Stephani Stephenson on tue 18 jul 06
a couple thought cross my mind
to illustrate different approaches
thinking of 3 teachers of mine. Albeit sculptors. metal sculptors .
all different
Tom Morandi. Work is abstract. finely designed and executed. excellent
design instructor and also ran a good critique.
Tom took the modern, visual art approach. Eye and mind perceive,
respond, make patterns from incoming visual data, form order out of
chaos
Artists use visual elements and devices to guide the eye over and
about a piece
Design is the process whereby you employ these visual, perceptual and
conceptual tools
Design class , sculpture class is where you learn to identify and
learn to use those tools, as well as the manual, technical tools of
the trade
Tom took us through many design exercises, with paper and cardboard,
and clay, etc, before we went on to weld and cast and model and
carve...
Paul Buckner. Paul taught figurative sculpture in the traditional
sense. Students worked with life models, drawing them, training the
eye learning to observe gesture, proportion, light shadow, honing
drawing skills. alongside that? anatomy. . learning anatomy, bone by
bone, etc. as you drew. then? literally building a human figure by
modeling the bones, each bone. then attaching the muscles, each muscle.
then finally draping the skin over it. learning the names of each
individual bone and muscle and muscle attachment. . worked on the same
figure for the entire class. I am trying to remember , did this class
take a quarter or an entire year? Only after all this did the students
bring experimentation into the work...Paul was such an insightful,
observant, patient teacher.
Robert Hess. also known as a figurative sculptor. metal.
Robert Hess came over from Willamette University to teach an evening
Sculpture class at Chemeketa Community college, while I was a visiting
Ceramics and Sculpture instructor. I took his class because I heard
such good things about his abilities as a teacher. Most of the students
at CCC were beginners but Robert Hess didn't treat them as 'beginners'.
He thought beginners could handle a big challenge and he thought that a
big challenge was what people needed to really throw themselves into a
process. Whenever he taught a new class he said he taught something
which was also a challenge to him, because he found that if he was also
learning , it improved his teaching. ( and because he loved learning.)
Hess was a force, a joyous force of nature in his teaching. First
session he said "put on your hip boots because we are going IN! "You
knew you weren't going to be able to coast through this class, and
besides, who would want to ???
For the very first project he had everyone make a life size self-
portrait head/bust. ( you look in a mirror and sculpt yourself. in the
round.) realism. model made of clay, then make a waste mold clay bust,
final piece cast in plaster. And... the portrait was going to be
good... no interpretive stuff.
Some of the first timers about fainted . they had never touched clay or
drawn much or anything Hess had a way of reaching everyone, all the
different personalities, filling us with enthusiasm and getting far
exceed our expectations. His technical knowledge was superb, as was
his sense of purpose and sense of what makes the creative juices flow.
He was tireless in the attention he gave every single student, the
ability to suggest and guide. Every single student in the class, and it
was a large class, came through. The review was amazing. We also
brought in a model occasionally and worked on the figure . Worked fast
, with water based clay and armatures. One night he saw me mincing and
fidgeting on a small armature, ran out to his car, brought in a big
armature and
said , you have 30 minutes ,GO! It was the absolute most fun I have
ever had sculpting the figure. I had been taught by Morandi and Buckner
before I encountered Hess so I was ready ready ready. but I also
noticed that the beginning students, despite some initial
protestations, were 'ready' too.
3 approaches. all work. there are others.
Stephani Stephenson
steph@revivaltileworks.com
http://www.revivaltileworks.com
Kathy Forer on tue 18 jul 06
On Jul 18, 2006, at 10:34 AM, Stephani Stephenson wrote:
> 3 approaches. all work. there are others.
More life class approaches, using clay:
Ways to break habits:
- Observe model, then close your eyes and make clay
- Work with dominant hand restrained, i.e. work with left hand only
if you are a righty
- Work with only thumbs
- Hold and work clay in one hand
- Work on opposite side of clay model from what you see, tricky but
interesting
- work from inside out
Other methods:
- Compare silhouette of your clay with life model. This was Rodin's
method and my favorite. Teacher who insisted on measuring distance
between features with inch ruler insisted it was "my way or the
highway." I took the long road.
- Sketches are nice. Skip the armature. Make sure there's "furniture"
to help support the model. Hollow out or fire solid or toss.
Kathy
--
http://www.kathyforer.com
| |
|
