Dean Snyder
Dean Snyder was born in Philadelphia and received a BFA in photography and sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1974. In 1975 he received a British Arts Council Fellowship to do postgraduate work in sculpture at Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, UK. He completed his MFA in sculpture in 1978 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Snyder has received artist fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the Berkshire Taconic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts, the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, the Vermont State Council for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council.
His work has been exhibited nationally in both group and solo shows, notably at the Tang Museum, the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the DeCordova Museum. Internationally Snyder’s work has been presented at the Beijing Olympic Park for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Sculpture by the Sea: Sydney Australia, Berlin Fashion Week, and the Instituto Cultural Peruano, Lima.
Snyder’s work has been collected privately and may also be found in the public collections of Fidelity Investments, the Tang Museum, the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, Albany International Airport, the City of Beijing and Freedom Park Ordos City, Mongolia.
Academic areas of interest
Snyder’s sculpture has been characterized as uncanny “graphical” organicism experienced through seamless assemblies of highly considered forming, molding and lamination. Drawing plays a large role in Snyder’s studio and for many years he has been workshopping a sort ofbioconvergence of his graphic images into objects and sculpture.
Courses
Fall 2023 Courses
SCULP 4745-02
SOPHOMORE SCULPTURE: STUDIO I
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This beginning sculpture studio encounter is organized to train students to workshop their ideas and concepts with the basic materials and processes of the sculpture studio. In this department we teach visual vocabulary on the basic principle of, Thinking while making and making while thinking. The assignments in the Fall Sophomore studio parallels the exercises in technical skills taught in Wood and Metal Shop Practice I. Students will begin working in sculpture specific metal fabrication methods. Students may expect to gain proficiency in gas, TIG and MIG welding techniques, along with hot and cold forming methods. The second half of the fall semester is focused on sculpture specific wood fabrication methods. Students will acquire skills in methods of cutting and joining alongside methods of forming and lamination.
Estimated Cost of Materials: Students are required to purchase a substantial selection of tools.
Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Sculpture Students.
Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture
SCULP 2143-01
MOLD MAKING METHODS FOR SCULPTURE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This intermediate level mold-making workshop is tailored for sculpture students wishing to learn the advanced skills and processes necessary to achieve reliably repeatable results when confronted with complex problems in mold-making. The course will deliver material and procedural literacy beginning with a limited range of mold making products in the Platinum Silicone, Gypsum Cement families. This skillset will provide the necessary confidence to expand into the broader range of flexible and rigid mold making products to suit their needs going forward. Students will learn key methods to achieve successful multi part flexible molds, with a specific emphasis on silicone rubber products. Direct modeling materials such as Castilene and Magic Sculpt will be demonstrated as companion products for making rigid semi-permanent mold ready objects.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00
Please contact the instructor for permission to register; registration is not available in Workday. Preference is given to Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.
Elective
Spring 2024 Courses
SCULP 2172-01
OPERATIONAL DRAWING
SECTION DESCRIPTION
What is Operational Drawing? This considers the question by making works that address how we image the body in time and space with tools and media. Akin to dance, drawing just might be the next human activity that engages a spontaneous simultaneous interplay of thought, action and acting upon. In this studio we will be working together and individually to explore how drawing relates to your studio practice. Drawing has often been mistakenly viewed as a preparatory or even secondary element within traditional studio practices such as painting, sculpture and printmaking. Today, in an expanded field, those outmoded viewpoints only stand to unfairly discriminate and rank modes of realizing concept and form. It is also true that this archaic view of drawing has origins in the humble materials often associated within the practice, such as charcoal, graphite, chalk, and carbon black (ink). These geological elements on top of skin like substrates were once the defining features of the activity, but in a contemporary studio practice it is the artist's prerogative to either work with or challenge historical presets. The role of drawing in a contemporary studio practice may play multiple roles. Together we will look at, practice and explore that very thing through installations, group projects and large scale immersive work. Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $100.00
Elective
SCULP 4798-01
SENIOR SCULP DEGREE PROJECT
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Students are expected to continue the independent work developed in the fall senior studio. Over the course of the degree project semester students will present their work in the context of Duet shows. These "Duets" will be accompanied by a short video-taped interview between the partners based upon vetted questions germane to each others work. Seniors are expected to produce a significant group of work commensurate with the departments senior degree level criteria.
Prerequisite: Senior Sculpture Students must be in Good Academic Standing.
Majors are pre-registered by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sculpture Students.
Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture