Inside the fine arts studios, fabric scraps resembling human intestines are draped across wooden ceiling beams.
The whirring of a 3D printer and the looping distortion of a fuzzy guitar amplifier fill the nearby hallway.
At the same time, a toy train circles endlessly on a track in one of the exhibition galleries.
Through the exploration of unconventional mediums and techniques, students in Long Beach State’s sculpture program have pushed artistic boundaries to deliver thought-provoking pieces.
The sculpture program’s tight-knit community of students and professors has cultivated a supportive space for creation, but the program has felt the heightened pressure of rising supply costs and limited student assistant hours.
Program head Katie Grinnan grew up as an artist in Virginia where the small art scene encouraged her to create more conceptual work.
She weaved elements of science, art and architecture in her pieces as a young artist, gradually evolving them into the third dimension.
“I thought art could be this umbrella of all of these different disciplines, even when I was little,” Grinnan said. “It just seemed like this thing that held all these possibilities.”
By the time she began her master’s degree in fine arts at UCLA, Grinnan’s work was an interdisciplinary mesh of visual, kinesthetic and cognitive experiences.
“These three things sort of work together, but then at the same time, there’s sort of these disjunctive moments,” Grinnan said.
Originally an adjunct professor, Grinnan was hired full-time at Long Beach State in 2015, eventually alternating the program head position with art professor Bryan Crockett.
Housed inside the Fine Arts 3 building is a playground for innovation, including a 3D digital printing lab, a woodshop, a metal fabrication and foundry section and mold-making facilities.
Students are encouraged to experiment with these different mediums to defy the conventions of traditional sculpture.
For fine arts major Farzad Faraneh, his passion for the three-dimensional style led him to create work with innovative techniques and charged social commentary.
Faraneh found that the sculpture program’s close group of faculty and students encouraged him along his artistic journey.
“There’s a sense of camaraderie within the department where everyone is supportive of each other’s artistic endeavors and eager to learn from one another,” Faraneh said.
After facing criticism in fall 2022 for inadequate building conditions, the sculpture program continues to grapple with a variety of challenges.
With inflation rates reaching staggering heights post-pandemic, including a 40-year record high of 9.1% in June of 2022, the cost of classroom materials has been a key drawback.
“The problems with the facilities go beyond just air conditioning; it goes into our shop tools and being able to keep those up,” Grinnan said. “If a tool breaks, sometimes we don’t have the money to fix it and that gets really difficult.”
The rising price of sculpture materials like metal and wood has limited how much the program can provide for students, according to Grinnan.
The program has been resourceful to continue providing for its students, even taking in the university library’s COVID-era plexiglass dividers for their laser cutter.
Fine arts major Kai Gonzales has felt the impact of having fewer resources for his work but said that he and other students have managed well up to this point.
“If I don’t have enough of a certain fabric, I’ll just reuse something that I’ve done before … or usually, one of us (students) will be able to help out if we can,” Gonzales said.
Beyond the rising cost of supplies, Gonzales said that he and other instructional student assistants in the program have had their hours cut significantly within the past few years.
“Every semester, they cut our hours again, even though our program needs it the most,” Gonzales said. “We used to have hours during class times and there would be techs or student assistants that could help if a professor was busy with something. Now the professor has to just be everywhere.”
Despite the overwhelming challenges the program faces, it has still proven to be a creative haven for students and faculty alike.
Reflecting on his final semester at the Beach, Faraneh said the sculpture program has been a transformative experience that has allowed him to grow as an artist and a person.
“I love this place. For me, the signature of the art department is community,” Faraneh said. “I’m learning intellectually and hands-on making art and sculpture… and we have a very good faculty here that is supportive and kind.”
The sculpture program has successfully led students to distinguished master’s programs, including Yale University, CalArts and colleges within the University of California system.
Matthew Taylor Williams, who graduated from the fine arts program in 2012 and now teaches at San Diego State, enjoyed his experience and said it pushed him to think of art more from a more interdisciplinary lens.
“I really resonated with the faculty members there and their approach to art,” Williams said. “You could always see what other people were working on and ask for advice.”
Grinnan said she is proud of the community she helped foster at Long Beach State and is optimistic about their future, no matter the challenges they face.
“I love the students here and I am really passionate about what we do,” Grinnan said. “Being a program head, you just fight for them and you make things happen.”