For at least the past 30 years, I have been fascinated with sculpture. When I was in college, I made a half-hearted attempt at sculpting a couple, and I tried my hand at a relief sculpture of my dog a few years ago, but neither attempt yielded anything worthwhile. Inspired by the time afforded me by recent changes due to COVID, I finally decided to take a 6-week introductory class to figure sculpture at a school in Philadelphia called Fleisher Art Memorial this past July and August. With the gentle guidance of the instructor, a remarkable artist named Julia Levitina, I surprisingly was able to complete a piece, of which I’m quite proud.
With only 6 sessions, I didn’t expect to even complete a 24-inch full figure sculpture, not to mention produce something I thought was good. It certainly isn’t a masterpiece or anything I’ll ever show in an exhibit or gallery, but it was a revealing process through which I learned a great deal about anatomy, proportion, and just seeing the human body differently and more creatively. I still have a lot to learn, but I know that the spark I’ve felt for sculpture on and off for the past 30 years has been stoked to into a flame, and I can’t wait to learn more.
This was done on an armature with water-based clay. Because of the metal armature, this piece can’t be fired, and the only way to preserve it would be through making either a plaster or bronze cast. I don’t think it’s a worthy candidate for casting, so I let the clay air dry and filled in the cracks, which inevitably formed as the drying process continued, the best I could. I’m sure I will eventually destroy the dried-out sculpture in order to reuse the armature, but I’ll be able to use the photos posted here to remember this first piece and reference them to monitor progress in the future.
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