Also, is it a lot different than other kinds of art? I tend to like and enjoy all the 2D and 3D art classes I‘ve taken, but this is something totally different.
It really depends on the teacher and which department you are taking it in and what their facilities are. I've taken metals classes in jewelry department where it was mainly metalsmithing (e.g. making bowls out of flat copper sheets or shaping copper into various forms like repousse), I've taken some in a sculpture department where the emphasis was on learning how to weld, we were free to use this building a 3D or more 2D structure. I've learned some basic blacksmithing in those classes as well. In the jewelry class we also learned small scale metal casting. I guess it depends a lot what tools are available and what your teacher has most experience with. If you can (e.g. it's online) look at his/her portfolio, that should give you an idea what they can do. I love metal working, if you do it properly you have something really solid. It can be a pretty physcial activity though. But I think hot metal looks beautiful.
It really depends on the teacher and which department you are taking it in and what their facilities are. I've taken metals classes in jewelry department where it was mainly metalsmithing (e.g. making bowls out of flat copper sheets or shaping copper into various forms like repousse), I've taken some in a sculpture department where the emphasis was on learning how to weld, we were free to use this building a 3D or more 2D structure. I've learned some basic blacksmithing in those classes as well. In the jewelry class we also learned small scale metal casting. I guess it depends a lot what tools are available and what your teacher has most experience with. If you can (e.g. it's online) look at his/her portfolio, that should give you an idea what they can do. I love metal working, if you do it properly you have something really solid. It can be a pretty physcial activity though. But I think hot metal looks beautiful.
