intervention, Exchange, and Duration; and Art and Social Practice. Every year MFA students organize a collaborative field project that has taken them to Wyoming, New Mexico and throughout Colorado. Students also have the opportunity to expand their practice into allied fields. For example, past projects include collaborations with researchers in environmental design, ornithology and museum studies. Additionally, our faculty often engage students in independent projects beyond campus. Our students have worked on-site in California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and internationally in Italy, Bolivia, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, and the Philippines. Shorter intensive field-based learning opportunities during winter and summer sessions are also integrated into the SPS curriculum.
The Art + Environments Field School
The Art + Environments Field School is an intensive off-campus summer program designed for students interested in the intersection of art and the environment. Directed by professor Richard Saxton, the Field School experience puts students in touch with various rural and remote landscapes and focuses on site and context-based approaches to art creation. While living and working together in the field and on the road, students get first-hand experience with rivers, streams and reservoirs, small towns, ecology and alpine research. Students can expect to spend the course in residence at the Mountain Research Station and create artworks exploring various mediums including photography, sculpture, and drawing - as well as dialogical projects, performative actions, and collaborative experiments.
The Field School session is open to both University of Colorado students and students from further afield. 6 academic credits are available at the undergraduate level (ARTS 4000) and graduate level (ARTS 5000). Registration begins each March for the following summer session. Please visit The Field School website for more information.
Explore the SPS Program
The Sculpture/Post-Studio Practice Area features several private and communal workspaces for graduate and undergraduate students:
- 6 private graduate studios (approximately 250 sq. ft. each)
- 2 studio classrooms dedicated to undergraduate courses
- 1500 sq. ft. communal studio dedicated solely to advanced undergraduate majors and BFA students
- 450 sq. ft. critique and seminar room
- 250 sq. ft. Resource Room where graduates and undergraduates can meet informally throughout the day
In addition to private and shared studios, SPS also shares the floor with several workshops including:
- 2500 sq. ft. metal fabrication shop with state-of-the-art equipment and ventilation system
- 600 sq. ft. non-ferrous metal shop
- Plaster room
- Fully outfitted woodshop that also oversees use of the CNC router, laser printer, vinyl cutter, and 3D printer
Graduate students and advanced undergraduates have exclusive access to a wide assortment of portable power tools and hand tools.
Sculpture for Non-Majors (ARTS 1514)
Sculpture for Non-Majors offers an orientation involving three-dimensional form and application. Studies expressive and conceptual problems based on non-objective form relationships in various sculptural materials.
Participatory Objects (ARTS 2004)
Participatory Objects looks at the tendency in contemporary sculpture to create interactive objects and experiences for the viewer. Students in this course are required to create hands-on projects, participate in group critiques, and develop presentations and research projects.
Colossal Objects (ARTS 2104)
Colossal Objects focuses on the conception, design and production of art works that are larger than human scale. Each object will be the result of individual and team design collaboration. Primarily focuses on sculpture constructed and engineered from metal although other materials are welcome.
Drawing for Sculpture (ARTS 2244)
Drawing for Sculpture explores and examines many relationships between sculpture and drawing. Projects will explore 2-D drawing and mixed media projects through the lens of sculptural practice. Scale, materials and styles will be researched along with topics such as the artists proposal, investigative processes, drawing and sculptural installations.
Fleeting and Found 1 & 2: Ephemeral Sculpture (ARTS 2384/3384)
Fleeting and Found focuses on introductory level processes of creating sculpture projects which are ephemeral and temporary. Themes of process, lifespan, migration, tension, entropy, and degradation will be explored. This course will include lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects, and visual presentations. Fleeting and Found 2 is a contuation of ideas and experiments learned in Fleeting and Found 1.
Basic Sculpture: Materials and Techniques (ARTS 2504)
Basic Sculpture introduces the basic properties of metal, wood and mold making. Students will explore and demonstrate an understanding of basic fabrication methods involved in each element. Students will investigate both traditional and non-traditional working methods and will consider how materials and techniques inform sculptural concepts.
Land and Environmental Art (ARTS 3004)
Land and Environmental Art covers land and environmental art, providing an historical survey along with hands on projects in the landscape. Focusing on themes of site, environment, landforms, weather and earth materials, students will design and realize art projects on the land. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Art and Social Practice (ARTS 3014)
Art and Social Practice covers social art practice, providing an historical survey along with hands on projects in social environments. Focusing on issues of public space, economic and cultural marginalization and political causes, this course provides students a forum for expressions of social reality. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Modules and Multiples (ARTS 3054)
Modules and Multiples exposes students to the practice of creating large works through smaller multiples and modules. By learning about the practices of artists such as Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Rachel Whlteread and Robert Gober, along with many others, students will generate an understanding and appreciation for the module and multiple in contemporary art practice. Students will learn to cast using plaster and other type of molds, will be introduced to jigs as a way to streamline production of multiple objects and will work with found objects. Students will be required to complete 3 projects, participate in group critiques of projects, produce a slide presentation on a contemporary artist whose work/practice fits within the theme of the course and prepare a final portfolio. Studio work and demonstrations will be augmented by readings and discussions on contemporary art.
Intervention, Exchange, and Duration (ARTS 3124)
Intervention, Exchange, and Duration focuses on the production of works of art outside of the traditional studio, museum and gallery. Projects will be designed to interrupt, intervene, co-opt, provide a service, exist for a defined amount of time, or engage a site, community or situation. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Nothing Flat: Project a Week (ARTS 3184)
Nothing Flat provides students the opportunity to work with a range of sculptural materials through a series of quick projects (e.g. installation, objects, writing). Students will learn to generate ideas quickly, engage issues and formats particular to sculpture, and produce a wide range of work over 15 weeks.
Picturing Sculpture (ARTS 3224)
Picturing Sculpture explores the many ways photography and other forms of imagery have been utilized in the field of sculpture. Students will start from the sculptural, but those objects and installations will function as an intermediary to creating final work that will rest in the image. Include lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Bend, Build, Burn: Sculpture in Wood (ARTS 3354)
Bend, Build, Burn focuses on the production of works of art in wood. Class projects explore building, bending, and burning with wood. Focuses on sculptural constructed objects although possibilities of installation, site-specific and public art will also be explored.
Collaboration: Art and Collective Action (ARTS 3434/4434)
Collaboration covers both historical background and hands on projects that are collaborative in nature. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Beyond the Studio: Post-Studio Art Practice (ARTS 3604/4604)
Beyond the Studio is an overview of post-studio art practice and covers the historical landscape of artists and projects that have pushed "beyond the studio" since 1970. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Lost in Space: Installation Art (ARTS 3614)
Students learn how to develop ideas in relation to installation art, exhibition spaces, and explore practical skills to help carry out their ideas. Includes lectures, readings and discussion, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Experimental Structures (ARTS 3714/4714)
Experimental Structures explores the interface of sculpture and architecture. Looks at individuals and collectives that have become renowned for their work with experimental structures and students will have the opportunity to build hands-on experiments. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Land and Environmental Art (ARTS 4004)
Land and Environmental Art covers land and environmental art, providing an historical survey along with hands on projects in the landscape. Focusing on themes of site, environment, landforms, weather, and earth materials, students will design and realize art projects on the land. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Art and Social Practice (ARTS 4014)
Art and Social Practice covers social art practice, providing an historical survey along with hands on projects in social environments. Focusing on issues of public space, economic and cultural marginalization and political causes, provides students a forum for expressions of social reality. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Public Art (ARTS 4024/5024)
Public Art focuses on the two areas 1) lecture/discussion, both based on political, historical and the aesthetic evolution regarding examples of public art and 2) current practice, in reference to how to use such information to generate new more innovative and original ideas regarding public art and its application. Includes lectures, readings and discussions, writing assignments, studio projects and visual presentations.
Performance/Installation (ARTS 4104/5104)
Performance/Installation primarily focuses upon personal imagery as a live situation occurring in either an invented constructed reality or real environment. Work may be individual or group configuration and may also take on the visual linguistic form of a solo performance or of a multimedia presentation.
Metalsmithing 1 (ARTS 4154/5154)
Metalsmithing 1introduces students to the fundamental techniques used in metalsmithing, including cold and hot fabrication techniques, forming and coloring. Through projects, discussions, readings and demonstrations, students will learn how to create, analyze, understand and critique contemporary metalwork. Projects will focus on design and concept development, while enhancing students' technical and problem-solving skills.
Art + Rural Environments Field School (ARTS 4444/5444)
Art + Rural Environments Field School puts students in touch with various rural landscapes in Colorado. Takes place off campus each summer during Maymester. Focuses on site-based approaches to art creation and is designed as an experiential course, meaning that students learn through the experience of place and then by the process of making. After introductions to each site, students will be responsible for a site interpretation piece utilizing various mediums including photography, drawing, land art and collaboration.
Advanced Sculpture Studio (ARTS 4504)
Students in Advanced Sculpture Studio will be required to complete projects, participate in group critiques of projects, produce a slide presentation on a contemporary artist whose work/practice fits within the theme of the course and prepare a final portfolio. Studio work and demonstrations will be augmented by readings and discussions on contemporary art.
Graduate Sculpture (ARTS 5504)
Each semester, faculty assign readings, lead discussions and critiques to an interdisciplinary group of MFA students. Students enrolled in Graduate Sculpture also organize a 4-day field trip that exposes them to field-based practices and research and produces a publication that distills that experience.
Area Faculty
SPS in the News
Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice Alumni Conversation
Read more about Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice Alumni Conversation
Alumni Spotlight
Ryan Everson
MFA, Sculpture & Post-Studio Practice, 2016
Artist Website
The connections and friendships made with other students and faculty were the most important. The uninterrupted time for studio work and the focus on creative process was important in developing both hard and soft skills while at CU.
I currently own Matchless Builds in Portland Oregon. Its a 12 person shop focused on making ideas a reality. We build fine furniture, cabinetry, fine art and pretty much anything imaginable. We are currently working on a large fine furniture project and some large scale public art pieces.
Aaron Treher
MFA, Sculpture & Post-Studio Practice, 2018
Artist Website
I chose CU for several different reasons. First, I was interested in a MFA program that had well known faculty that were leading the way in the growing territory of art practices that fall outside of the typical studio art model. Second, I was very interested in working with Yumi J. Roth and Richard Saxton whose practices incorporate a very wide range of influences. I had worked with countless volunteers and in a variety of contexts that all fell outside of what might be considered a normal arts practice. Naturally, I wanted to find a way to merge my arts practice with the community projects that I had been invested in. That’s when I came across the Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice area and the Rural Environments Field School at CU. I had applied to a number of other programs but the SPS area was exactly what I was looking for to grow my arts practice.
If I can give any reflection, it is about the importance of getting lost. I mean that in every sense of the phrase. Get lost in your work and forget that anything is happening in the world around you. Also, get lost in your concepts and realize that the ideas you are pursuing are so much more complex than you can ever expect to completely master in your time as a graduate student.
And most importantly, get lost in the land. Drive into the eastern plains of Colorado, turn off your GPS and follow the first dirt road you find. Drive until you don’t know East from West. Maybe then you can really find out where you are going.
My most recent public art project is a small collaborative project called the Street Light Survey Project and is funded by Boulder City’s Office of Arts and Culture. The Street Light Survey Project is a project that functions as an archive of urban ecology and street lights. The work is aimed specifically at creating an awareness of the interaction between artificial light, animals, and the human built environment. The project consists of two street signs, a biodiversity survey, an online database, and a corresponding sonic interpretation of the survey data. Located at a public street light that has a high rate of attraction to bugs—an official project sign, survey box, and biodiversity survey will guide residents to collect information and document insects at a designated site and other street lights.