BASIC SCULPTURE
THE ORIGIN OF SCULPTURE
• It is came from the Latin word sculpere, which means “to carve”.
The tools used in sculpture are varied and changing throughout
history. It engages our sense differently than painting because its
occupies space as three-dimensional mass through carving,
casting, modeling, or assembling materials. It has sought to
produce artworks that are permanent and are working durable and
expensive materials such as bronze granite, limestone, marble,
and stone.
IMPORTANCE OF SCULPTURE
• The sculpture is a perceptive-regeneration of reality through the use of three-
dimensional form. As a specialized work of art, its objective is to exemplify a
concept by forming a visual equivalent. Since the shape is the dominant
characteristics of sculptures, the human body and animals have been its
primary subject. They are constructed using bronze, clay, ivory as their
mediums. Making of sculptures is expressing religious, personal and political
views. This kind of artwork is meant to create sense of patriotism, pride,
greatness, and spiritual respect. Statues and sculptures have always been an
integral part of the museums and arts history. They become more popular as
decoration items in private homes and office facilities.
TYPES OF SCULPTURE
• Bust. It is sculpted and painted representation of the upper part of
the human figure such as the head, neck, shoulder, chest, or
breast.
• Statue. It is a life-size or larger size of a sculpture of a person or
an animal, made of metal, stone or wood.
• Architectural. It is a universal classification to describe a
structural design such as buildings, bridges, burial chambers, and
other big projects.
• Relief. The term relief is from a Latin verb levo which means to
raise. To create sculpture in relief is to give a notion that the
sculpted materials have been raised above the canvas. This type of
sculpture is projected into three-dimensional space. The back of
the relief sculpture is not meant to be seen and the entire design
can be understood from a frontal view.
MEDIUM AND TECHNIQUES IN SCULPTURE
• Carving. It is produce in cutting away objects until the desired design is
formed or achieved.
a) Stone Carving. It is a type of sculpture that requires patience and planning.
Its shaping activity of pieces of rough natural stone through the use of
essential hand tools like hammer and chisel.
b) Wood Carving. It is the art of shaping objects of wood using cutting tools.
• Casting. It is a method by which liquid material is usually poured into
a frame or pattern, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired
shape, and then allowed to harden.
a) Glass casting. It is a shaping activity of pieces of rough natural
stone through the use of essential hand tools like hammer and
chisel.
b) Slip casting. It is a technique for the mass-production of pottery,
especially for shapes not easily made on wheel.
• Molding. It is the working of soft or plastic materials by hand to build
up or shape to create a form.
• Assemblage. It is an additive process of gathering and joining
different materials and create an assembled artworks.
BASIC SCULPTURE TERMS
• Armature. It is a skeleton-like framework used to support the building of
paper mache, usually made of stiff wire.
• Base. It is the portion of the work on which the sculpture rest.
• Craftmanship. It is a skill with which one uses tools and materials in
producing art.
• Plaster of Paris. It is a fine white powder that sets hard when mixed in
the water.
• Freestanding. It refers to a method when a sculpture is intended to view
from all sides.
• Manipulation. It is a process of shaping an object by a skilled
worker.
• Replica. It refers to the precise reproduction of an artwork.
