Learn the Basics of Sculpture A branch of the visual arts, sculpting is three-dimensional art made from moulding, casting, welding, and carving a variety of mediums, including stone, metal, wood, clay, and other materials. This art form has been around for thousands of years but is just as relevant today in the form of digital sculpting as are the pieces created in 230,000 BCE or earlier, like the Venus of Berekhat Ram (oldest known Stone Age sculpture). Today, contemporary artists work with a number of non-traditional forms of sculpture, including light, sound, ice, and kinetic sculpture, as well as 3-D modelling. 3D modelling, and more specifically, digital sculpting, is a new form of sculpture where users interact with a digital model, much like when modelling clay. Users pull, pinch, push, and twist “virtual clay” to create a sculpture. Precious materials like gold, jade, and silver are typically used to craft expensive, often smaller sculpture, while more common and less expensive materials, such as hardwoods, ceramics, and wax are used for wider purposes. Many sculptors, while carving out their own niche, have found new ways to use everyday materials, such as Pablo Picasso who used bicycle parts in his famous sculpture entitled, “Bull’s Head”, or Nathan Sawaya, who builds larger-than-life sculptures out of Legos; exhibiting them in museums around the world..
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HOW TO BECOME A SCULPTOR It takes more than talent and enthusiasm to make it as a sculptor. It takes the kind of individual who recognises (and can tolerate) the ups and downs of the job. As in most art fields, a career as a sculptor can be fulfilling, fun, and frustrating all at the same time. You must be tough-skinned and able to take criticism and rejection while maintaining the drive necessary to forge your own career path.
