Art is generally identified by its medium or process:

painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography,

crafts, design, video, or performance. A work of art can
be made of just one medium or of many of these media
(the plural ofmedium) used in combination. In
contemporary art, works have been made of everything
imaginable, even materials that are intended to
disintegrate. Artists use whatever media they feel will best
convey their ideas.
For the purposes of this course, weve broken media into
several categories. As youll see, these categories
sometimes overlap, reflecting innovation, experimentation,
or technological change.

Sculpture
generally
refers to any
threedimensional
work, although
sometimes the
line between
two and three
dimensions
can be vague.
A painting that
has objects
attached to it,
or a sculpture
that is very
flat, can be

When searching for also include a

separate search forreliefflat works
where dimension and shadow play an
important role. Sculpture can be made
of just about anythingstone, clay,
metal, paper, glass, found objects,
wood, and more.

CRITICAL
THINKING?
How does relief sculpture differ
from sculpture-in-the-round?
How do subtractive processes
differ from additive processes?
What is involved in casting
processes?
What is assemblage?

In addition to these processes, there are

three basic ways in which we experience
sculpture in three-dimensional space as
relief, in the round, and as an

Relief
sculpture is
meant to be
seen from on
side only in
other words,
it is frontal,
meant to be
viewed from
the front
and it is very
often used to
decorate

Among the great

masters of relief
sculpture were
the Egyptians,
who often
decorated the
walls of their
temples and
burial complexes
with intricate
raised relief
sculpture, most
of
which was
originally
painted.

Like the Egyptians, the Greeks used

the sculptural art of relief as a means
of decoration and to embellish the
beauty of their great architectural
achievements. Forms and figures
carved in relief are spoken of as done
in either low relief or high relief.

Relief sculpture vs. Sculpture-in-the

round?
Relief sculpture has three-dimensional
depth but is attached to a surface, and
it is typically meant to be seen frontally.
Sculpture-in-the-round, by contrast, is
unattached to any surfaces, and it is
typically meant to be viewed from all
sides.
- How does low relief differ from high
relief?

The very
shallow
depth of the
Egyptians
raised
reliefs is
characteristic
of
low relief.

High-relief sculptures project forward

from their
base by at least half their depth, and
often
several elements will be fully in the
round.

Michelangelo, known for his painting

achievements on the Sistine Chapel
Ceiling, actually considered himself,
first and foremost, a sculptor. He
even wrote poetry about sculpture.
Michelangelo imagined figures
trapped inside blocks of stone
and it was his task as a sculptor to
free that figure from the imprisoning
block of stone. In an unfinished work
such as Atlas, point out
Michelangelos attempt to free Atlas
from the encompassing stone.

4 Basic Sculpture
Techniques

Sculptors primarily use four (4) basic

techniques:
Carving
Casting
Modeling
Assembling

Carving. Involves cutting or chipping

away a shape from a mass of stone,
wood, or other hard material. Carving is a
subtractive process whereby material is
systematically
from the
Carving
is part eliminated
of the subtractive
outside
in.
sculptural process in which the material
being carved is cut away from the
sculptural material. From Michelangelos
Atlas Slave to Jim Sardoniss Reverence
discuss
the nature of the carving
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/
process.
SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/art/MAL/discover
ing_art/media/sculpture/index.html

Carving is part of the subtractive sculptural process in which

the material being carved is cut away from the sculptural
material. From Michelangelos Atlas Slave to Jim Sardoniss
Reverence discuss the nature of the carving process.

Casting. Sculptures that are cast are made

from a material that is melted downusually
a metalthat is then poured into a mold. The
mold is allowed to cool, thereby hardening the
metal, usually bronze. Casting is an additive
process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJsAFLM0RW
k

Modeling. Modeled sculptures are

created when a soft or malleable
material (such as clay) is built up
(sometimes over an armature) and
shaped to create a form. Modeling is
an additive process.

Assembling. Sculptors gather and

join different materials to create an
assembled sculpture. Assembling is an
additive process. An example of
assemblage is Martin Puryear'sThat
Profile, above.

Designing a Memorial:
The Creative Process of Maya
Lin