IMAGINING METAL

Understanding the quality of the materials that are specified in a design are as important as the design itself.  After all, materials are the essence of  color, texture, and overall appearance of every project.

Students of the FASCU 625, a collaborative graduate student course between Fine Art Sculpture and Landscape Architecture, have been working feverishly to design and implement a project for the Sheet Metal Worker’s Union building on Market Street in San Francisco. As part of this effort, students have been asked to work in the medium that is at the core of this union’s trade, Sheet Metal. In order to understand the various forms, finishes, opportunities, and limitations of this material, students visited Therma Corp, a sheet metal fabrication shop in San Jose on Friday, October 25th, 2013.

Greeted by a mirror finished stainless steel motorized angel sculpture that flapped it’s wings, a full sized steel David replica, and a laser cutter that cut steel at 1000 inches per minute, were just the beginning of what proved to be a mind boggling experience that showed students the possibilities of working with sheet metal!

Check out some of the images from their field trip.