The Interdisciplinary Sculpture (IS) department soundly supports a breadth of technological integration in the department with equal emphasis on the traditional, the digital and the emerging.

Our department is equipped with a ceramic shell foundry for aluminum and bronze casting and a metal shop that includes five MIG welders, two TIG welders, two Stick welders, and six Oxy-Aceletyne rigs. The shop also contains a wide variety of stationary tools including a slip roll, English wheel, plate sheer, horizontal and vertical band saws, two drill presses, a milling machine, stationary sanders and grinders, a bead blaster, and two plasma cutters including a CNC plasma cutter with a 4x 6’ capacity.

The mold-making room is equipped to handle all aspects of mold-making and casting including plaster, concrete, resins and rubbers. It also contains a vacuum form and 3D printer.  The studio classroom is equipped with a variety of stationary wood-working tools including a saw stop table saw, band saw, scroll saw, panel saw, compound miter saw, sliding compound miter saw, drill press and stationary sander.  A large tool room adjacent to all three facilities provides a wide selection of portable electric and hand tools and relevant PPE equipment.

Students additionally have access to two fully equipped woodshops on campus, while the IS department houses a 16-station computer lab with state of the art iMacs for video, sound and image editing. Software includes, Rhino, Adobe Premiere and Mad Mapper. Students also have access to departmental AV equipment including cameras, projectors and audio equipment. The department offers five classes per year in digital fabrication that are supported by an extensive digital fabrication lab that includes a variety of 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC routers. Instruction in the lab is complemented by a 16 station PC lab and a classroom with tools for simple electronics and interactive media.

All the above studios provide a healthy range of hours for access. In addition to full-time studio managers, facilities are staffed by student technicians providing an additional 30-45 hours per week of homework time. Lastly, in the last three years, the department has been developing a curriculum in bio fabrication and a lab to support this. The Biomaterials lab has equipment for conducting basic work in synthetic molecular biology and tools for producing biomaterials at a macro scale that is useful for artists and designers. This includes: incubator, shaking incubator, centrifuge, micro centrifuge, small autoclave, micropipettes, magnetic stirrer, hotplates, microscope, glassware, small sonicator, bio printer, vacuum pump, air compressor, and hot water circulator.

Student working in the Metal Shop in Mount Royal Station.
Student working in the Metal Shop in Mount Royal Station.

Metal shop in Mount Royal Station

Credit

Justin Tsucalas

Dfab (digital fabrication) lab in the Station building

Credit

Justin Tsucalas

Laser cutting machines in the Station building

Credit

Justin Tsucalas

Wood shop in the Fox building

Credit

Justin Tsucalas

1 of 4