SculpturesSirin 10A3/3/2014

WHAT IS A SCULPTURE? Sculpture is “the branch of the visual arts” that works in a

three dimensional space and is a “plastic art” which means it involves modeling and molding. Using materials such as stones, wood, ceramics, or metal to model and carve a statue will result in durable sculptures.

Sculpture is the practice and art of creating two- or three- dimensional representative or abstract forms, usually through carving stones, wood, or through casting metal/plaster. It can also mean to represent/make something by casting, carving, or other shaping techniques.

Sculpture can also mean the indentations/ridges of a shell caused by natural processes or in Physical Geography, it can mean the natural change of landscape caused by erosion.

MATERIALS Common materials used to make a sculpture

are:• Classic durable materials: metal, bronze, stone and

pottery• Less durable/ cheaper materials: bone, antler, wood• Precious materials: gold, silver, jade, ivory• Other common/less expensive materials: hardwoods (e.g.

oak), terracotta, ceramics, wax, cast metals (e.g. zinc), glass

Dale Chihuly 2006, Blown glass sculpture

TYPES OF SCULPTURES: RELIEF “Sculpture that projects in vary degrees

from a two-dimensional background” (Based on Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Time line of Art History description)

The oldest form of sculpted art Can be further broken down into 3

categories based on the distance between the 2-D background and the sculpture itself:• Bas-relief: very low degree of relief from

the base, usually seen in the surfaces of famous buildings such as the Parthenon in Greece

• Alto-relief: emerges from a flat base background such as sculptures of ancient pharaohs on Egyptian temples

• Sunken-relief: have a negative degree of relief and are carved into the base itself

FREE-STANDING SCULPTURE Also known as sculpture in-the-

round The type of structure that can be

viewed from any angle around the pedestal

Used throughout Greek, Roman, Medieval and other classical eras such as the ones made by Michelangelo's David

A famous example is the statue of George Washington that was carved by Horatio Greenough in 1840 (picture on the left) that currently rests within the Smithsonian Press

KINETIC SCULPTURE The type of free-standing

sculpture that moves usually by mechanical means or by power from wind, light, water, etc.

An example is a fountain Fountains are not

powered by water but they “live within the shapes and forms of the water” as they arc over and form shapes within the air

ASSEMBLAGE SCULPTURE

A modern form of sculptures Created by piecing together

found or scavenged items/objects that have little to none relationships with each other

Made by gluing, pasting, soldering, nailing, etc. these found objects together to make a 3-D collage

It gives new meaning to everyday objects

SOURCE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture http://

www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sculpture

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sculpture http://

www.ehow.com/info_8106828_four-different-kinds-art-sculptures.html

http://www.slideshare.net/cruzjonard/assemblage-sculpture