2. A sculptor is a person obsessed
with the form and shape of
things, and it’s not just the shape
of one thing, but the shape of
anything and everything: the
hard, tense strength, although
delicate form of a bone; the
strong, solid fleshiness of a beech
tree trunk.
–Henry Moore
4. Sculpture
Sculpture - The art of carving,
casting, modeling, or assembling
materials into three-dimensional
figures or forms
Relief sculpture
Bas-Relief or low relief
High Relief
Freestanding sculpture
5. Subtractive and Additive
Types of Sculpture
Subtractive Process - Carving,
unwanted materials are
removed.
Additive Process - Modeling,
Casting, Construction
6. Mass: a solid, three-
dimensional form that has
weight and takes up real
space
Voids: the empty spaces
between the masses of
sculpture
7. Carving
Carving - removing
portions of a block of
materials to create a
form.
Can use stone, wood,
ivory, chocolate…
9. Modeling
Modeling - using a pliable
materials such as clay or
wax the artist shapes the
material into a 3D form.
Can be done by hand or
tools.
10. Casting
Casting - liquid metal material is
poured into a mold to create a
form.
Mold - the form into which the
material is poured and with imparts
the shape.
Any material that hardens can be
used for casting.
One of the oldest and most
common is Bronze.
12. The Lost-Wax Technique
Lost-Wax Technique
1. The artist creates a form and them from this form a mold
is created by covering the shape usually in plaster or
resin.
2. The inside of the mold is is then filled or covered with
wax.
3. The wax is removed and covered in a sandy mixture of
silica, clay and plaster to create a investiture.
• Investiture - is a fire resistant mold into which the
liquid metal will be poured.
1. The wax is heated and pour out of the now sold
investiture and replaced with the liquid metal.
2. The finished metal sculpture is removed from the
investiture, and burnished.
• Burnished - treated chemically to take on a texture
and color.
19. Stone
Stone is extremely hard
It is also very durable
Appropriate for monuments and
statues
Stone tools include the chisel,
mallet, and rasp.
Artists also use contemporary
power tools
21. Wood
Wood can be carved, scraped, drilled,
and polished molded and bent.
Different woods have a different
hardnesses.
Wood appeals to sculptures because of
its grain, color, and workability.
Wood is easier to carved than stone.
Tensile strength - The inherent strength of
a material.
22. Poro Secret
Society
mask
(Kagle).
Liberian,
Dan people.
Wood.
23. Clay
Clay is more pliable than stone or
wood
Clay is not very strong.
Nor is permanent.
Armature - an inner skeleton
normally made of metal used to
help give clay additional
strength.
25. Metal
Metals can be cast, extruded,
forged, stamped, drilled, filed, and
burnished.
Cast bronze sculptures
Direct-metal sculptures -
Assembling sculpture by welding,
riveting, and soldering.
Patinas - the colors created on
bronze due to oxidation.
27. Modern and Contemporary
Materials and Methods
Throughout history sculptures have
searched for new forms expression.
• Constructed sculpture
• Assemblage
• Readymades
• Mixed media
• Kinetic sculpture
• Light sculpture
• Land art
29. Constructed sculpture
The artist “builds” the sculpture
Materials could include, sheet
metal, cardboard, celluloid, or
wire
Some artworks are lighter than
those from stone or wood
Unorthodox materials can also be
used
30. Assemblage
A form of constructed sculpture
Pre-existing or found objects take
on a new form as artworks
Novel combinations that take on a
new life and meaning
One of the best-known examples is
Picasso’s Bull’s Head
32. Mixed Media
Mixed Media - Use materials and
ready-made or found objects that
are not normally elements of a work
of art.
Artists, such as Rauschenberg (see
Ch. 20), may attach other materials
to their canvasses.
What might be some the materials
you could use in a Mixed Media
sculpture?
35. Kinetic Sculpture
Kinetic sculpture - Sculptures that move,
art + action. Example: the mobile.
Forms of movement might include:
Wind
Magnetic fields
Jets of water
Electric motors
The intensity of light
Human manipulations
37. Light Sculpture
Light and its reflections have
always been an important
elements in sculpture (and art!)
However, “light sculpture” is a
20th-century artform
What are the physical
psychological and physical
effects of color and the creation
of illusion?
39. Other Materials
Sculpture today uses not only
traditional materials, but also
materials that have never been
used before.
Example: beeswax and
microcrystalline wax, chocolate,
Styrofoam, etc…
40. Marc Quinn Self 1991 blood stainless steel
perspex refrigeration