Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

All studio classes have recently petitioned to opt out of prerequisite requirements.

1. Make molds and glass casts.
2. Implement creative problem solving in glass casting.
3. Ask meaningful questions, identify ideas and issues, and develop a basic vocabulary so as to be able to actively participate in a critical dialogue about mold making and glass craft with others.
4. Identify ideas and issues and participate in critical dialogue in glass casting.
5. Experience and appreciate sculptural works from different cultures as they apply to glass casting, initiating an awareness of the diversity of perspectives on the human experience.
6. Develop, through the experience of making and studying glass casting, a heightened awareness of the physical world and of the ecological impact of art materials on the environment.

Students will be assessed on the following: • Create molds in a range of complexity while demonstrating an understanding of the underlying logic in common with all mold design. • Work together demonstrating teamwork and concern for each other while being mindful of shared

Competencies and Skills The successful student should be able to do the following: • Find resources for materials and tools used in glass casting. • Conduct research to develop ideas, perspectives, and influences from a variety of sources. • Employ a variety of strategies to solve problems encountered in the process of realizing an idea for a glass form. Students will be able to make models, sketches, maquettes, material tests, etc. • Use a variety of conceptual strategies to make molds and create glass castings. • Use the proper safety/health equipment and procedures in working in the studio. • Make interesting, challenging, appropriately crafted work. • Understand and apply basic vocabulary necessary to discuss the formal, conceptual, and technical aspects of these processes. • Analyze and enjoy the formal and perceptual concerns of glass. • Communicate with others on a variety of levels (i.e. formal, conceptual etc.) on the subject of glass. • Assess the ways in which art objects are affected by personal perspectives and experiences. • Make historical and cultural connections in determining meaning and understanding of art.These will be evaluated and assessed by work produced, critiques and individual and group review.

Concepts • Create visual ideas through experiencing and playing with materials, imagining, dreaming, visualizing, symbolizing, writing, reading, researching, studying historical and cultural examples, drawing, collaborating, scrutinizing, discussing) • Develop these ideas in glass through sketches, plans, maquettes, test pieces, models and finally casting glass objects • The relationship between Perception and Art • The relationship between Form and Content • Methodologies for interpreting art Historical and Cultural Contexts • Concepts, theories, and issues addressed by various cultures and historical periods. • Concepts, theories, and issues addressed by contemporary glass makers from different cultures. • Relationships between form and content in works of art from different cultures and historical periods. • The roles of art and artists in different cultures • Intercultural and "interhistorical" influences (e.g. the influence of historically important glass centers abroad on contemporary American glass art today.) Ceramic Forms and Perceptual Impact • Visual/physical elements used to create glass form: point, line, plane, shape, form, marks, texture, shadow, light, value, color, space, weight, volume, mass, text, etc. • Relationships of characteristics within visual/physical elements (e.g. proportion, length, thickness, position, orientation, scale, weight, interrelationship of shapes, relative value and color, movement and stillness, quality of texture, etc.) • Strategies for manipulating visual/physical elements as a means of formal composition and expression (e.g. arrange, juxtapose, relate, contrast, group, balance, unify, repeat, edit, elaborate, classify, divide, increase, decrease, maximize, minimize, dissect, separate, align, vary, diversify, alternate, reduce, connect, etc.) • The relationship between material and form and their visual/ physical impact (i.e. a hollow clear form imparts light and breath and movement as the viewers eyes move across the surface where as heavily saturated glass regardless of its form suggests imperviosity and stasis. Heavy texture on glass bounces the light around while a smooth surface draws the light into the form.) Materials and Techniques • Comprehensive understanding of plaster and its application to process. • Comprehensive understanding of the components and characteristics of investment materials. • Safety and hygiene in the studio. • Firing schedules, understanding ramps and soaks and the operations of the kilns and controllers. • Working comfortably both with clay and wax forming techniques. • Making flexible molds, mother molds in preparations for lost wax casting. Critical Analysis o Vocabulary relevant to ideas, materials, and techniques pertaining to glass casting and mold making. o Application, interpretation, and redefinition of glass casting ideas, connection of historical and cultural contexts, personal expression and creative freedom.