Sculpture stimulating the creativity of young people

Looking back to Summer 2006, this short film reminded me just how essential it is to be working with children from time to time. Jigsaw worked with several Herefordshire schools for those with special needs. We introduced elements: Fire, Water and Wind, and young people responded to aural stimulus. The results were fresh and lively: this picture shows some of the studies from listening with eyes closed and working with clay.

Smooth, yet not complete

One perennial issue with clay sculpture seems to be the pre-occupation with the smooth – perhaps aimed at some form of ‘finish’ – with less attention to the completeness of the sculptural form or plane, by which I mean where the surface should attempt to be visually consistent - read as one – in whatever texture or idiom is used.

A shiny rubber ball is a smooth, complete sphere. A single  compound curved plane exists – a simple and yet complex sculpture.

An orange’s form is relatively complete whilst not being overly smooth. Its surface has a regularity in its irregularities that lends it visual strength; the surface asymmetries are consistent and cancel themselves out.

Imagine a clay lump rolled in the hands and padded with the fingertips to force it towards the spherical. Our fingers are naturally bad sculptural tools for this exercise as they deform with an indent, whereas a flat-edged boxwood tool used with rigour can at least attempt to flat the surface.

If there is absolute regularity in the fingered facets over the entire surface, the clay exercise can read well (in much the same way as a golf ball or a Peter Randall-Page sculpture) but most often, unconscious incompetence will give rise to a visually weak single sculptural form, broken into many small diverse planes and with varied surface ‘colour’.

You can observe such deficiencies through scrutinising your created forms at eye level, in the round, in the  point source of candlelight – like Rodin did.

If you would like to try the practical exercise 1 linking to smoothness and completeness – introduced to me at the Frink School of Sculpture by Ken Ford (who was taught by Frank Dobson at the Royal College of Art) please subscribe (by adding your email at the top right of the page – it is safe and free) and then use the contact form to request the password which will allow you to access all future exercises posted on this site.

Large Clay Sculpture: Improvisation course at West Dean

4 day course at West Dean College, West Sussex led by Jon Edgar – abandoning the use of the armature as stifling to creativity, students construct random clay elements (left) and then free-build with them… turning the clay matrix and continuing to add until forms start to emerge. This technique was devised by veteran sculptor Alan Thornhill, who found this way of working allowed ‘absolutely anything to emerge’, rather than using the constraining hand of the pre-conceived idea.  This course was last run in 2011 (you can download the detailed course notes here: https://www.westdean.org.uk/resources/longdetails/4D1937.pdf ) For more information on forthcoming courses by Jon Edgar click here  and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Oxmarket Open Sculpture Competition 2009 – Judge’s notes

The works I see selected for final exhibition have a real breadth. Technical competence and freshness is much in evidence. My considerations have been warmth and sensitivity, honest observation, true credit to the base materials used and the mass conveyed, along with rigour tempered by ambiguity. I make no apologies for the prizes going to the more raw clay works. Sculpture needs a fine balance between the artist’s intention, the base materials chosen and the subject, to affect us in some way. Where additional complexity is added, the sculptural form has to work even harder to live. The qualities of the glazed ceramics and wood carvings are also recognised and appreciated in their own right.
First prize sculpture
Warmth, naivety and sensitivity; balance and good tonal qualities in the work and base. All angles have visual interest. Rigour evident in the consideration of form, but not overworked. Uneven base/shadow weakens the mass and also draws attention to the feet, which for me are perhaps the least strong part of the composition. Will be interesting to see if works on larger scale will be as affecting. 

First prize 3D
Raw use of material. Light, fresh and exciting organic forms which would benefit from the ability to see the group properly in the round on a background with even more contrast. Will be interesting to see how three-dimensional experimentation progresses.

Second Prize
Subtle use of colour that doesn’t overpower the forms or the surface texture. All the elements work well individually and mass is evident in the complete forms. The group composition does not weaken and the tonal balance of all elements including the base is pleasing. Needs to be viewed at eye level and in the round.

Highly commended – wax and wane
Utilitarian in construction, but fresh, simple and with good balance of materials, forms, tone and colour. I’d like to see it displayed slightly higher, perhaps against a window.

Highly commended – ram’s head
A strong study. The glaze doesn’t undermine the hand of the artist and helps unite the diverse forms.

Highly commended – stone carving
Fine tonal balance, exquisite colour and contrast of base. Ambiguity and the occasional suggestion of figurative form; pleasing leanness in parts of the carving.

Highly commended – portrait head
Despite inconsistent patination, this head has emerged from honest observation and I feel there is some inner strength to it. It seems to live and I can forgive its weaknesses.

Oxmarket award
This work has potential for the future – the surface feels over shiny, but I feel that with 12 months weathering outside, it will improve greatly. It works well in the round as well as having some interesting ambiguities which one takes time to warm to.

Jon Edgar  March 2009