A Model/Models- Reference

As I stated, reference is a big part of creating good art. First, my friend Antwine posed so we could quickly see how tall a seated man would be, that is the approximate height of our subject. 

Mr. Tough was 5'10" Next, I posted on my neighborhood Facebook page to look for a man with the same build and height as my subject. That was hard. First, I thought we were doing him much older, and then I received word I should sculpt him in his 50's. I had to have my client define what image they might have that depicts Mr. Tough in his 50's, and we started all over again, looking for another model and creating our reference.  

Often when sculpting a deceased loved one, I prefer to have a member of the family pose in the pose if they are about the same height and stature. But things have been going slow with communication, and we need to get going on the project, so I opted for a stranger. I posted on my neighborhood forum to find a man, and neighbors sent me images. I opted for a man younger than 50 and a bit thinner, but we can thicken him up. I'm also noting Mr. Toughs stature or how he should sit or stand. This stature won't change over years, or if it does, it will change only slightly. That is where having lots of reference material for my subject is important. 

I set up my model on my bench and took photographs around him, from above and even underneath the bench. These photographs will show me the folds in his suit and how it fits and allow me to refer back to these images for shape and positioning. Here is the thing. If Mr. Tough is in his 50's, his suit would be from that time period. So, I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what type of suit he would be in and how the design changed from my model's suit. My model's suit is very tight, so loosening up that suit will be a priority, the suit will have larger lapels and he will wear a wider tie. 

I often spend a great deal of time researching clothes, for example, the suit of Booker T Washington, or in the case of my newsboy sculpture, I found a pattern from the period, sewed the outfit, and had my model pose with it on. (FYI, old patterns do not have the same markings as new patterns. This made sewing a bit challenging, but it was fun.) 

I'm getting very excited about getting my hands in the clay. Stay tuned. 

Teachers and students

How do you think the study of clothing and understanding what people wear at certain times in history relates to what is happening in the world? 

What did your parents wear, and how was their clothing different? 

Does the style of clothing change? What is your favorite style of clothing from the past? 

How have school clothes changed over the years? Did you know there was a time when girls could not wear pants to school and boys had to wear hats or ties? When I sculpted the newsboy, I was surprised to learn about the knickers he wore, and if you wore them above the knee, they meant you were young and below the knee meant you were older. There was even a line in a famous musical about if your son buttoned his knickers below the knee- it was sung as if doing so he would be rebellious. Clothes can say a lot. 

Have a seat

 Those visiting the sculpture will not only be able to look, but they will be able to have a seat. The bench is ready. We have had the bench that the sculpture will sit on for quite some time. We needed it to be able to design around it. Though the bench is wood now, it will be a bronze bench in the end. Wood benches often can't hold a bronze sculpture's weight without reinforcing and don't last as long as bronze. We will make a mold of this wooden bench and turn it into bronze. You will learn about that later, but for now, we must protect it so that it can withstand the process of mold-making later and also that the clay will not stick to the bench. So my intern stained, sealed, and wrapped it in saran wrap to protect it.  

Teachers and Students

I know our bench is important, but then I wondered, what are the most famous chairs in history?  I'm very curious by nature, and found a blog post about famous chairs.  I have had fun with chairs over the years. Here are some of mine. 

• Booker T. Larger than life Chair. I wrote an article  about this.  Does a chair have a personality? 
• 
  The rocking chair in my sculpture at Dallas Baptist University was actually the deans chair. He spent many days praying on that rocking chair. My favorite view is one no one will ever see. It is without the back of the chair. 
• Then of course there is the Mad Hatter Chair. Have you seen it? There are lots of hidden messages in that chair. 
  I created the hatter chair with many different references. I love creating a chair out of my head.  We also made it using digital technology. Here is a video from the cnc company that helped make the hatter's chair. 
• let's not forget Alice's chair. Hiding things in that chair was so much fun, and I love sitting next to Alice. 
  
  
  

How Does An Artist Learn About Someone She Does Not Know?

That is interesting because that is the very same question that artist Bridgette Mongeon asks when she starts this process. So she becomes a detective of sorts, searching the internet, asking family, and finding out who this incredible man is and why people want to honor him. You will learn as she learns. 

A great deal of capturing a person's emotion depends on the stories of the family and friends. The more she can hear about the person, the better the sculpture will be.

 So, if you knew Mr. Tough and are reading this blog, please share your stories. 

Bridgette loves learning about people. She finds it very interesting to see where their paths lead in life and what brought them to where they are or their accomplishments. She was in grade school when she first learned she could find books called biographies. She first read about Lincoln because she thought he had an interesting face and seemed kind. George Washington Carver was another she read as a child. She was interested in how one person could find over 300 uses for peanuts. That is clever. The day she found the biography section in the library, she flipped! She could learn about all the people. 

Questions for Teachers and Students. 

• Have you read a biography?
• Why do you think people write biographies? 
• What is the difference between a biography and an autobiography? 
• Have you heard of a memoir? How is a memoir different than an autobiography? 
• You could say that the book the artist is helping her granddaughter write Issa's Grand Adventures: Book One- Texas State Parks, is her granddaughter's memoir. It is her experiences in the Texas State Parks. People write memoirs about their own experiences. If you were to write a memoir about an experience, what would it be? 

 While searching the internet, she found a video of Mr. Tough reading to children. "I love this," says the artist, "I love it for a few different reasons. The first is anatomical. I can see how his body moves and his facial features. But more importantly, I can see his smile and his interaction, and he becomes more alive to me. I hope I can receive more videos from family and friends. " Here is the link to Mr. Tough reading. 

Comparisons

Creating a sculpture or even a real-life drawing is all about comparisons. Bridgette says that all art is about comparing. You compare one thing to another. The size of a hand compared to the length of the arm, compared to the size of the chest. Many famous artists and one, in particular, was very interested in comparing. He wrote notebooks about it. Leonardo Davinci spent a lot of time noticing things. Have you ever done that? For example, sitting in your class, you might notice that the blackboard height is almost one-half of the room's height. ( I made that up. ) Or there are 24 tiles across the ceiling in the math classroom. Davinci noticed EVERYTHING, and he put it down in notebooks. You can't help but wonder if Mr. Tough ever read Davinci's notebooks. There is a lot about architecture in there. 

Bridgette will use some of these comparisons herself. How many heads high is her subject? Did you know that if you put the line in your wrist at your chin and your hand is straight, your middle finger will reach your hairline? This helps not to make hands too small or too big when sculpting. 

Bridgette keeps notes on the different people as she sculpts them. She also has to learn and research the people that her subject knew. For example, when creating a recent monumental sculpture of Booker T. Washington. She had to know how tall he was. Booker T. lived a long time before Mr. Tough, and his height was nowhere to be found in her research. So how do you find out how tall someone is that lived over 100 years ago? She found a photograph of Booker T. with other influential men. For example, in this picture, President Taft was six feet, and Andrew Carnegie was Five feet three. So she could compare and find that Booker T. Washington was about five feet seven inches tall. Wasn't that fun? She truly is a detective. 

For Teachers and Students. 

• How many heads high are you? 
• Have you compared things? What did you compare, and what did you find? 

Here is a video of how to measure proportions of things. The two hints are- keep your arm straight and close one eye when looking. Watch how this person finds out how many widths of the bottle fit in the height- from his perspective.