Life-Changing Courses: Metal Sculpture
By Corinne Lafont ’26
Do you know how to weld? Assistant Professor of Art Jody Joyner does, and believes you can learn to work with metal, too. Sculpture II: Metal focuses on a “variety of methods for working with metal in contemporary sculpture. Students [will learn] to cut, bend, weld, shape, and finish steel.” Joyner bases her pedagogy on hands-on, experiential learning with help from James J. Johnson, engineering machinist at the Machine Shop in Singer Hall.
The class has a maximum of around seven students to ensure their safety. Artists, engineering majors, and shop technicians create alongside one another. Joyner designed the curriculum to build familiarity with the machinery. Students learn to MIG (Metal Inert Gas) weld, experiment with different textures on steel, create a watertight vessel, and construct a steel frame. The first month of class focuses on building practical skills before delving into aesthetic exploration.
Throughout the course’s first phase, Johnson works with students to ensure safety with the equipment. As both an artist and technician, he advises students on how to execute their artistic visions within technical restraints. The learning curve can be high, especially because many safety precautions are necessary for working in the metal shop. Johnson encourages students to ask all questions, even if repetitive, to foster a collaborative atmosphere.
Once students are comfortable with the machines, the second and third phases allow them to explore techniques that fascinate them. Consulting with Joyner and Johnson, they have a month to create a steel armature, or “a structural skeleton or a framework used to support a full form, not always, but often made of additional materials.” Joyner asks students to discover how “meanings are articulated through form and material.”
To help inform their projects, she brings the class on a mandatory field trip. Last semester, students visited Calder Gardens and sculptor Michelle Lopez’s Pandemonium at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. The class wrote informal reviews of their experiences, detailing where the exhibits captivated or lost their interest. Inspired by the exercise, several students implemented aspects of Calder’s works into their armatures and final sculptures.
Joyner couples the last assignment with a pizza party and art show. Students “propose and carry out a feasible final project in metal… This phase of the course asks you to further develop techniques learned in class and apply them to a concept of your own making.” Joyner lets students use class time freely, offering help by request. The final critique celebrates each student’s portfolio of work, emphasizing their growth. In Metal II, students learn how to weld, but, more importantly, how to effectively collaborate.
