This Department, one of the most time-honored Departments of the Academy, has seen countless hardships in the last 58 years since the founding of the Academy in November, 1953. It has trained a galaxy of internationally famed sculptors and made great contribution to the development of sculpture in China . It is one of the most important departments of sculpture education in this country.
Since the founding of the department, both the teachers and students have always been scrupulous in scholarship. The leaders have encouraged innovation and managed to create a lively and dynamic academic atmosphere. Today the department boasts its distinctive features, competent teachers and fruitful results. It has become one of the only two Departments in China which are authorized to award the Master’s Degree. In the early years of reform and opening-up, Professor Pan He, a senior academic pacesetter and a winner of national lifetime achievement award for Plastic Arts, declared that the only way out for sculpture is to go outdoors and that the style of Chinese sculpture should be integrated with modern spirit. It is under his guidance that the Department took the lead to introduce sculpture to the development of the city. This endeavor exerted far-reaching influences across the country, made an indelible contribution to the improvement of Guangzhou’s environment and cultural progress, and thus brought about the boom of sculpture in South China. In the mid-1980s, Professor Liang Mingcheng the famed sculptor, introduced the teaching of painting materials and the creation of modern sculpture into class, and so established the leading position of the Department in the field of Sculpture in China . Later on, Deans Prof.Li Ming and Prof. Lin Guoyao brought innovation to the teaching, trained the staff members, and improved the teaching facilities so as to enhance its competitive edge.
At the start of the 21stcentury, the Department made a major adjustment of the courses. For instance, we again took up the five-year teaching system, which created a new pattern for the education of Sculpture. In the new system there are two academic emphases: Sculpture and Public Art. The department boasts of three studios: Figurative Sculpture Studio, Experimental Sculpture Studio, and Public Art Studio. With the teaching of sculpture materials and the instruction of History and Theory of Sculpture as the base, the Department laid equal stress on the students’ traditional realistic sculpture skills, the knowledge of contemporary art and thought, the application of sculpture materials, the embodiment of artistic ideas, and the cultivation of expression forms.
In recent years, thanks to the concerted effort of the staff, the department has steadily improved the quality of teaching and made fruitful academic results. The discipline has been listed as one of the country and the province’s special disciplines.Creation of Sculpturewas selected as one of the province’s model courses. The students have created a host of commendable sculpture works: among the 14 pieces entering for the national art exhibitions, one student won excellent prize and 1 won nomination prize; at Guangdong Art Exhibition Award, the students won 12 prizes, including 1 golden prize; in the national sculpture competitions, the students won 14 prizes, including 3 golden prizes and 5 silver prizes; in the national exhibitions of works by sculpture majors, the students won 14 prizes, including 6 academic prizes and 2 first prizes; the students won 6 items of Wang Jialian Scholarship and 34 items of Zhentai Scholarship.
To raise the level of teaching, the department has brought in a host of expert sculptors. It has a competent and dynamic team of older, middle-aged, and young teachers, who have high academic degrees and high overall qualities. Among the 20 full-time teachers, there are 3 PhD holders, 3 returned overseas Chinese teachers, and 3 PhD Candidates. In terms of professional title, there is 1 Professor, 10 Associate Professors, 7 Lecturers, 2 Teaching Assistants, and 1 temporaryAssociate Professor
Present Leaders:
Dean: Lin Guoyao
Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch and concurrently Vice Dean: Yang Xiaohua
Vice-Dean: Jiang Jiantao
