Introduction
Studio in Sculpture - Mrs Wynne
Where to Find Sculptures Near GIHS
• Part One - In your house
• Part Two - In cemeteries
• Part Three - In and around art galleries and museums
• Part Four - On college campuses
• Part Five - In and around parks, city centers, and businesses
PART ONE
In your own house
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the school year, we will be discovering places where you may view sculptures in person. For this first lesson, you will begin looking around your own home. You may be surprised at how many objects your family has that were sculpted by an artist at one point. Just inside your own pocket, wallet, or piggy bank for example, you have tiny cast relief sculptures on the faces of your coins.
While you may own a handcrafted work of sculptural art, most households contain casts or reproductions. For this lesson, we will focus on the commercially reproduced figurine.
The process of mold making to mass produce large quantities of figurines continues to this day. Although figurines are originally carved or sculpted, they do not fall into the category of fine art. They are more commonly known as collectibles, and each new design often follows a schema that fits into the collection, with the ultimate goal being purely decorative.
While the odds of you owning an original sculpture made by a famous sculptor are rare, most homes contain at least one ceramic figurine since they are mass produced in large quantities and sold inexpensively. These sculpted objects are typically made through the casting process, and painted in an assembly line. Because they can be reproduced quickly and inexpensively, many people collect them.
You may have what appears to be a small famous sculpture in your home. Many art museums, galleries, and online shops sell scale models of famous fine art sculptures, most notably The Met Museum Store in NYC, the Museum Company Store, Design Toscano, and Ballard Designs.
Garden centers and shops will also sell art reproductions cast in concrete, sealed plaster, or resin. They may also sell their own garden statuary in classical, whimsical or functional designs. Companies such as Wind and Weather, Plow and Hearth, Hayneedle have a wide selection. Locally, Art of Franklinville produces cast concrete reproductions. Hardware stores, garden centers and big box department stores often carry cast concrete garden sculptures.
You will be going on a little savaenger hunt in your home to look for objects that were sculpted at one point during production. Your savaenger hunt will continue on the internet, where you will search for clues and information about the carved and sculpted objects in your home.
Task
Task
Through this virtual scavenger hunt you will become familiar with mass produced commercial sculptures and figurines, and be able to locate similar styles in your own home. After viewing websites about commercially produced figurines, dolls and action figures, you should be better able to identify characteristics such as the materials or methods used, the time period, and the collectable quality of your family’s sculpted and cast object.
This scavenger hunt will help you understand the difference between cast and original sculptures.
* You will turn in a completed project that includes:
A Scavenger Hunt Packet
A Sculpted Object List
A Mass Produced Figurine Rubric
Process
Process
You will be going on an online scavenger hunt in order to complete a packet about a sculpture in your house. Follow these steps using some of the links and samples listed below, as well as conducting your own web search.
1. Print out the My Sculpted Objects List, the Sculpted Object Packet and the Rubric found on our Sculpture Google Classroom.
2.. Look around your house and yard for samples of three dimensional artwork. These may be figurines, toys, sculptures or garden statues. Try to find at least two or three. Jot them down on your My Sculpted Objects List.
3. Using clues found online, select one object that you believe was mass produced. List the sculptures on the form, filling in as much information as you can from the identifying marks on the artwork. Be sure to attach a photo or add sketch of your found artwork.
4. Visit some of the websites listed, to try to answer as many questions as you can about one of the pieces, using information found on the websites.
5. Be prepared to discuss what you discovered about the three dimensional artwork you found in your home.
The Scavenger Hunt
Here are some websites to get you started. Begin here, but feel free to do your own web search to find information more specific to the commercially produced three dimensional art in your own home.
Web Links
How a toy figure is made
A quick little video that gives a basic overview.
Scavenger Hunt - What material does the artist use to produce a hand sculpted model? What does he sculpt?
How a porcelain figurine is made
Another quick little video that gives a basic overview.
Scavenger Hunt - When under compression, porcelain is nearly as strong as what material?
How a resin figurine is made
another brief video that gives an overview
Scavenger Hunt - What does the artist use as reference for her drawing of the figure? What kind of law enforcement officer does this figure represent?
How a doll is made
This is a campy little video from 1968 (yes, this is how dolls looked when I was a little girl).
Scavenger Hunt - How is the lip color applied to a doll? What is a sentence that any of the talking toys say?
Restoring broken plaster sculptures
This man takes his time, and explains the rpocess as he repairs a vintage plaster figure.
Scavenger Hunt - What material does the artist use to patch the missing parts and cracks with? What does he mix into it? Why does he like to use this material?
Dolls
The National Institute of American Doll Artists is one group dedicated to the art of doll making.
Scavenger Hunt - Name one doll artist whose sculpting you like, and briefly describe it.
One of many doll collecting sites
http://dollreference.com/index.html
Scavenger Hunt - What is the definition of a Milliner's Doll? What is the definition of a Artist's Doll? What is the definition of a mold number?
Figurines
Red Rose Tea Figurines
http://redrosetea.com/figurines
Brief article on Red Rose Tea figurine marketing
http://www.antiquetrader.com/articles/feature-stories/red_rose_wade_whimsies
Scavenger Hunt - Why did this company begin putting figurines inside their boxes of tea?
Breyer Horses
Breyer produces fine model horses
https://www.breyerhorses.com/model_horse_hobby
Scavenger Hunt - What are some of the horse breeds that this company has sculpted? Do they sell models of any other animal?
Manufacturer Lists
Figurines
Here is an incomplete list of some commercially produced figurines that you may own. There are so many more, so be sure to double check the clues and information you gather when looking at your figurines.
- Department 56 (Snowbabies, Snow Village)
- Fenton
- Franklin Mint
- Hallmark
- Hummel
- Jim Shore
- Lladro
- Lenox
- Precious Moments
- Royal Doulton
- Royal Copenhagen
- Staffordshire
- Willow Tree
Toys
While we are focusing mainly on mass produced figurines, the production of most reproduced toys begins in the hands of a sculptor. Here is a short list of some manufactured, popular dolls, platsic figurures and action figure that you may own. There are many more companies out there, and a search of the internet may help you find information on your favorite.
Dolls
- American Girl
- Circo
- Corolle
- Hasbro (Baby Alive)
- JC Toys (La Baby)
- Madame Alexander
- Mattel (Barbie)
- Melissa and Doug Dolls
- Tonner
- Zapf Creations (Baby Born, Chou Chou)
Action Figures
- Hasbro (Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers)
- Hot Toys (high-end articulated !:6 scale models)
- Mattel (DC, Disney)
- Neca
- Sideshow Collectibles
Plastic Toy Figurines
- Papo (dinosaurs, historical figures)
- Safari (animals)
- Schleich (animals)
Models
- Moebius Models (planes, cars, figures)
- Revell (cars, figures)
- Round 2 (cars, figures)
- Tamiya Corporation (dinosaurs, military, educational)
Art Reproductions
Many companies make smaller, scale reproductions of famous sculptures. Often they are cast in plaster or resin for indoor use, or from concrete to place outdoors in the garden. Here are just a few businesses that you may want to look at. You can also visit most garden centers and hardware stores to see casts in person.
- Ballard Designs
- Design Toscano
- Museum Company
- Plow and Hearth
- The Met Store
- Wind and Weather
Evaluation
Evaluation
How did you do? Let's evaluate your efforts.
You will find the attachment for this rubric in our Sculpture Google Classroom. Print it out, and include it with your Scavenger Hunt Packet.
Conclusion
Conclusion
You should now be able to recognize a mass produced sculpted object, from an original sculpture. We will continue in this series of Where to Find Sculpture Near Grand Island High School by taking a virtual field trip where we will look at sculptures in a local cemetery.
Credits
Credits
Bissonette, Zac. (March 31, 2011). Red Rose Wade Whimsies: Stroke of marketing genius defines a tea firm and creates a thriving collectible. Retrieved from http://www.antiquetrader.com/articles/feature-stories/red_rose_wade_whimsies
Cornell University Library. (n.d.) Cornell Collection of Antiquities, A short history of plaster casts. Retrieved from https://antiquities.library.cornell.edu/casts/a-short-history
Muratov, Maya B. (Oct 2004). Greek Terracotta Figurines with Articulated Limbs.
Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gtal/hd_gtal.htm
http://dollreference.com/index.html