During Art Basel week, Florida International University and The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum sponsored the 2013 International Sculpture Symposium.
The first National Sculpture Conference was held in 1960 by sculptor and educator Elden Tefft at the University of Kansas. From this conference sprang the International Sculpture Center (ISC) as a nonprofit organization that celebrates the medium of sculpture. The aim of the International Sculpture Center is to bring together enthusiasts of the medium, as well as educate on sculpture. Its recent 2013 International Sculpture Symposium included participants from as far as Italy, Germany, Nigeria and Estonia. It was a gathering of artists, curators, collectors, and devotees.
The 2013 International Sculpture Symposium in Miami, Florida ran from December 1-4, 2013. In addition to a keynote that occurred at Florida International University, an Iron Pour took place outside of FIU’s W-01 (sculpture studio) building, with the help of College of Architecture + The Arts students and alumni, on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013. At the Iron Pour, Symposium attendees and FIU students, faculty, and alumni dressed in protective suits and used the furnaces. Art students were even able to have one of their works cast that day.
R.F. Buckley, Professor of Sculpture who participated in the Iron Pour with his students, is proud to be a part of an institution that hosted such an important symposium. “Hosting the [International Sculpture Symposium] at FIU was an enjoyable, enriching, and informative experience,” he said. “Meeting and socializing with these sculptors along with the casting crews from Alfred University and the University of Northern Florida [not only] was enjoyable for the students, but [also created] lasting bonds…that are the common, shared experience between creative individuals.”
For more information on the 2013 International Sculpture Symposium and its schedule, click here.
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