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California State University at Long Beach
Department of Art, 3-D Media / Metals

The Department of Art at CSULB offers a professional program in Metals leading to B.F.A., M.A., and M.F.A. degrees. The professionally involved and diverse Metals Department faculty is committed to the development of ability, individuality and design excellence. It is our mission to create a methods based program, which focuses on the exploration, development, and use of metals in the creation of both functional and non-functional art.

The undergraduate program provides a strong foundation in jewelry and metalsmithing and offers additional introductions to enameling, architectural scale metalwork and blacksmithing. Our diverse program gives our students great freedom to develop and explore individual interests and provides a context for work that can range in size from jewelry/wearable art to large architectural scale forms.

Through rigorous formal and informal reviews and critiques, graduate students are challenged to pursue their abiding aesthetic concerns and to develop a strong independent vision. Graduate students possess a diverse foundation of metalsmithing experience and drive to create, build and share. This diversity expresses the openness of the Metals program to personal pursuit, which is not limited by material or technique.

The newly renovated and expanded Metals facility can accommodate a wide range of metal working capacities: blacksmithing, metal, jewelry, and casting. The well-equipped facilities include a main studio with 24 workstations for jewelry fabrication, jewelry casting, hollowware and enameling. A large outdoor facility that accommodates eighteen students, for blacksmithing and sculptural metalwork. In addition, a well-equipped acid room for electroplating, electroforming and etching is available for student use. A separate graduate studio provides individual workstations for each student in our graduate program and select senior metals majors.

It is my goal to have students realize the plastic values of metal while developing a design aesthetic. Students are encouraged to engage in critical thinking, while stressing the need for sketching and modeling to promote pre-project dialog, open critiques and summative feedback. It is imperative for my students to recognize the connections between the medium of metal and other media. Therefore, students are advised to draw from the many disciplines and breadth within the Art Department. By doing so students receive support in global design concepts in other 3-D areas and can connect metals to fields such as wood, fiber, sculpture, and ceramics. In addition, it is vital for my students to leave the classroom with a elevated level of understanding and technical appreciation of the metals field at large outside of the realm of the academic setting; I provide networking resources, slide presentations, and relevant field trips to galleries, public art, and museums to bolster the scholarly experience.

The Metalsmithing & Jewelry program at CSULB has a long history of matriculating highly motivated and talented graduates who have become distinguished professional artists, craftspeople and renowned teachers throughout the globe.

3-D Media / Metals Courses Offered:

• Art 355 Enameling
• Art 357A Introduction to Metals/Jewelry
• Art 357B Intermediate Metals/Jewelry
• Art 356 Casting
• Art 358A Beginning Metalsmithing
• Art 358B Intermediate Metalsmithing
• Art 359B Sculptural Metal Working
• Art 359A Architectural Metal Working/ Blacksmithing
• Art 458 A/B Advanced Metalsmithing Jewelry
• Art 499J Special Studies
• Art 558 A/B Art 599J Graduate Studio