James Lawton

School: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Department: Architecture
Location: North Dartmouth, MA
Overall Rating
rated by 12 students
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Pros: Great professor. If you work hard attend classes and show progress you will pass. He is approachable and easy to talk to. The only people who fail his classes are those who do not come to class, or those who expect to do only the bare minimum. 4.0's are given to those how exceed his expectation.
Cons: Needs to be clearer about deadlines and expectations
If you are a studio art major be not only prepared but willing to put in all the time it takes to produce the best work you can possible make. The University says be prepared to spend at least 3 hours a week on homework or projects out side of class, for art classes you should be prepared for at least 3 hours per credit out side of class. If you change your thinking to that you should have no problems 4.0'ing.
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I would not recommend taking a class with Lawton. He seems like a nice guy, but not a very good teacher. The thing that pisses me off the MOST is his RIDICULOUSLY STEEP attendance policy (.25 off final grade FOR EACH ABSENCE) - not even after 2 absences like most teachers. Don't plan on ever getting sick or having any kind of emergency come up that can't be documented because your grade will suffer.
He requires you to buy a book to look up terms to describe your work that you can get from common knowledge or off the internet.. and a $50 supply fee - when the only supplies you are given from him is wire and hot glue sticks. Also he gives you no guidelines for projects yet when you start working on them and have already developed your idea he nitpicks what you chose to do. If you pretty much do what he tells you for your project and put in effort he will give you a fair grade on the individual project - but if he disagrees with your "vision" for the project you'll get knocked down a few points. Nice guy but frustrating.
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Pros: Sweet guy, fun class, I'd recommend it to anybody. I especially like that he's loose on due dates if the class seems to struggle to get things done. Very cool.
Cons: too early in the morning (8AM!!)
Great class, great prof
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He's a nice guy, but he needs to be far, far better at communicating what he wants out of his students. We filled out self-evaluations, and I thought I had been doing fairly well. Afterwards, I found out he had a very different opinion. There's obviously a disconnect there, and whatever he wanted me to do differently, he should have made clear while I was sculpting, or during critiques, or something. I did everything he asked me to, and I still got crappy grades. Or, you know, some warning would have been nice - like a midterm meeting, and telling me how to improve. I even asked about redoing things or what I could do to make my sculpture better when he was going over my grades at the end of the semester, and he didn't offer much advice or criticism or any chance to fix it. He didn't give any feedback during the few critiques we had (we didn't even have one for our busts), so not only was I completely in the dark about my grade, I didn't know what he thought needed improvement. Obviously, that doesn't make it easy to learn.
The other thing: for a required class (which is basically what this is if you're a BFA), there are times when it can be a lot of work outside class. There's a sketchbook, three artist lectures to attend, and a five-page paper on top of your normal work. It's the sketchbook that is killer - 3 to 5 pages each class period - and he goes for quantity, not quality, as I found out. There is also a rubber model project (the bust) which he expected us to spend 15 hours of our weekend on (15 coats of rubber, each taking an hour or more to dry). I found myself wishing I had taken Mixed Media instead. Also, he allocates way too much time with the model - you'll find yourself pretending to look busy or tempted to skip the last week or two. It was kind of a disappointing experience by the end of the semester, especially since this was the one class I was looking forward to most.
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Lawton wasn't that bad I suppose. The hardest part I found about the class is that he doesn't really give much restrictions on what you have to make. This may be great for some people giving them the opportunity to really have great freedom with their projects but for me it just makes me sit there for half of the classtime trying to come up with an idea. He walks around a lot watching you work and asking you questions about what it means and how it's going to look. It can get annoying but really he's just trying to help you push your ideas, or help solve some of your problems.
In the whole class you have to do like five projects and an essay which is actually quite easy, and I hate writing. You just go to three visiting artists and write whatever you want.
The cost of the class isn't really that bad. There's only a $10 fee at the Kresge Art Store, and a couple things you should buy but you don't necasarily have to. The book is pretty much a waste of money. Just find someone in class who doesn't mind you reading over the glossary or find someone to go in half on, because you do need to use a certain amount of terms in your presentations. For supplies, I pretty much just used whatever I could find that was free. Cardboard, broken dishes, plastic bags, empty pop cans. You can use whatever you want. You can even find free wood.
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If one quote from any movie could describe this professor, it would be the Joker from 'The Dark Knight' "Do I really look like a guy with a plan?"
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Lawton's class is more of an experience than it is a class. You'll get out of it how much you want to, and really nothing more. If you really care about the arts, than he's not only a great teacher but a great source of understanding through what's happening in the art world in sculpture. However if you just don't care, or you only are in college to get a degree and not to learn so you are grade obsessed than you won't get anything out of it. He's really not a hard grader, so don't worry about that. He doesn't force you to learn, you have to want to, which makes him a great teacher because people aren't going to force you to perform at your best in the work world-it will be up to you to show initiative. So, if your professional, it will be a great class. The content of the class is also something you can't teach, but is a great opportunity. To have time with a live model class after class to sculpt them is an incredible mind boggling experience that every art student should have. It really changes how you look at things because so often we represent things in 2D, to have to represent it in 3D will really teach you how to look at things, which will help you in the 2D if that's what your into. I recommend the class and the teacher.
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Do not take a class with this man. The person who said you make what you want knows what she is talking about. He has no plan and he just has you doing stuff for 15 weeks. There is an impolite word for this type of self gratification. Find anopther prof.
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Lawton is a cool guy, but I found him frusterating. He doesn't TEACH, just lets students make what they want, and really emphasizes conceptual art, which means hes ALWAYS asking why you are doing something or what it means. Not bad, necessarily, but I found it annoying. He takes attendance, and plays horrendous weird performance art videos durig class. Don't buy the book, it's way too expensive and you only need the glossary.
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Disorganized instructor, doesn't have a plan, makes it up as he goes along. The room is a total mess, plaster dust everywhere, no air ventilation, can't breathe. Lawton is out of touch, tries too hard to be your friend instead of your prof. You'll pay a hefty class fee and get almost nothing for your money. Then you will spend major $$$ at the hardware store to get what you really need for the projects. What a scam. Take the class with a TA if you want to learn anything.
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Professor Lawton is a great professor, one of the best I've had thus far. Yes, it is true that the class is demanding of a person's skill, time, and effort, but a dedicated person to the arts won't mind the demands. The reason for the textbooks is to help us understand contemporary art, which is what is created in his 3D-form class. And you don't need to buy ALL the supplies. I had bought most of my supplies at random places (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Meijer, etc.) and spent only a fraction of the total cost it would be getting all the materials from the art store on campus.
To rate a professor with a low number based souly on the cost of the class is stupid. Prof. Lawton knows what he is talking about when it comes to sculpture and presentation. I learned a lot in his class, not just how to present a work, but how to push my ideas into something unexpected. A simple sculpture ended up as a performance piece, the only one that my class had ever seen. That's his goal, is to get us to think out of the box. He may be "hard to find", but he is willing to answer any sort of question and help you develop your ideas into something larger.
Also, he is a great person outside of class. He is wonderful to talk to, and his own art is fantastic. I had the opportunity to see his work on display at a local gallery, and I was very impressed. He was happy to see me at the gallery, being the only student of his to attend the opening.
I highly recommend Prof. Lawton.
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Horrible. He makes you spend over $200 on art books, that you RARELY use, also makes you pay a $70 art fee to the art store for the materials that he bought, yet you only use his plaster, ONCE. Also makes you spend un-godly amounts of money on the million projects he makes you do. You spend about $600-700 on this class ALONE. He is always walking out of the room and you can never find him (which may be good to some of you) But all in all, dont take him for this class, he makes you spend your money like crazy, and fails to tell you your grade throught the whole semester. AND HE KEEPS YOU THE FULL 3 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:X

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