The Complexities and Risks of Mixed Media

Sculptures in the classical age were all created with stone, wood or precious metals. This signified the ability to last from generation to generation within family possessions. Today however, a popular trend defies this historical observation, the evoloution of mixed media. Mixed media is a term that people use when refering to works of art that contain two or more substantial or structural media within their main composition. The most popular forms of mixed media art include assemblage sculptures and hybridities between sculpture and other forms of art. The artist' ability to foresee the combinations of materials can be the reason why many mixed media works often draw a crowd's attention merely from the contrasting beauty of its substances. Combining glass and wood for example...

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Indigenous Art and The World of the Creator

When we take a look into the tribes of the remote areas in the Philippines, like the province of Ifugao for example, we will often see a culture as rich as our own, teeming with its own kind of traditional system, language and artistic preference. When you see the work of these local craftsmen, you'll be astonished by the level of design they are capable of conjuring. During visits to the rice terraces in Banawe, Ifugao, I came across curiosities that caught my attention in the purely visual sense at first. Little sculptures carved out of local wood depicted the daily lives of these indigenous tribes. There were portraits of mothers carrying their babies while harvesting grain, hunters with their long spears, and symbolical carvings that the locals referred to as anitos. It wasn't...

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Collecting Medallion-Relief Sculptures

We already know that coin sculptors have the extremely difficult task of creating relief sculptures on a very minimized canvas. These types of artists are but an example of who medallist sculptors are and what they do. To carve or cast a medallion, one would need a good sense of dexterity and a specific set of modelling tools, such as magnifying lenses and pin-type shaping instruments. Traditionally, wax or plaster models are used for the original design of cast medallions. Casting serves as the best way to mass-produce medallions to be made into a limited edition work. The usual media you can expect would be bronze, copper, silver, nickel or gold. New media such as palladium are also available as art medallions. Over time, these medallions usually become considered as antiques and are often...

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Approach at Glance : Gas Sculpture and Its Potential for Art Interactivity

What is gas sculpture? Have you ever heard of it? Today, people are slowly but surely conceiving new and innovative ways of creating art. Sculpture however, was founded on the basis of concrete and tangible substances. It was stretched many times with the emergence of water sculpture, sound sculpture and kinetic sculpture, however these days there are even stranger discoveries that the art world has got to look out for. Gas sculpture was first proposed by Joan Miro, but has extended itself to become a worldwide question- how can one sculpt gas? Photography by Black Squirrel At the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, there exists a prime example of the new media. A pond is surrounded by an array of tiny nozzles that can be switched on to produce a fine, billowing fog. Considered to...

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Lladro's Journey of Sculpture

Everyone is probably familiar with the worldwide luxury sculpture brand; Lladro. The porcelain company originated from Valencia, Spain and eventually grew to become an international leader of the art industry. If you or your siblings have not heard of it, then try asking your parents or grandparents if they have. Lladro's journey did not start within this generation's timeline. Their history began over sixty years ago when three young brothers left their day jobs as tile makers at a local factory to pursue their  artistic dream. Lladro is most famous for developing their own style, slip recipe and techniques in fine porcelain. Their sculptures often exhibit subtle blends of soft pastel ton...

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Collecting Sculptres in a Modern Philippines

I've been collecting artworks since my high school days, and I can honestly say that much of the collector population thinks of financial investment at least 60% of the time.. The world of art has been appraised and made to secondarily function as a mini-stock market sometimes, and while many artists and longtime patrons would consider themselves immune to this way of thinking, the average man isn't. When it comes to fine art, there are always other things in mind, aside from aesthetics. Modern sculpture in the Philippines is a fairly emerging art. Despite the country being home to several thousands of visual artists, the art form of painting has always been the most popular to date. Sculpture has only seen recent re-popularization in the middle class art markets due to the emerging artists...

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deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum : A Haven for Young Sculptors

The sculpture park opened its doors back in 1950, but ever since then people have been returning to this wonderful venue for creative thinking.  This thirty five acre location boasts both a wide open area park that hosts more than sixty notable sculptures/artworks at every point in time. Aside from their famous outdoor exhibition, an indoor museum is also home to an array of rotating exhibits made by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. The museum constantly also maintains a strong relationships with many of the emerging young artists from the New England pool of sculptors and creative people. The venue hosts several interesting activities related to both sculpture and the fine arts. Talks, interactive tours, classes and other events will be common sights at this place that's...

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Coming Up... The 26th Chelsea International Fine Art Competition

Hosted by the Agora Gallery, this annual event will be juried this year by Elisabeth Sherman, assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In past competitions, entries in painting, sculpture, illustration, mixed media and print were all welcome to be viewed and judged. For a more detailed explanation of the rules, info and guidelines please visit the competition's website here Awards for the competition are valued at $38,000. The Agora Gallery donates 25% of the proceeds from sales at the competition to the non-profit organization; Artstart. Through its innovative programs, the organization brings together artworks, artists and children in need all throughout the New York Metropolitan Ar...

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An Introduction to The Kinds of Sculpture

Cast sculpture is a methodological technique that gives you more versatility in form and contour, but also creates a lasting artpiece that you can hand down from generation to generation. Here, abstract cast sculptures by sculptor Kylo Chua exhibit a flowing continuity through illusory motion. Kylo’s sculptures give an idea of what artists think when they seek to “defy a medium’s limitation”. Sculpture is something hard and solid, generally static and immovable. These examples showcase the fluidity that a concrete work of art can actually portray given the right mannerisms. Unlike its counterpart- carved sculpture, cast sculpting requires a negative mould of the figure to be made. This is done by using plaster, silicone rubber or any other moulding agent suitable to your material....

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Monotone White in Sculpture

Since the age of Greek artisans to the era of Victorian masterpieces, sculptures have been popularized in the classical sense of beauty and elegance. It can be seen through historical collections and museum galleries that many of the sculpted pieces during those days consisted of monotone color. Mostly white or light marble, these pieces draw their attention strictly by the composition, detail and design of their contours. Color is a major factor in other media such as painting and illustration- so why did monotone sculptures exhibit a high popularity during the olden days? In modern society, porcelain figurines and gold emblems are some of the descendants of this track of art appreciation. I believe that the purity in singular color is further enhanced by the contrasting background of...

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