October in the Sculpture Studio

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