Jim Hirschfield

Professor
Sculpture, Public Art
jhirschf@email.unc.edu

Jim Hirschfield has been a professor of art at UNC for 30 years. His early artistic expression entailed an exploration of ethereal and sacred environments. However, in the early 1990’s, he began shifting his focus to the genre of public art. Having installed over 40 public art commissions, he has created a variety of projects ranging from freestanding sculptures to artistic environments; from a pedestrian bridge at a Zoological Park, to a mediation room in a children’s Hospital. With his projects influenced by a site’s parameters, the work employs a variety of materials including metals, glass, stone, ceramic, terrazzo, concrete, plants, sound and light. In describing his work he writes how he “strives to create works that ensure a variety of poetic experiences, looking for an inherent truth of a site that lends itself to visual metaphor.” Jim Hirschfield has received a number of major grants and fellowships from both public and private foundations, including awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Graham Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Art Matters, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Education
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR; Master of Fine Arts
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO; Bachelor of Fine Arts  

Classes Taught
First Year Seminar: Time, A Doorway to Visual Expression
First Year Seminar: The Artistic Temperament: How to Use It and Not Abuse It.
Wood Sculpture
Metal Sculpture
Public Art
Installation, The Total Sensory Genre
Senior Seminar