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 is a good start to creating a still life sculpture of a river scene. Mixed media is an opportunity for artists to break down limitations in texture, color and even physical discrepancies. It also measures how much an artist knows about his or hee media as well.

The risks in creating mixed media works can be great. First of all, artists do not often take the long years to master two or more media, it is painstakingly hard to perfect glass casting for example. On the other hand if one would wish to work with glass he may instead go for an assemblage technique and make use of existing glass pieces, bypassing the need to cast anything. The point is, using two media usually means an artist does not have a complete mastery in at least one of them. This can be allocated to risks in stability, immediate presence and environment related issues. Another thing to consider about mixed media artwork, is their consistent originality, some artists make use of combining old or antique wares or manufactured products like plastics. These would most likely have been made by external sources that could close down or disappear in the future, stripping the style of a key medium and forcing it to change consistency. These are some of the issues presented to mixed media art, however they are minor at most and do not always happen to be the case. Mixed media is still a novelty art innovation that continues to surprise our society every day with newer and bolder creations.

Read more »

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 sold in antique stores and specialty shops rather than art galleries, but their vintage value remains constant at the very least. Some rarer coins and medals can fetch up to thousands of dollars after being appraised by a certified persona or historian.

Jacques Jonghelinck was a Flemish sculptor and medallist from Brussels in the late 1500's. He was one of the more famous artists that created fine and accurate medallion portraits of the important persona at the time. His clients included Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, president of the council of state at the time.

Jean Auguste Barre was a French medallist who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a well known portrait sculptor as well. He exhibited several medallion pieces at the French Salon from 1831 to 1886 that are now part of priceless collections. Many of his famous patrons included Napoleon III, Queen Victoria, and Susan B. Anthony.

Read more »