Additive Manufacturing and Art in France is a 3-credit maymester study abroad program that brings together engineering, manufacturing, art, and design. The program examines the parallel innovations of impressionism and additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) to reveal how artists used light to create visual meaning and how engineers now use layers to create functional meaning. Students begin in Paris, the heart of the Impressionist movement, studying Monet, Renoir, Rodin, and the city’s artistic legacy before traveling into Normandy region to work with French universities and laboratories while exploring historical cities, coastline, and culture.
Anchored by the ME 496 course, students learn additive manufacturing fundamentals, metal/polymer/ceramic AM processes, design for AM, AM process selection, and AM quality fundamentals, and then translate lessons on “painting with light” into the creation of their own 3D printed lithophane of an Impressionist painting. The program includes lectures, on-site industry/academic visits at INSA Rouen and the University of Rouen, France, museum studies, and cultural immersion activities.
This experience is intentionally structured as a hybrid “art + engineering” program. The curriculum asks students to think about how 19th century breakthroughs in light produced the Impressionist movement and how today’s breakthroughs in layers (additive manufacturing) are producing the next revolution in making. Students return with both technical AM competence and a tangible art object they engineered and printed themselves.
Students will experience world class museums, architectural landmarks, and cultural landscapes across France. In Paris, the program includes guided visits to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame de Paris, Sainte Chapelle, Musée d’Orsay, Musée Marmottan, Musée Rodin, and Montmartre. These visits allow students to stand in front of the original works, spaces, and skyline views that shaped the Impressionist movement and modern French identity. The program then travels to Normandy where excursions include Rouen Cathedrale, which was famously painted by Monet, and the Joan of Arc Museum. Students will also participate in private access tours at university laboratories and spend a full day in Giverny visiting Monet’s home and gardens, including a hands-on painting workshop. Additional excursions include coastal stays in Étretat and Honfleur, Loire Valley chateaux such as Château de Chenonceau, and Mont Saint Michel. In every location, students learn through a blend of museum study, site based learning, and immersive cultural exploration that connects French art, history, and engineering innovation through lived experience.
Proposed itinerary: (subject to change)
May 10- Depart the USA
May 11- Arrive in Paris, make your way to the hotel, orientation
May 12-16-Activities and tours in Paris
May 17-23-Rouen, Giverny, Honfleur, Vereusses
May 24-26-Tours, St. Malo, Mont St. Michelle
May 27-Rouen
May 28-Return to US from Paris
For more information, please contact Professor Michael Sealy (msealy@purdue.edu)!