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Each month laterlife.com presents a feature from either The
Artist
or its sister publication, Leisure Painter.
Art masterclass
from The Artist, the monthly magazine for amateur
and semi-professional painters, giving practical instruction in
painting and drawing in watercolour, pastels and oils, as well
as news of art events, exhibitions and competitions open to
leisure artists;
www.theartistmagazine.co.uk
This month: an 'Artists of the world' feature from
the current edition of The Artist, the magazine
for amateur and semi-professional painters.
SAMPLE FEATURE FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
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The Human Factor
Figurative sculptor Carol
Peace reveals the ideas that inspire her work
Although fashion-conscious art buffs might regard
figurative painting and sculpture as an outdated form of
expression it nevertheless continues to attract a strong
following.
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In part, its sustaining quality comes from the fact that
it is an accessible form of art — something to which
everyone can relate. Unlike so much abstract and
conceptual work, figurative art is not aloof,
perplexing, remote or quasi-intellectual. And it does
not need to be explained by a label or catalogue. |
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Precious, bronze resin, 55in
(140cm)
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Instead, the best examples of figurative art can
appeal to our feelings, to our empathy and our
understanding of the human predicament. For Carol,
figurative work offers greater scope for individual
expression, leading to more rewarding results. "I just
feel I have more to say by using the figure," she
explains, "and I enjoy the various aspects and
challenges involved — particularly in creating the form
of each sculpture, and in developing and using my
drawing skills. |
| "My work has always been concerned
with the human form and I have always used clay. I like
the way that the mood of each sculpture is defined by
the handling and texture of the clay. Rough textures and
lines can suggest rhythms of movement, while detailed
work creates a feeling of stillness and intimacy. I
think in some ways using clay has similar qualities to
the two-dimensional work that I do in charcoal and oils.
For example, I might work quickly, as I would in
charcoal, so that the forms are found, often changed
over and over, and sometimes lost. And if I work the
clay slowly, similar to the way I use oils, the work is
less impulsive and more precise. I cast each piece in
bronze or iron resin, and here again the patina, often
dark in the low lights and light on the highlights, will
help in determining the form and character of the
sculpture." |
Self-portrait,
charcoal on paper, 48x60in
(122x152cm)
The bronze resin and iron resin sculptures are formed
of bronze or iron powder added to a fibreglass resin.
Carol's sculptures are available in limited editions in
a choice of materials: the bronze resin and iron resin
editions are more affordable versions of the bronzes.
Ideas and feelings
The themes and ideas that Carol explores in her
sculptures are inspired principally by the way people
behave and react towards one another, and additionally,
of course, they are influenced by her own feelings and
life experiences. In Allies, top far left, for example,
the two standing figures convey the idea of
companionship, friendship and support, and again in
Precious, left, there is a feeling of closeness, of
being totally at ease with
another person.
Carol has always made life drawings, believing this
discipline important not just for its informative value
but because it heightens your observation and ability to
capture what is there without tricks and gimmicks. She
also paints portraits in oils, worked both from the
model and photographs. While the life drawings are not a
direct preliminary to making sculpture (her sculptures
are always imaginative rather than shaped from working
drawings or models), they are vital to the creative
process.
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Dancer, bronze, 80in. (203cm) |
"It's like practising your scales if you are a
musician," she says. "If I ignore drawing for a while,
then my sculpture really suffers; it becomes quite
laboured and I struggle to find the form. But after a
series of drawings I feel really empowered — I feel that
potentially I could do anything. "Although I always
begin with a particular idea in mind, the concept and
form for the sculpture can change dramatically during
the working process. So, in fact, the final piece owes
more to my response to what is happening as I handle the
clay than it does to any preconceived idea.
Occasionally I start by making a maquette — usually
when I am working on a commission — but I never work
from drawings. I think this would inhibit the freedom
and creativity necessary in making the sculpture.
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| "Instead I start straight away
with clay, building an armature and quickly establishing
the general pose of the figure and the basic shapes and
forms. But even with the armature in place the attitude
and scale of the work are not necessarily fixed. With a
wire armature I can bend it into a different position,
and if it is a steel one I might decide to remove some
of the clay and grind or cut the armature to enable me
to modify the pose. A standing figure can sometimes
develop into a reclining one; a single figure might need
a companion. "At first I work quite frantically,
running around and adding great lumps of clay to the
figure, sawing parts off, and so on. But gradually the
process slows down and towards the end I seem to be
spending hours and hours on small areas and details. For
a large sculpture the initial clay-modelling stage may
take more than two weeks to complete. The clay figure
will then stand in my studio for about three months, and
I will occasionally assess it and do some further work
on it, continuing in this way until I am completely
satisfied with the result. I normally have three or four
sculptures in progress at the same time. The clay form
is kept moist by spraying it with water periodically and
wrapping it in polythene sheeting.
Casting
"I leave the clay to dry to a leather-hard state and
then the figure is ready for the casting process. The
first step is to apply a coating of liquid silicon
rubber, after which I add a thixothropic agent to the
rubber solution and gradually build up the surface to a
thickness of about an inch all over — perhaps more for
the larger sculptures. Next I assess how best to divide
the three-dimensional form into removable interlocking
sections, and these divisions are marked out with clay
strips.
"The whole form is now covered with a fibreglass
jacket. When it is fully catalysed — hardened — the
fibreglass is removed and the rubber sections pulled
off, during which process the clay is usually destroyed;
so this is always a very tense time, when you hope the
moulds will be perfect. Then the moulds are reassembled
to give an exact negative copy of the original form. I
used to do all the casting myself but now I take the
moulds to a foundry. The sculptures are cast in either
bronze or iron resin, which is a fibreglass resin with
iron powder added to it.
"Mould making is definitely a skill in its own right.
It is a crucial part of the working process, although
because it is essentially a technical process rather
than a creative one, and also quite time consuming,
there can be a temptation to rush it. However, if when
you remove the mould it is damaged in some way, or is
not true to the original clay sculpture, there is
actually nothing you can do about it; the sculpture is
lost and all the work has been in vain. Fortunately this
has happened to me only once, when I was at art school
and tried to cast something in cement and did not know
enough about the process."
Carol's bronze sculptures are produced in limited
editions, usually of nine pieces, and the iron resin
figures are made in an edition of 25. Because she likes
the idea of sculpture being accessible to a wide range
of people, not just the wealthy, she also makes other,
more affordable pieces in larger editions. And she also
occasionally works on a commission.
"With these it totally depends on the client," she
says. "I naturally prefer a brief that allows me plenty
of freedom, rather than one that is very prescriptive.
"But what I enjoy most is working at my own ideas in
my studio. It is the clay that I love, together with the
process of changing something so fluid and fragile into
something that will last forever. I am really happy with
the notion of figurative work and where this stands in
the art world. Commercial success and acclaim don't
concern me unduly; I just want to be really good at what
I do."
The
full version of this article is published in the
December 2007 issue of The Artist
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laterlife interest
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