Sculpture: Dimensionality

Sculpture

When I mold a piece of clay between my fingers the smell of the clay and its moist firmness draw me in and invite me to creatively engage with the medium. As I view a completed sculpture, its form and texture touches my soul in a way that paintings cannot. The creating and viewing of a sculpture is an experience that envelops the senses and ministers to the soul. I believe that sculptures touch people in a way that no other area of the arts can capture. However, to fully appreciate a sculpture, the formal and technical qualities of sculpture must be understood. According to the author of Reality Through the Arts, Dennis J. Sporre, the formal and technical qualities of sculpture include the “dimensionality, methods of execution, [and] composition” (67). In this blog I will be discussing the three forms of dimensionality, which includes full-round, relief, and linear sculpture (Sporre 67).

Dimensionality

Before discussing the three forms of dimensionality I need to identify what dimensionality means. The English Oxford Dictionary defines dimensionality as being "a measurable extent of some kind, such as length, breadth, depth, or height" ("Dimension"). In other words, dimensionality has to do with the volume of the sculpture. According to Sporre, there are three terms used to describe a sculpture's dimensionality; full-round, relief, and linear (67). Each form of dimensionality comes with its own physical and structural limitations, which may influence the sculptor’s decision to choose one type of dimensionality over another (Sporre 67).

Full-round Sculptures

When I think of full-round sculptures, I picture European style statues of gods or goddesses and bust portraits of Roman kings. However, the definition of full-round sculpture includes more sculptures than the classic European statues. Sporre explains that “full-round works are freestanding and fully three-dimensional [sculptures]…. intended to be viewed from any angle (67-68). In other words, full-round means the sculpture can be viewed not only from the front, but also the sides and back. Below are some examples of full round sculptures.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Netuno19b.jpg

http://www.portraitartistforum.com/attachment.php?s=613ef26ef5c35387018636444bb43a5d&attachmentid=23607&stc=1&d=1252560944

http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00besatCDFlvkO/Modern-Sculpture-Moon-in-Love-18026-.jpg

http://www.contemporist.com/photos/antony_gormley_block_works_04.jpg

Private Collection:
Created by Beth Nakatsui

As a ceramic artist myself, I have found that creating full-round sculptures does come with some difficulties, the most prominent of which is that the artist must account for gravity and balance. Sporre discusses how sculptors who choose to create full-round sculptures must create structurally sound creations that are not top heavy and can stand upright (68). Once when I was creating a sculpture of a gourd I curved the neck of the gourd and found that it would no longer stand upright because more weight was located on the front side of the sculpture. In order to bring the sculpture back into balance I added a leaf to the backside of the gourd, evenly distributing the weight. Sporre points out that professional sculptures also incorporate “… small animals, branches, tree stumps, rocks, and other devices … to give practical stability to a work” (69). When I analyzed the statue of Venus pictured below I discovered that the sculptor’s decision to place a dolphin and octopus next to Venus was probably not only an aesthetic decision but also one that would give the statue stability and enable it to stand alone without tipping. 

http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/images/l/00756201.jpg

Sporre explains that another limitation sculptors face when creating full-round works is that of subject matter. It is difficult to create full-round sculptures of an expansive countryside, a sunset, and the waves of the sea (68). Based on my personal observations of fellow artists and sculptures I have viewed in art museums, I have come to the conclusion that sculptors tend to avoid subject matter that involves an expanse of empty space and far reaching masses. I find that sculptors tend to create sculptures of objects, human beings, and animals rather than landscapes and skyscapes. I have included  two video clips below that show artists creating sculptures. The first video clip shows an artist creating a sculpture out of stone and the second shows an artist creating sculptures out of clay. These video clips will demonstrate how full-round sculptures are made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWMzxhhSk98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1tH03sOhkU

Relief Sculptures

The second form of dimensionality that I will be discussing is relief and specifically how relief sculptures are similar or different from full-round sculptures. According to Sporre a relief sculpture “… is three-dimensional... because it protrudes from a background, [but it also] maintains a two-dimensional quality, as compared to full-round sculpture” (69). Unlike a full-round sculpture, a relief sculpture can only be viewed from the front. Because a relief sculpture has a background it easily allows for representations of skyscapes, landscapes, and representations of large expanses (Sporre, 69). I believe that the main decision a sculptor must make when creating a relief sculpture is the amount the sculpture will protrude. There are specific terms used to describe the amount of projection used in a relief sculpture but authors define these terms differently. Sporre says that a bas-relief also known as a low relief protrudes slightly away from the background while a haut-relief also known as a high relief protrudes about half or more of the subject’s width (69). However, John W. Mills, author of The Technique of Sculpture, goes into more detail than Sporre and describes three types of relief sculptures. According to Mills, there is a low relief that bearly protrudes above the background, the bas-relief that protrudes “… as much as half the volume of the form…” and the high relief also called alto relief and is a sculpture that “… is using the complete form in the round, but keeping it attached to the background” (15-16). However the types of reliefs are to be defines, I believe the main point is that relief sculptures vary in the amount the sculpture protrudes from the background. Below is a picture of the Western door of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which is a relief sculpture that demonstrates a variety of levels of reliefs. 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/images/cathedrals/st-isaacs-cathedral/bas-relief-at-the-western-door-of-st-isaacs-cathedral-in-st-petersburg.jpg

Below I have included a video clip that demonstrates how a relief sculpture is made using clay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUEIdSsHRV0

Linear

When I think of the words linear sculpture, I am inclined to think that it is an oxymoron. When one defines the two words separately, the words seem to be opposites. According to the English Oxford Dictionary, linear is defined as “ involving one dimension only” and Sporre explains that sculpture is “a three-dimensional art” (“Linear” and Sporre 67). So, the idea of a piece of art that is both one dimensional and three-dimensional does not seem possible. However, linear sculptures do exist. To understand what qualifies as a linear sculpture, I will turn to Sporre for the definition. Sporre defines linear sculpture as those sculptures that “… [emphasize] construction with linear items such as wire or neon tubing” (70). In other words, linear sculptures are three-dimensional objects that are made up of linear materials. The photograph presented below is an example of a linear sculpture that was made by Kenneth Martin (“The Collection”). Martin used two-dimensional materials including sheets of painted metal and aluminum wire to create a mobile that takes up three-dimensions space (“The Collection”).

http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/images/standard/16934.jpg

Works Cited

"Dimension." Def. 2. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/dimension?q=Dimensionality#dimension__29>.

"Linear." Def. 1b. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/linear?q=linear>.
Mills, John W. The Technique of Sculpture. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1976. Print.

Sporre, Dennis J. Reality through the Arts. 8th ed. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2013. Print.

"The Collection." Government Art Collection. Department of Culture Media & Sport, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?obj=24179>.