Course description of the Foundry: Hybrid Objects class I am taking in the spring:

Contemporary culture reflects a confluence of identities, histories, and disciplines as global integration motivates the synthesis of ideas and experience. Hybrid images and objects can be an effective strategy for exploring and expressing complexity. Students explore historical and contemporary examples of this strategy - from hybrid characters in early mythologies and the disjunctive juxtapositions of surrealism to the pluralism of postmodern expression. The convergence of racial, gender, and social identities, the manipulation of life forms via bio-engineering, and the assimilation of body and machines (cyborgs, prosthetics) are topics students may choose to explore. The casting process readily lends itself to the creation of composite imagery and materials. Students can combine and manipulate modeled and `found' forms utilizing a range of molding and casting techniques. Computer scanning, data manipulation and rapid-prototyping technologies are introduced in conjunction with basic metal casting skills. Students are encouraged to pursue individual or collaborative research projects. [[So Excited!!!]]