ARTS 2810

Conrad is an absolutely splendid professor. They are incredibly knowledgeable about a great many things (not exclusively relating to sculpture), and are always very insightful. If you're a book person, they'll always have a recommendation; if you're an art history person, they can always tell you about some artists you could benefit from knowing about; if you're a process person, they can always show you a variety of ways to do things and give you some pointers to begin your own specific learning about making. In the class, though it is assignment-based, Conrad goes out of their way to work with students to help them make the art that they want to make. The media is variable (though, occasionally limited with the intent to introduce people to numerous materials, especially in intro, which is very valuable. Even if you think you want to do a lot of one kind of sculpture, something I learned in this class is that having to work with other materials can benefit how you work with every kind of material, and broadens the kind of work you can make), the sculpture itself is variable, the timeline is (within reason) variable. At the end of the day, Conrad wants to see their students learn and succeed in their artistic endeavors, whatever those may be. To that end, they are able to help people with all manner of materials (wood, clay, fabric, metal, etc.), concepts, scales, and otherwise. Their teaching is very enjoyable, the readings are wonderful and broad-ranging, their critiques are helpful, and they grade fairly (full disclosure: I got an A in the class). This is not to say they give everyone an A for just showing up, but if you care and put in the work you will do fine, the class will be absolutely wonderful, and you will learn a great deal. I am not hyperbolizing when I say that Conrad changed my life and how I view the world.