SMFA Boston - Metals

The Metals area focuses on the direct study of sculptural processes and all that occurs in the visual language of three-dimensional art. Courses offer an in-depth study of the technical and aesthetic development of metals. You’ll develop professional skills through hands-on work, technical demonstrations, and critiques and exploration of traditional and contemporary metals. Weekly events include critiques, demonstrations, field trips, and presentations by artists.

The Metal shop offers individual bench facilities, a forging and metalsmithing area, new gravity and centrifugal casting equipment, a lapidary, a polishing room, and enameling facilities.

Previous Course Offerings
Below are previous course offerings for the Metals area. Students must visit mySMFA to see current offerings and register.

Students in the undergraduate, graduate, Studio, and Post-Baccalaureate certificate programs may also take Continuing Education courses for credit.

Ring Connections / MTL 1012

Learn how to make rings. This course will examine the context and meaning of rings, including form, shape, and movement. We will begin by cutting, sawing, filing, and cleaning the metal, and will explore the art of soldering. Once you are competent with various processes of soldering, you will be on your way to becoming a metal smith. Several exercises will help you reach your goals. Join us and learn to make body ornaments or objects; have fun, we are all beginners.

Wax Fabrication and Metal Casting / MTL 2026

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to investigate the creative potential and possibilities of wax prototype fabrication and explore traditional to experimental techniques of metal casting. This class will concentrate on small-scale sculpture and jewelry applications of wax working and casting processes. This class will cover: elementary to advanced skills of wax working including sheet fabrication, forming, latheing, milling, stone setting, alginate molds, shaping, joining, mechanisms, carving, extrusion, spruing, and lamp work. Several different types of metal casting will be taught in conjunction with creating original patterns including wax, plastic and natural objects. Casting methods will include investment mold, vacuum, and centrifugal casting as well as "low-tech" methods such as tuffa stone, cuttlefish and cope & drag sand casting. Information will be provided to prepare participants to outfit their own casting facility within their means and needs. Visiting Artists and tips on commercially available services will also be provided. Three missed classes will cancel your enrollment from this class.

Intermediate/Advanced Metals Books - Boxes- Lockets / MTL 2030

This course offers exciting opportunities to create individualized books, boxes, and lockets. Each topic will reference personal concepts of the written word, interior spaces, self-portraiture, and personal metaphors. This knowledge will open a world of themes and symbols in their conceptual explorations. You will learn a range of technologies through demonstrations: hinge making, box forming, clasps, decorative cold connections, and surface embellishments. There will be group discussion and critiques of all work in progress. Regular attendance is required. Prerequisite: MTL 1007.

Metalforming: Non- Ferrous Metal Structure and 3D Form / MTL 2032

As we focus on making larger-scale nonferrous metal objects, structure and form will be investigated. Every shape we find has structure underneath-organic or mechanical. Through structures and construction it stands; pressure supports the form. Wire, sheet metal, mesh, and tubes are recommended materials for fabrication and construction. We will cover various connection methods and raising processes to create personalized and functional and/or decorative objects. Rhinoceros 3-D software will be used as a starting point. Designing a support process and making a model are important aspects of the process prior to execution.

3D Glass With Metals / MTL 2034

This course is dedicated to help you learn about metal's and glass's material sensibilities, physical properties, and coefficient factors. Students will gain a greater awareness of sculptural and architectural developments within their work and will be encouraged to pursue individual projects within their personal creative frame of reference. The course will be guided by critiques, directed study, and technical demonstrations such as, but not limited to, riveting, soldering, scoring, tap and die, surface treatments, patinas and kiln-formed glass painting and fusing. Regular attendance is required. A syllabus will guide this course. Prerequisites: Beginning Metals and Beginning Glass or consent of instructor.

Intermediate Jewlery and Small Obejcts / MTL 2036

Non-ferrous metal can be soldered, stretched, embossed, melted, formed, and bent to hold things. It is an exciting material that can be used in creative ways to make small three-dimensional objects and jewelry. This course will use metal to make table top rings, domed bracelets, hinged objects, multiple castings from tuffa stone, and set a faceted stone in a bezel setting. There will be demonstrations on other processes such as weaving chains, anodizing reactive metals, milled textures, and toggles. Exercises and projects will encourage students to design and create unique pieces in metal using their new knowledge. Basic skills in jewelry are required.

Contemporary Chatelaine / MTL 2037

Chatelaine is a decorative clasp or chain worn at the waist for holding keys, a purse, a watch, scissors, medicine, or pens and pencils. Ancient Chinese dynasties had a code for the wearing of waist hangings as a status symbol, and 17th- to early 20th-century household women wore chatelaines according to their roles and professions. Today, we pack everything into pocketbooks or backpacks, and stash away numerous items together. In this course, you will use metals, fabric, or leather, and sew, weave, or fabricate chatelaines to organize and store essential items in the style of our ancestors. Innovative, useful, decorative, and contemporary, chatelaine is a great treasure for you.

Body Ornament and Adornment / MTL 3017

What is "body"? Do we see a body as a sculpture? Underneath the skin we embody the most magnificent structure and mechanisms, amazingly strong yet vulnerable. Do we decorate our body with jewelry for fashion? Shall we celebrate the body as a shrine of our soul? We will investigate the history of jewelry from different cultural contexts: Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and American Indian. We encourage you to search for your own voice and elaborate a conceptual idea.

Hollow Construction Techniques in Jewelry Making / MTL 4004

Hollow construction in jewelry making is a method for creating three-dimensional forms without the excess weight typically associated with solid forms. Hollow-constructed jewelry is not solid, cast, or forged; it is shaped by sawing, filing, bending, folding, soldering, and sanding. We will explore a variety of techniques for hollow construction, including the use of paper models to solve design problems prior to the actual execution of the object. We will view slides of jewelry artists who have successfully created hollow constructions in their designs.

Jewelry Moves: Simple Mechanism Open to All / MTL 4040

Most conventional jewelry is frozen on the body of the wearer: finger, chest, and neck. We will make jewelry that moves as a body moves. Linking methods such as the universal joint, hinges, and cold connections will enable you to make kinetic jewelry and objects. We will examine samples of artists' work. We will view and discuss artists who are using kinetics and mechanics, including Shingu, Ihara, Tinguely, Calder, and Ganson.

All About Metals I / MTL 4065

This is a year-long course that will provide you with ample information about working processes on nonferrous metals (copper, brass, bronze, silver).

Session I: Basics: Hands-on Program :

Students will be introduced to basic technical information by demonstrations in the morning class. We will learn soldering, various surface embellishments (roll impression, stamping, inlay, etching), dapping/blocking bezel stone setting, forming, linking methods, hand/machine finishing and patination. This information will enable you to create body ornament, object, or small sculpture in the context of contemporary, historical, and cultural investigations. If you have your own project, use this class for your head start. Consultation available for technical problem solving on given projects.

We will have slide shows, group discussions, field trip and critiques on works-in-progress. The goal and objectives of this course are for you to become familiar with and understand the characteristics of the metals.

Toys, Gadgets, Gears and Whirligigs / MTL 4080

This course will be fun and very productive. Tinkering with wire will allow you to create work quickly with simple tools. Experiment by taking apart toys to see how they work or invent you own. Be inspired by natural and industrial mechanisms. Create 3-D wire shapes, figures or armatures for form and structure. Build components and apparatus for wheels, gears and joints to work smoothly. The processes are simple the concept and kinetic action should be intricate. Students will participate in class critiques, video/slide presentations and museum visits. Three missed classes will cancel your enrollment from this class.

/ MTL 4089

Metals Independent Study / MTL 4098

Students may opt to register for an independent studio period which represents work done outside of class during the academic year. Independent Studio periods should be linked to a course for which you are registered. Students may enroll in up to one block of independent studio per term, and must be registered as a full time studio student. A faculty signature is not required in order to register for the course. If you take more than one independent studio, it must be linked directly to a course and a signature is then required.

Wax Fabrication and Metal Casting / MTL 4127

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to investigate the creative potential and possibilities of wax prototype fabrication and explore traditional to experimental techniques of metal casting. This class will concentrate on small-scale sculpture and jewelry applications of wax working and casting processes. We will cover elementary to advanced skills of wax working including sheet fabrication, forming, lathing, milling, stone setting, shaping, joining, mechanisms, carving, spruing, and lamp work. Several different types of metal casting will be taught in conjunction with creating original patterns and objects. Casting methods include investment mold and centrifugal casting as well as "low-tech" methods such as tufa stone, cuttlefish, and cope and drag sand casting. We will provide information to prepare you to outfit your own casting facility within your means and needs.