7/18/2012

The Sculptor And The Bronze Art Foundry

By Kelli Evans


Some art forms require team work. Films require that a director co-ordinates the talents of many people from actors to costume designers and make-up artists. Similarly, a bronze art foundry works as part of a process that extends and realizes the vision of a sculptor.

Like other genres sculpture can require team work. An artist starts with imagination, having a concept of something that could be true though it is not until it is executed in elemental materials a real forms. In order to realize his artistic concept he needs the practical skills of specialist technicians.

Sculpture is one of the most fundamental forms of human expression dating back many thousands of years into the earliest phases of civilization. Though ants may also be said to sculpt, human sculpture might be like language in that it expresses abstractions rather than practical purposes.

Artists choose between two main methods of creation. Some may start with a large block and reduce materials such as wood or stone to a shape that has meaning. Others start with an empty space on paper or in space and create forms to fill it. Sculptors build with soft materials and then cover them with metal alloys to create solidity and permanence.

Alloys of copper and tin are rust proof and therefore durable. Other elements such as zinc and arsenic have been employed over many centuries. The alloys are malleable when hot and can cover a mold giving it solidity and permanence. The amount of fine detail that can be preserved from the mold will depend upon the expertise of foundry specialists.

A bronze art foundry has played its part in many great works through the centuries. Contemporary techniques and procedures are still improving but are based on the practices of ancient times. This gives this form of art a sort of historical continuity that adds to the mystique of the genre. Works are not only the outcome of an individual's unique vision but also a manifestation of artistic collaboration.




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