The GCA is happy to introduce a new feature to our blog. Each month we'll follow the progress of one student in the core program as they complete a work of art over the course of that month. This month we watched as Abigail Marie Tulis, a second year sculpture student, sculpted the figure in clay. At the end of the month Abigail shared some thoughts on her process, goals and challenges in sculpture.
 |
| Abigail Tulis |
"To prepare for and start a sculpture is both a daunting and exciting process. A few days before the new pose starts I go over classical painting and sculptures thinking of a pose. A French academic painting in the 19th century wing of the MET inspired this pose. I spent some time reminding myself of the importance of rules and proportion."
 |
| Day Three |
"Day one is spent preparing the armature,
setting the pose and giving the armature its correct gesture. In the
first few days J. Cheh really stresses the importance of proportion and
volume. The proportion of a 24 inch sculpture is determined by ideal
head measurements as well as observation."
 |
| Day Three |
"In building up the sculpture, I am trying
to read the basic volumes and determine the important boney points as
well as the large plane breaks that define where the forms go. These
ideas carry me through until the end of the sculpture. By constantly
seeing and fixing and then further understanding the gesture and forms I
try to make everything as clear, thruthful and organic as possible.
The whole point of the exercise is to train your eye to read
three-dimensional form."
 |
Day Five
|
 |
| Day Five |
"I spend more time on the hands, feet
and portrait in the last week, trying to get their big composition in
correctly, even if I don't get to all the polished details. It is easy
to focus on polishing too soon instead of channeling energy in to more
correct observation. I have gotten better at this but hope to improve
more in the future. I am also beginning a thorough study of anatomy,
which will be extremely helpful in determining insertions, muscle
masses, joints and the general flow of the figure."
 |
| Day Fifteen |
 |
| Day Fifteen |
The Finished Sculpture:
"This month we had a great pose and model and it was a real joy and challenge to get in to all the complexities. I enjoyed sculpting the feet and lower back, but was very challenged by the knees and hands. I always enjoy the beginning the most. I look forward to the next month and improvement!"
 |
| Finished sculpture |
 |
| Finished sculpture |
1 comment:
Beautiful work Abigail.
Hope to see you the next time I'm in NY.
Post a Comment