BFA in Sculpture
The BFA in Sculpture program provides a sequenced studio approach to three-dimensional creation in a variety of materials and techniques that prepare students for lifelong learning as a professional artist. Students begin with AR 121 Foundation Sculpture, the prerequisite for all other sculpture courses, followed by 200-level courses in various areas of interest, such as Materials & Methods, Installation, and New Genres in Sculpture. These are followed by required Junior and Senior Studios and a Senior Seminar, culminating with their thesis exhibition.
Electives are offered so that students can focus on specific mediums and areas of interest. Faculty work with each student to strengthen their technical expertise, facilitate a mature sense of studio activity, and help them to pursue personal ideas and themes. Sculpture majors develop a personal working process and critical thinking skills, as well as a broad 3-D technical skill-set. Majors begin to answer questions concerning conceptual content while utilizing all the resources of the School of Visual Arts and Boston University.
The undergraduate sculpture program benefits from a ceramics studio, woodshop, and welding facility. There is also potential cross-disciplinary engagement with the College of Engineering (specifically EPIC, the Engineering Product Innovation Center) and the expertise and collaboration with creative individuals in various 3-D fields. This, coupled with the BU Hub, develops a fertile learning environment and adheres to the University’s mission to promote academic distinction and student success in the visual arts.
Learning Outcomes
All students graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from the Boston University School of Visual Arts are expected to:
- Develop a body of work that exhibits creativity, ambition, and clarity of thinking and specificity with regard to material and spatial outcomes.
- Have opportunities to share their sculptural works through exhibitions.
- Demonstrate proficiency in studio process, including materials, tools, perceptual acuity, and techniques appropriate to the practice.
- Realize their ideas within the development of a subjective visual vocabulary, while recognizing the physical, temporal, and contextual characteristics of sculpture.
- Demonstrate spoken and written critical thinking and communication skills, specific to the field of sculpture, through oral and written presentations, as well as through one-on-one and group critiques.
- Apply appropriate models of interpretation based on global historical and contemporary artistic knowledge. Students should also be able to identify tangible practical connections between their sculpture process and other related and unrelated fields.
- Generate a collection of materials that sustain a professional practice and career track: artist statement, CV, image documentation, and online presence.
Requirements
All BU undergraduate students, including both entering first-year and transfer students, will pursue coursework in the BU Hub, the University’s general education program that is integrated into the entire undergraduate experience. BU Hub requirements can be satisfied in a number of ways, including coursework in and beyond the major as well as through cocurricular activities. Students majoring in Sculpture will ordinarily, through coursework in the major, satisfy a number of BU Hub requirements in Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, the Individual in Community, Ethical Reasoning, First-Year Writing Seminar, Writing, Research & Inquiry, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration, and Creativity/Innovation. Remaining BU Hub requirements will be satisfied by selecting from a wide range of available courses outside the major or, in some cases, cocurricular experiences.
The BFA requires 132 semester credits.
| Visual Arts Foundation Requirements | |
| CFA FA 100 Doing, Making & Knowing: The CFA Experience | 2 cr |
| CFA AR 131, 132 Drawing I | 8 cr |
| CFA AR 121 Foundation Sculpture | 4 cr |
| CFA AR 141 Painting I | 4 cr |
| CAS AH 111, 112 Art History | 8 cr |
| Sculpture Major Requirements | |
| CFA AR 241 Painting II (fall only) | 4 cr |
| 200-level Sculpture: CFA AR 221, 222, 223, 224 (minimum 2 semesters) | 8 cr |
| CFA AR 321, 322, 325, 326 Sculpture Major Studios (minimum 4 semesters) | 16 cr |
| CFA AR 327 Sculpture Techniques (fall only) | 4 cr |
| CFA AR 329, 331 Contemporary Issues Seminars (2 cr each, fall junior and senior years) | 4 cr |
| CFA AR 339 Sculpture Thesis Seminar (spring senior year) | 2 cr |
| CAS AH 393 Contemporary Art History (fall only) | 4 cr |
| CFA AR 236, 238, 239, 250, 251, 270, 318, 425, 431, 447, 448, 450, 451, 452, 469, 500, 501, 517, 518, 527 Drawing and Printmaking electives | 14 cr |
| BU Hub Requirements Outside Major and Elective | |
| BU Hub Requirements outside the major, including First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS WR 120) and Writing, Research & Inquiry (e.g., CAS WR 151/152/153) or equivalent | 32 cr |
| Additional BU Hub Requirements and/or studio/general electives | 18 cr |
| Total credits | 132 cr |
