Sculpture Source

What may seem like a simple task can actually be quite daunting. Who would imagine that collecting a painting or a sculpture could be considered an art in itself? But take it from a professional on the other side of the table: buying art is not always easy. Here are some of the main points to keep in mind.

First of all, personal taste is foremost. One has to have a feeling for the piece one is going to acquire. In the beginning, it might be advisable to look at a number of different styles to determine what appeals. Visits to museums, galleries or perusing art history books and magazines can be helpful, as well as doing some research online or in the local library.

Once you have established your personal style, you can start making some headway. Your next step is to establish a relationship with an art professional, either through a gallery or an art consultant. This will be very helpful in your search for the right piece for the right place.

This brings me to the third point, location. Location of a piece can determine so many factors: the scale and medium, or material of the artwork being two of the most important things to consider. For example, one may have a wall space but perhaps it is inset, so could use a three- dimensional wall piece. Or it is a niche that will limit the height or width of a potential piece of art.

We must also look at indoor/outdoor placements. Some pieces just won’t work at all in an outdoor setting but will be stunning inside, and vice versa. A glass sculpture or a painting may be appropriate in a number of settings, but other settings require bronze or steel.

Another consideration is how this artwork is going to compliment its surroundings. It doesn’t necessarily need to “blend in”: sometimes contrast is just as effective. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve in terms of the end result, or the feeling you get while enjoying the piece in its relationship to the environment.

Fourth, let us not forget budget. This is a subject unto itself and must be considered very carefully in most instances. For example, one may be considering several pieces at this time, so it is a good plan to try to determine how much to invest in each individual acquisition.

Of course, there are those moments when one walks into a gallery and just falls in love with a work of art. This is a wonderful feeling. I always suggest that if the feeling is strong enough, a collector should acquire the piece and then find the optimum placement.

Sometimes, one has to try a piece in several locations before the perfect spot becomes obvious. This again is where a professional can be of help. Someone who has been in the field for a long time has certainly helped to place many works successfully. It requires listening to a client’s needs and desires, and getting familiar with the space. I personally find this to be a most rewarding experience.

These are just some of the things one can expect to experience while collecting a work of art. So, you can begin to see just how much actually goes into this artful process and why collecting art is an art unto itself!

Curt Brill: "Julie", bronze sculpture

Bronze is a popular metal for cast metal indoor or outdoor sculptures. It is an alloy, or a metal created by the combination of other metals, with a minimum of 90% copper for quality bronze sculptures and statues in the United States. Some common bronze alloys expand slightly just before they set, making them desirable for intricate sculptures because they can fill the finest details of a mold. A chemical patina is applied to give the final finish and color to the bronze, and it is the patina that needs to be maintained, as the metal itself will last thousands of years.

Outdoor bronze sculptures hold up well and are easy to care for. A bronze sculpture is usually protected by a coat of wax, which is applied when the metal is still warm so it can seep into the pores and act as a barrier to air and humidity. This helps keep the bronze from oxidizing and keeps it looking new longer. An outdoor sculpture that has fallen victim to bird waste and other debris can be cleaned with a bucket of mild soap and water. Too much soap can leave a residue that can be difficult to rinse, so use just enough soap to create bubbles.  Steer clear of exotic oils and cleansers, as they can remove the patina and alter the look of the sculpture. An old toothbrush can be used to scrub dirt out of the sculpture’s nooks and crannies. Rinse the sculpture with clear water after cleaning, and then allow it to dry completely before applying a coat of clear paste wax (formulas that contain a high concentration of carnauba wax are best). Use a soft, lint-free rag to apply a light coat and let it dry to teh touch before buffing to the desired finish.  Do this on a warm, clear (but not too hot) day to allow the wax to dry before the next rainfall. Depending on the weather and the exposure, waxing is needed between once and three times a year. Don’t forget that indoor air also contains pollutants and humidity, so you will need to wax your indoor bronzes once avery two or three years.

The mechanics of movement is another aspect of kinetic sculpture that is rigorously designed, and as much or more agonizing goes into crafting the movement of the piece as goes into the overall concept. The key here is “trial and error”, and sometimes a dozen different versions of the same piece are laboriously built and tested before a flawless design results.

Some artists shorten the trial-and-error phase by using SolidWorks, computer software used in mechanical engineering, to prototype how the center of gravity will shift as the sculptural members move in the wind.

Trial versions, whether virtual models or physical mock-ups, must also be constructed to test the lateral forces acting on the piece, and to simulate the effects of using different counter-balancing strategies. An intriguing piece that graphically demonstrates the concept of counter-balancing is “Rockette 1″ by John Tyler, which uses actual rocks to keep the flow steady and smooth.

How the pieces are connected is critical to the harmonious movement and proper functioning of a wind sculpture over time. Masters of this art (and science) include but are certainly not limited to Lin Emery, Moto Ohtake and Jeffery Laudenslager.

Joinery typically incorporates pivots, pendulums, rotors or gimbals depending on whether the intended movement at that joint will be in a two-dimensional (back and forth) or three-dimensional (up and down, around and around) plane. A “down and on the ground” movement is not an option here, so as one can imagine, a lot of time and effort is spent designing those movement joints.

The engineering of wind sculptures encompasses a final level of design complexity over static sculpture in that the piece is designed to be experienced dynamically over time. To complete each work, kinetic artists design the equivalent of several different sculptures so that all the various permutations that will occur over the dimension of time are captured. Computer animations and physical mock-ups illustrate how the different sculptural elements move in relation to one another, and provide a preview of the negative space and positive forms that will be created at any moment in time.

Sculpturesite Gallery in San Francisco and A New Leaf Gallery in Sonoma feature kinetic sculptures in various materials by artists who each approach the engineering, as well as the aesthetic design process, differently. Come compare and contrast, and learn more about these fascinating works of art!

A unique destination for sculpture enthusiasts is the outdoor Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, Washington. Opened to the public in January 2007, the free-admission park features contemporary sculptures made of steel, aluminum, wood, bronze, glass, concrete, black granite and more by artists like Tony Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Mark di Suvero and Beverly Pepper. One piece, the Neukom Vivarium, is actually an 80-foot-long Western Hemlock tree that features living plants and is on display in a climate-controlled incubator room. Since 2003, the park has received several awards honoring its design, engineering and environmental restoration.

The park includes Father and Son, a stunning fountain of steel, aluminum and bronze by Bourgeois. It features sculptures of a nude father and son reaching for each other, each alternately obscured by volumes of the fountain’s water. The water is on a timer to mark the 24 hours in each day. At the top of one hour, the fountain’s water lowers to reveal the son and rises to obscure the father. On the next hour, the water alternates to obscure the son and reveal the father. Bourgeois explained that the obscurity marks the way that male familial relationships deteriorate over time. The piece is the result of a sculpture commission following the death of a Safeco insurance executive; his estate gifted $1 million to the city of Seattle to purchase public art that included realistic, life-size, nude male figures.