Project #1: “The Perceptual “

Visual References: Ovidio Giberga, Ketih Smith, Nan Smith

Assigned Reading:
Chapter 5 of Make it in Clay

Video: Smooth-on life casting with alja-safe, available on-line for more information beyond the class demo.

Assignment:
This project focuses on the direct study of the human figure using a personalized plaster cast.

Personalized Body Cast of Hand(s) or Feet:
In this project, you will sculpt from life using a plaster cast of your body and will triple the size (at minimum) of the original casting and replicate it in clay. Each student will create a life-cast or his/her hands or feet. Consider the pose and gesture carefully. If you are doing two hands or both feet please pose them together to be cast as one compositional unit. The body casting will be done with alja-safe, a silica free alginate designed for sculptors. The alginate mold will be cast in #1 molding plaster to create the plaster model. Alja-safe a non-permanent mold–making material that is cut away (wasted) when the plaster model cures. The result will be a personalized plaster cast.

When the life casting is completed you are to sculpt a life-scale maquette (sketch in clay) to practice modeling and fine-tune your perceptual skills. Look for relative proportions, composition in the round, effects on volumes in the round. With this study model complete you will move to the large sculpture.

The final sculpture will be modeled solid and then hollowed at the leather-hard state. This is a traditional technique for life modeling used to create many of the terra cotta sculptures in the Renaissance. The technique of working solid allows the use of both additive and subtractive methods of sculpting. Detail will be developed as the sculpture becomes leather hard. After detail is completed, the sculpture will be sectioned to hollow it before firing. Terra sigillata will be applied to the sculpture at the bone-dry state. The piece will be bisque-fired and glaze patinas will be rubbed into the surface after which the sculpture will be glaze-fired.

Size:
14”-16” or 2 times life scale. Scaling the larger sculpture accurately will be discussed in class

Materials:
Some special materials are required for this project: alginate (a non-permanent and gelatin-like casting material often used in Dental Offices), plastic container of appropriate size to be used as a rigid holder for the alginate, and #1 molding plaster. The #1 molding plaster will be provided through the bookstore and will be available to you in the ceramics lab for a competitive price. It is to be purchased at the UF Bookstore and the receipt brought to the lab for dispensing.

Goals:
This project will be evaluated for accuracy in representing the dimensional relationships present in the original plaster model, proportions, depth, and transitions. The realism, articulation of form, detailing and anatomical structure will be evaluated. The finished sculpture should best reflect your perceptual skills and ability to model the form before you with detailed accuracy.