Rate My Professor Daniel Edwards

Daniel Edwards serves as an Associate Professor of Sculpture in the Department of Art at California State University, Stanislaus, where he has taught since 2012. He earned his MFA in Drawing and Sculpture from the New York Academy of Art in 2001 and his BFA in Sculpture from the Herron School of Art at Indiana University in 1994. From 1988 to 1990, he participated in the MFA program at the New York Academy of Art, funded by a Warhol Scholarship from the Estate of Andy Warhol. Edwards employs both traditional sculptural techniques, such as modeling in clay and wax for bronze casts, and digital tools including 3D sculpting software and augmented reality. His teaching encompasses courses like Foundation Sculpture, Metal Casting, Figure Sculpture, Ceramic Sculpture, and 3D Digital Modeling and Rendering. He collaborates with colleague Jake Weigel to incorporate 3D printing into the sculpture curriculum.

Edwards' artistic practice centers on portraiture, celebrity culture, and socio-political issues, producing provocative public sculptures and monuments that often generate controversy. Between 1994 and 2004, he executed numerous commissions, including the bronze Landmark for Peace: The MLK Jr. and RFK Memorial (1995) for the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, with a groundbreaking attended by President Clinton, Martin Luther King III, and Senator Ted Kennedy; Olympians of the New York Athletic Club (2004, New York Athletic Club); Wm. DeHart Hubbard, Olympian (2002, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, Cincinnati); and Dean Charles Emerson bust (1998, I.U. School of Medicine, Indianapolis). His works appear in publications such as Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (Oxford University Press, 2009) and Oprah: A Biography (Crown, 2010). Notable controversial pieces include the Shroud of Scientology (2015), fetal portraits of celebrities (2013), and Justin and Selena as One (2012). In 2020, Edwards and his son Rodman produced a 3D bust of George Floyd, freely shared online, leading to physical installations like a wooden version in Brooklyn and virtual augmented reality memorials. His art promotes social conscience, addressing civil rights figures and challenging existing monuments.