SCULPTURE

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping hard or plastic material, commonly stone (either rock or marble), metal, or wood.

Some sculptures are created directly by carving; others are assembled, built up and fired, welded, moulded, or cast.

A person who creates sculptures is called a sculptor.

Because sculpture involves the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated, it is considered one of the plastic arts.

A sculpture that is designed to move is known as kinetic.

A sculpture that is like a self-operating machine which has moving parts such as cogs, that can be made to move by use of handles and levers, Is known as

automata (singular: automaton)

(DEFINITIONS FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Lost-wax castingThis is also sometimes called by the French name of cire perdue, and is the process by which a bronze is cast from an artist's sculpture.

wikipedia link about bronze casting

An armature is a lightweight structure on which sculptors can work. It gives the basic form of the sculpture, but with little detail. It allows sculptors to create work that isn’t solid, thereby being more economical with the materials they use.

Here Ron Mueck has used chicken wire to make the figure’s form.

ARMATURE

RON MUECKUNTITLED (BIG MAN) VIEWS OF THE WORK IN PROGRESS

2000PIGMENTED POLYESTER RESIN ON FIBERGLASS

MAQUETTE

Before beginning a full-scale sculpture, a sculptor will make a small-scale test piece, or maquette.

This maquette by Ron Mueck stands over 2 feet tall, but the final sculpture stands over 2.5 metres tall, much larger than life size.

RON MUECKPREGNANT WOMAN

2002PIGMENTED POLYESTER RESIN ON FIBERGLASS,

USING PLASTER

• Plaster can be poured into clay moulds to form a cast.online workshop for mould-making

• It can also be used to make the mould itself.

• By covering an armature with plaster, it can then be worked with various tools such as chisels, rasps and surforms (like mini cheesegraters), and eventually polished to a smooth finish.

• A plaster sculpture can also be then cast into a more durable material, such as bronze.

MICHELANGELOAWAKENING GIANT, FOR TOMB OF JULIUS II

1520-23

CARVING

• Traditionally, sculptors carved into wood and stone

• They used stone or wood chisels

• More recently sculptors have explored other materials, such as ice, to carve from, and experimented with a variety of powered tools, such as chainsaws

EXAMPLES OF SCULPTURE USING VARIOUS TECHNIQUES

AND MATERIALS

MARC QUINNSELF1991

FROZEN BLOOD

TONY CRAGGSTACK1975

MIXED MEDIA

CORNELIA PARKERCOLD DARK MATTER: AN EXPLODED VIEW

1991

HELEN CHADWICKPISS FLOWERS

1991-1992BRONZE, WHITE CELLULOSE LACQUER

DAVID MACHGORILLA

2007WIRE COATHANGERS

SARAH SZEUNRAVEL (INSTALLATION)

2005MIXED MEDIA

ALEXANDER CALDERUNTITLED

1976ALUMINIUM AND STEEL

SALVADOR DALILOBSTER TELEPHONE  

1936PLASTIC, PAINTED PLASTER AND MIXED MEDIA

RICHARD DEACONSTRUCK DUMB

1988WELDED STEEL

CLAES OLDENBURG SOFT PAY-TELEPHONE

1963VINYL FILLED WITH KAPOK, MOUNTED ON WOOD PANEL

CLAES OLDENBURG SOFT LIGHT SWITCHES

1964VINYL FILLED WITH DRACON AND

CANVAS

ANISH KAPOOR MARSYAS (INSTALLATION AT TATE MODERN’S TURBINE HALL)

2002PVC MEMBRANE STRETCHED OVER 3 STEEL RINGS

BARBARA HEPWORTH OVAL SCULPTURE (NO. 2)

1943 PLASTER

HENRY MOOREWORKING MODEL FOR RECLINING FIGURE

1957 PLASTER

JEAN ARP HEAD AND SHELL

c. 1933POLISHED BRONZE

CONSTANTIN BRANCUSITHE NEWBORN

1915MARBLE

LOUISE BOURGEOISEND OF SOFTNESS

1967BRONZE WITH GOLD PATINA

LOUISE BOURGEOISLE REGARD

1966LATEX AND CLOTH

MERET OPPENHEIMOBJECT

1936FUR-COVERED CUP, SAUCER AND SPOON