Sculpture
The School’s Sculpture program is designed to provide training for students to become professional artists and or prepare them for further study at the graduate level. The program has the objective of providing students a program which is designed to develop their perceptual sensitivity, aesthetic judgement, creative resourcefulness, and provides the skills necessary to express themselves. The area seeks to train artists who specialize in three-dimensional expression and sensory kinesthetics.
| Undergraduate Program | Graduate Program |
| Area Facilities | Faculty Bios |
| Student Gallery | Faculty Gallery |
Undergraduate Program
The sculpture area provides an environment that encourages students to explore sculptural ideas through research, process and materials and promotes art making as a personal, intellectual, discipline-based, communicative activity. At the undergraduate level students are exposed to historical and contemporary precedence in art making and are taught to think independently to gain an understanding of a wide range of sculptural concerns and processes. As students progress through the undergraduate program our goal is to have their work become increasingly self motivated and self directed. We consider sculpture an area encompassing both traditional media and experimental, conceptual work in new media, installation and performance. Our program strives to give students the freedom to experiment and encourages cross-disciplinary and collaborative practice.
Click here for the Multimedia Undergraduate Checklist (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Graduate Program
The graduate programs in sculpture include a 30 unit MA and a 60 unit MFA. Both programs are designed for the serious student and require self-motivation and a willingness to commit to a high level of production and intellectual dialog. As in the undergraduate program we consider sculpture an area encompassing both traditional media and experimental, conceptual work in new media, installation and performance; cross-disciplinary and collaborative work is welcome and encouraged. The program is set up for students to work individually with faculty of their choice with regularly scheduled group critiques attended by sculpture area faculty and invited faculty from other emphasis areas within the school. A formal review is required upon completion of 30 units to be advanced to candidacy for the MFA and 21 for the MA student. A thesis exhibition, paper and oral defense is required of all students for completion of the MA and MFA degrees (please see graduate bulletin for complete program requirements).
Graduate students have private studios and 24-hour access to wood shop, metal shop and foundry. Qualified students are eligible to apply for out of state tuition waivers, and graduate teaching associate positions. Additionally the sculpture area honors outstanding graduate students with yearly awards from the Isabel Kraft and John Rogers scholarship funds.
Click here for more information on SDSU Studio Art Graduate Programs.
Area Facilites
The facilities in the sculpture area include a well-equipped wood shop, a metal shop complete with fabricating and forging equipment and a foundry.* Classes are held two in spacious lecture/workroom areas that are adjacent to a large outdoor work area. The area also includes five private 24-hour access studios for graduate students.
* Currently there is no instruction being provided in this area, consequently the use of the foundry is restricted to qualified graduate students.
Faculty Bios
Richard Keely
Richard Keely is an artist and educator from southern California. Originally trained as a painter Richard’s work more recently has turned towards sculpture and installation. With the sculptural work Richard is concerned with transforming ordinary objects into visually dense wall pieces that evoke an array of emotive possibilities. Richard's Installation projects have been collaborations with San Diego artists Lynn Hendrick and Anna O’Cain. With these installations Keely, Hendrick, and O’Cain explore ideas concerning the visceral side of accumulating, storing, preserving, and communicating ideas and information. Richard’s work has been shown extensively in California including recent local collaborations with Anna O’Cain at the Spruce Street Forum and an educational project for INSITE 2000. Additionally Richard was a “Visiting Artist” at Oberlin College and Montana State University and has been awarded a grant from Art Matters in New York. Richard has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa and has lived and studied Chinese painting in Taipei, Taiwan. Prior to coming to San Diego State University Richard worked for the Carlsbad Unified School districts for 16 years, initially as a teacher and serving his last six years as the district's Arts Coordinator.