Ten off us gathered for our second meeting in January, for our Sculpture meeting.
We heard about our speaker’s father, who was a sculptor, as a person – it was who he was – not for commercial ends. He only did what he wanted to do.
He valued the craft as much as the art, meaning he valued being skilled in the practice of his chosen media as well as having an idea to convey into art.
His major skill was bronze casting, in which he excelled and passed on to others by teaching and mentoring at the foundry which he used later on.
We learned how he clay-modelled on metal frames, then made plaster moulds around them. Then he used the lost-wax method to line the moulds, then filled the interior with more plaster, and poured molten bronze in at the top which melted the wax to create the sculpture. It had to be removed in parts to extract the internal plaster. Finally he welded and polished, which was all invisible in the final sculpture.
He did some casts of his grandchildren, a special gift, each taken at 2 weeks old, exactly life-size.
Another bronze was a love knot resembling a mobius strip in stunning colouring.
In later years more drawing and painting was produced as the heavy bronze crafting became more challenging. That was an interesting insight into adaptation with ageing.
He had always painted and kept sketchbooks – he carried one with him all the time.
He could produce a life drawing in minutes – explaining how you had to get past the block as you started but felt you couldn’t do it – how encouraging.
His wife made “soft” (textile) sculptures too.
We heard how his children arranged a retrospective exhibition of their father’s works which served as a real “wake” after a Covid-times restricted funeral. What a lovely memory.
All in all, a very pleasant, interesting, stimulating evening.