Sculpture was the last launched major discipline in the fine art area of Hong Kong Art School. In Hong Kong, where land is always as precious as gold, we tend to be more cautious towards disciplines that highly require space. In 2008, we moved our Sculpture Studio to the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) and expanded its scale by covering four studio units, around 3,300 square feet at JCCAC; at the same time, we launched the Sculpture major of the Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) programme for the first time. There were rooms for metalworking, woodworking and moulding. Most of the students in the first cohort were graduates from our School’s diploma programme and individuals from the related fields, all of them had long aspired to the discipline. In 2013, we further moved our Sculpture Studio to the Pao Haung Sue Ing (PHSI) campus in Shau Kei Wan, where we had two new outdoor experimental areas. Students often make works that challenge the gravity and the sun. There are ferry berth and old Hong Kong style community nearby; students make use of these resources to make environmental-friendly works and community research projects. Our courses are also designed to keep up with the time: Metalwork can be for creative jewellery design; and sound elements are added into the teaching of traditional copper casting, while students are encouraged to do medium research with personal features. From cement and steel to needlework, from handcraft to ready-made objects, from touchable objects to invisible sounds and even digital videos; the teachers have always been offering students learning advices.

The teachers themselves are active practitioners in the field of sculpture or multimedia. When they join the School, they understand well about the core value of the discipline: The curriculum is flexible and diversified, compatible with students’ personalities; it is designed to encourage the connection between students and the community, and creativity as well as self-reflection are also indispensable.

We learn the traditions and vitalise them, but we are not conventional. We start teaching woodwork from using manual tools; copper casting lessons begin with basic concepts. When the lessons come towards the end, we challenge the students with questions: Sculpture and art are not simply decorations or functional objects, what else are they? Who are the audiences? Who do they serve? When contemporary sculpture has become a challenge to sculpture or art itself, what exactly is sculpture? How do we define the boundary?

Sculpture, not only something built by hands, but is also a language to communicate with the ‘others’, a concept, a way of thinking, a process, a life journey.

雕塑，是香港藝術學院最遲開辦的科目。時也命也。在惜土如金的香港，大家都害怕這種需要空間的課目帶來的麻煩。二零零八年，我們在「賽馬會創意藝術中心」打通了四個單位，佔地約三千三百多尺，開始了第一屆的雕塑學士班。內有金工，木工、製模室。第一屆學生大多數是渴望此科已久的雕塑文憑畢業生和相關業界人士。二零一三年，搬到筲箕灣包黃秀英校舍，多了兩個室外實驗場，學生經常做些挑戰地心吸力和陽光的作品。街船碼頭和貼地的舊香港社區都在附近，學生們利用這些社區資源做環保創作，社區研究。我們的課程也設計得更貼近時代了：金工可以是創意首飾，傳統鑄銅教學內增加聲音元素，學生的畢業年被鼓勵製作具個人特色的媒介研究。從水泥、鋼筋到針線織物，從手工製作到重置現成物，從可觸碰到的物件到無形的聲音以至錄像數碼網絡，老師都會從旁協助。

雕塑科的老師們本身都是塑雕行內／多媒體界內的活躍份子。他／她們加入時，已清楚地知道本校的雕塑核心： 課程安排具彈性及多元化，兼容學生的個性，鼓勵學生與社區、社會接軌，當然作品的手工創意和自省能力，缺一不可。

我們學習傳統，活化工藝，但不守舊。木工由全手動工具教起，金工由小錫焊教到大電焊，鑄銅在課室由概念做起，研製形狀，製造臘模，在本地鑄銅工場學習沙模，接駁澆道，澆銅實習，上色等等。但每個傳統課程的後部份，我們都會挑戰學生們，除了這些，還有甚麼？雕塑、藝術，不只是裝飾，也不止於功能，觀眾是誰？為誰服務？當代雕塑本身就是對「雕塑」或「藝術」的挑戰，甚麼是雕塑？甚麼不是？灰色地帶和邊界在哪里⋯⋯

雕塑，不只是靠一雙手來建立的，那是和「其他」溝通的語言，是一個概念，一個思考方式，一個過程，一段人生。