Freestanding Sculptures Practice

NOT: The clay sculpture is the first step in the process of making a bronze sculpture. The clay form is turned into a wax form and then turned into the final bronze form.

A freestanding sculpture is unattached to the background and has space on all sides, its also called sculpture in round. It is different from relief because it can be viewed from all sides. David by Michelangelo is the one of the most famous sculpture. Artists use perspective to represent three dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface to make it look natural and realistic, it creates an illusion of depth and space. Similarly sculptors can use perspective to make the sculptor appear realistic from all the four sides and it is especially important for them because their pieces are meant to be viewed from all four sides unlike painting which can be seen only from one side.

This sculpture was carved out of limestone. After it was carved, it was painted and gilded, meaning it had gold details.

A sculpture in the round is designed to be view, and cannot be fully appreciate or understood from a single angle. When looking at a sculpture in the round from all angles, our focus changes and we notice different features. We notice that the staging, or the parts that appear to overlap at a given angle, changes depending on the angle we are looking from. The division of positive and negative space changes depending on the viewing angle.

The primary materials used in sculpture are cast bronze (lost wax), bronze(bonded or cold cast), marble (bonded or cold cast), sculptured marble, clay and terracotta, fiberglass, soapstone, aluminum, and Durastone.

Carving is the use of tools to chip away at a base in order to produce the sculpture. The materials an artist chooses depends on cost, and availability of both tools and materials. An example of a carving is, Fu Lions, which was sculpted out of ivory.

Assemblage is an additive process where artists construct work by putting together objects and attaches them in some way. Assemblage sculpture can include a variety of materials in the same sculpture, where as other types of sculpture may only be made out of one or perhaps two materials. Assemblage allows the artist a great degree of freedom. Assemblage sculpture is most common in modern art.

Modeling is the process of forming a pliable medium with hands or tools. Modeling is one of the least expensive and easiest of sculpting techniques.

Casting is a substitution process in which the artist models an image in a soft medium such as wax, and then replaces it with something more durable such as bronze. First a wax model is created. This model is a replica of what the finished product with look like. This model is then heated until the wax is lost - hence the term "lost wax" casting. Then the mold is filled with the desired material, such as bronze.

A sculpture in the round is a three dimensional art that is meant to be seen from all sides. Answers may vary, but should be similar to the following: Sculpture allows the artist a greater degree of freedom. It also communicates forms, figures, movement, and dynamic shapes, among others.

This sculpture is entitled Pieta, and was sculpted by Michelangelo. It is located inside St. Peter's Basilica, inside the Vatican. The main thing we can notice is that the light hits the different figures and parts of the sculpture so that each casts shadows onto one another.

An artist must consider how the sculpture will look from all angles, in other words whether the sculpture will be interesting and pleasing from all angles. Figures are rarely unposed because the artist wants the viewer to have different and interesting details to take in, no matter what angle the sculpture is looked at from.