Program Overview

Sculpture and Expanded Forms Option - Studio Arts BFA

Overview

RIT’s dynamic BFA in sculpture and expanded forms degree explores three-dimensional art-making, ranging from traditional materials and techniques to new technologies.

Why Study Sculpture and Expanded Forms at RIT

• Creative Expression: Push the boundaries of creativity with this flexible degree.
• College Preparation Workshops: High school juniors and seniors can participate in the two-week School of Art's annual Pre-College Portfolio Preparation Workshop.
• Exhibit your Work: During senior year, your final work will be featured in a gallery.

What is Sculpture?

Sculpture is an art form that can include more than just art objects – often incorporating sound, moving image, installations, site, time, and smell beyond the pedestal.

RIT’s Sculpture Degree

In our sculpture degree, you will build your creative practice through traditional materials and techniques paired with new technologies and contemporary approaches. Learn to use space to create sculptural objects, installations, performances, and more by studying materials, processes, and techniques including:

• Stonecarving
• Woodworking
• Foundry and metal casting
• Welding and metal fabrication
• Modeling and mold-making
• Digital fabrication in our Fab Lab
• Installation, performance, and sound/video

Through these tools, you will develop critical thinking skills and creative growth in work spanning from large-scale public sculpture to social practice while embracing your individual creative path. The sculpture and expanded forms option is part of the Studio Arts BFA program.

Careers and Experiential Learning

Cooperative Education and Internships

What’s different about an RIT education? It’s the career experience you gain by completing cooperative education and internships with top companies in every single industry. You’ll earn more than a degree. You’ll gain real-world career experience that sets you apart. It’s exposure–early and often–to a variety of professional work environments, career paths, and industries.

Cooperative education, internships, and other experiential learning opportunities are optional but strongly encouraged for students in the BFA in studio arts.

Creative Industry Days

Connect with Design Industry Leaders

RIT’s Office of Career Services and Cooperative Education hosts Creative Industry Days, which connects students majoring in art, design, film and animation, photography, and select computing majors with companies, organizations, creative agencies, design firms, and more. Creative Industry Days are a series of events that allow you to network with company representatives and interview directly for open co-op and full-time employment positions.

Featured Work and Profiles

• Intro to Sculpture Course Christina Leung Get an inside look at the welding assignment in faculty Christina Leung's Intro to Sculpture course. Majors from across RIT's College of Art and Design welded metal sculptures that were publicly...
• 'Sp(arrows)' Exhibition Taylor Kennedy, Annalisa Barron "Sp(arrows)" is a two-person exhibition at RIT City Art Space featuring Annalisa Barron and Taylor Kennedy '15 (fine arts studio), whose combined work explores the cathartic relationship of...
• School of Art Reel No matter your medium, a world of possibility awaits in RIT's School of Art.
• Exploring Buffalo's Arts Scene Denton Crawford Each semester, Senior Lecturer Denton Crawford leads his Expanded Forms class on a networking trip to nearby Buffalo, N.Y., to experience the area’s art scene.
• Projects From Painting Courses Emily Glass These paintings were completed in spring 2021 by students in programs across RIT’s School of Art — Fine Arts Studio (now part of Studio Arts), Illustration and Medical Illustration. The work was...
• Senior Art Exhibition Nine RIT School of Art seniors studying Expanded Forms, Metals and Jewelry Design, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture presented individual capstone projects in a group senior art exhibition at RIT...

Admissions and Financial Aid

This option is part of the Studio Arts BFA. Please visit the degree program page for admission requirements.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

100% of all incoming first-year and transfer students receive aid.

RIT’s personalized and comprehensive financial aid program includes scholarships, grants, loans, and campus employment programs. When all these are put to work, your actual cost may be much lower than the published estimated cost of attendance.

Faculty

• Elizabeth Kronfield School Director
• Christina Leung Visiting Assistant Professor

Facilities

• Sculpture Studios
• RIT City Art Space
• Bevier Gallery

Related News

• May 2, 2025 RIT casts a bright light at national iron arts conference Between a moving performance, building an award-winning iron-melting device, and featured exhibitions, RIT students, faculty, staff and alumni were present in every corner of the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices.
• October 10, 2024 Venice Art Biennial showcases RIT's extensive creative community Six faculty are featured in an exhibition in Venice that showcases the College of Art and Design's breadth of creative disciplines through the unification of sculpture, film, photography, and industrial design.