Sculpture is an ancient artistic discipline, highly subject to changing notions of beauty. Influenced by social and technological developments, the solid medium of sculpture is taking on increasingly fluid shapes.
The studio is at the heart of our programme. It is an artistic hive where students and teachers meet and become each other's sparring partners and sounding boards. The studio focuses on both the individual and the collective process.
By experimenting with material, composition and presentation, the student learns to shape content and ideas. Preliminary concepts grow into a mature artistic research path where the student can count on individual guidance from a team of professional artists. Students learn to research and explore ideas, face challenges and solve problems, gradually developing their own artistic practice. Lectures, master classes, workshops, exhibitions and extra- muros projects ensure connection with the professional field.
In the studio, a concept is allowed to flourish freely. The boundaries of traditional materials such as clay, plaster, steel, ceramics and stone are explored in observational assignments. Numerous assignments give the freedom to experiment with space and material. Although the classical approach to sculpture is the starting point of the programme, the outcome of an artistic process can be diverse and cross-disciplinary.
The visual presentation of sculptural results in relation to their surroundings is a fundamental part of the sculpture programme. By presenting and clarifying their own work to teachers and fellow students, students learn to speak clearly and thoughtfully about their own artistic practice and vision.
Personal artistic development is enhanced by a thorough pursuit of drawing skills, with students becoming proficient in figure drawing, anatomical drawing, investigative and design sketching. Besides documenting, archiving and substantiating their own work, students also explore the artistic oeuvre of other artists. Finally, they are nurtured in the development of their own artistic practice from a theoretical framework with both discipline-specific and general education subjects such as art theory, art history, research methodology.
Alumni of the master in Sculpture can convincingly shape an artistic challenge materially, visually and spatially after thorough exploration and are empowered for developing an independent artistic career and establishing artistic collaborations.