Starting as a Sculpture-Artist

How to Get Started as a Sculpture-Artist

I was fortunate to start in sculpture while studying art, and sculpting history goes back a very long way. In fact it is one the oldest forms of human expression that dates back to prehistoric times.

You only have to see the monolithic masterpieces we admire from the Egyptians and understand how important religiously and culturally sculpture remains even today. The relief style sculptures of the Greeks gave way to the freestanding human forms we so often admire today.

Sculpture forms part of Gothic Cathedrals and dresses many new architectural buildings also. Modern sculpture has long since moved away from the classical styles to encompass everything from kinetic works to mechanized sculptures

What exactly is Sculpture

Essentially it can be defined as the production of a three-dimensional representation of any natural form or something that is from the sculptors own mind. Sculptures also can be viewed from an angle or direction. Sculpture comes from the Latin sculpere, which means "to carve".

The sculpture-artist can sculpt in a large variety of mediums and materials. This involves techniques that include casting, carving, modeling, and construction. Modeling gives the flexibility to add and remove materials as the work progresses, while carving away material allows little opportunity for error. That is what makes the famous marble pieces so amazing. Construction allows the most flexibility. Casting is the reproduction of the original piece that was may have been modeled, constructed or carved.

The sculpture-artist has many sculpture techniques available that include the most ancient of hand modeling in clay, and wax, and also paper-mache. Clay sculptures also allow firing of simple terra-cotta to ceramics pieces. Over the centuries medium included everything from marble and sandstone to wood and animal bones, and then bronze castings and metals. Modern sculptors have the benefits of plastics, and metals to create with.

Getting Started with Sculpture

This is a hard one, and comes down to your own basic inclinations. Some get into ice sculpture, while others start off with modeling of simple wax and clay works. The choices generally are clay, wood, stone, glass, plaster and metal.

The first positive step is to find a local sculpting group and perhaps enroll at an evening class to learn basics skills and techniques. The following pages will provide the basics of working with the different materials

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