Alecia Rossano's Sculpture Blog

Making Progress

2011-12-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

Many readers may know that I've been preparing for an exhibition and working on casting a backlog of sculptures for some time. Yesterday, I went to the foundry for the final touches and patina on a replacement copy (#2 of a max 6 edition) of "Walking Warrior". More importantly, I dropped off the most recently completed clay sculpture tentatively titled "Morning". It was good to see her safely encased in silicone rubber and to know that she will not deteriorate.

Next up, I will need to touch up and cast "Katrina" and attempt to rehabilitate "Zack". Unfortunately, he needs new arms and hands, his lower legs should be re-sculpted and the body started to separate from the armature. I will try to get some photos in order to blog the restoration. Wish me luck - I'll need it!

It's Almost Complete...

2011-12-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Last week we had our last session with the model and once I finish the hands/feet and tidy the plinth it will be ready to cast!

Progress Report

2011-11-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos of my work in progress. I'm hoping to complete it this month if all goes well.

Work in Progress

2011-10-24T00:04:00.000-07:00

I'm about 9 hours into a new piece at the Gage Academy's reserved sculpting studio. Also had a lovely day at the foundry last week working on a new cast of "Walking Warrior" to replace the one that sold in March. Two Ravens Studio can now pour the metal in-house instead of outsourcing it to Portland which is nice since it allows us to be more sensitive about not disfiguring the work so much during that part of the process.

I'm Back!

2011-05-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the long gap between posts! A few months ago, I had a severe back injury and am still recovering. Luckily, it looks like things will be fine - with a lot of patience.

I do have some new photos, however. The seated male figure "Alan" which exploded in the kiln last summer is now repaired. Thanks to Peter Moehrle for the faux terracotta paint job. Also, I'm posting some images of a little clay sketch that I did at the Gage Drawing Jam in December. It took approximately an hour.

Unclad 2011

2011-02-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

I just received an e-mail that "Walking Warrior" aka "Brian" and "Zoey" were both accepted for the annual Unclad exhibition at Gallery By the Bay in Stanwood Washington. I hope to see some of you at the opening on March 12!

http://www.uncladart.com/

Walking Warrior

2011-01-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

Another sculpture is now complete. He's about 20 inches tall.

Introducing "The Pugilist"

2011-01-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

"The Pugilist" is now complete. I decided to try a Rodin style patina - very dark with just a hint of verdigris. Unfortunately, it's a little hard to photograph. Especially with the gloomy Seattle winter weather...

Update

2010-11-10T23:04:00.000-08:00

It's week 8 of a 10 week session at the Gage Academy and I'm starting to get nervous about completing my sculpture before our time is up as she still lacks hands, proper feet and many details. Still, I was happy to have made a small breakthrough this evening on improving the flow through the "stand leg". It was very straight and lacked rhythm, but after inverting the thigh slightly and pressing out the calf in the opposite direction it looks much better! Here are a few cell phone photos. Stay tuned for better images next week.

Foundry Open House

2010-11-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

"Pugilist" with original seams from reassembly

"Brian" and "Pugilist" with work by other artists

"Brian" and Mike who will be doing the metal chasing

"Brian", "Pugilist" and work in progress by other artists

Two Ravens Studio had an open house today. It was my first opportunity to see the bronze castings of "Brian" and "Pugilist Hoagie". There is still a lot of work to be done and you can see metal chaser extraordinaire Mike in the background of one of the photos. He will be working on removing all of the seam lines from where the castings were welded back together. It's a huge job requiring a great deal of technical and artistic expertise.

Work in Progress

2010-10-07T23:19:00.000-07:00

I just started a new piece at the Gage Academy reserved sculpture sessions. The pose has great flow, which makes it a lot of fun to sculpt!

Bronze of Alexis is Complete

2010-09-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images of the completed bronze figure of Alexis. Enjoy!

In Which Alecia's Sculptures Explode in the Kiln

2010-09-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Sadly, a sculpture recently self destructed in the kiln taking another one along with it. The process of restoration seemed like something interesting to post. The first stage was to glue the pieces back together and patch the holes. Next, I'll give each sculpture a uniform patina - probably faux bronze, but your suggestions are welcome. One of the wonderful things about sculpture is that almost anything can be repaired!

Gage Academy Awards

2010-06-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am feeling incredibly honored this evening after Yma won 2nd place at the 18th annual Gage Academy Awards juried by Seattle Art Museum director Derrick Cartwright. Thanks to everyone who came for their kind comments and feedback! The exhibition will be up through July 30 for those interested in checking it out. There is a lot of amazing work to be seen!

Update

2010-06-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, so there's a fair amount of news: The bronze of Zoey is complete, the reclining figure of Hoagie was successfully fired (thanks to Geraldine for painting the areas I had to touch up!) and a new standing male figure of Hoagie is progressing. The photos above were taken at 20 hours.

Lastly, I was able to check out the wax pattern for Alexis yesterday and she is headed down to Portland for casting today.

Alexis is delivered for casting

2010-04-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

It was another beautiful Sunday afternoon at Two Ravens Studio. I worked worked with Mike to patina "Zoey" and Delivered my latest piece "Alexis" for casting. Here is a preview of Alexis in the original clay. She will be resting her left hand on a staff, but that will be added at the end.

Two Ravens Studio in the Newpsaper!

2010-04-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Ed, Mike and Katrina for the profile in the Tacoma News Tribune. And you can see the bronze (in progress) of Zoey in the background of the photo!

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/04/09/1141079/artists-sculpt-a-business-plan.html

Something from last year

2010-03-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images of a terracotta sculpture I did last year. I'm currently working on finishing it up so that it can be fired.

Zoey Wax Pattern

2010-02-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon down in Lakewood at Two Raven Studio. The wax pattern is now finished and ready to be cast. It's in two halves so that the bronze will be hollow; after the metal is cast, the sculpture will be reassembled. The investment and casting will probably take place in Portland, but we may try out a small new foundry in Kent..

Zoey's ready for her mold

2010-02-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

At last, another sculpture is ready for casting! Unfortunately, the Foundry in Tacoma has closed, but Ed, their master mold-maker is still taking in projects. He'll make the mold and then contract out the casting to a foundry in Portland and coordinate the chasing, patina etc. I'm delivering "Zoey" to him tomorrow. Here are a few images.

Update

2010-01-13T14:42:00.001-08:00

Here are some new images of the reclining male figure that I posted earlier. He's almost ready to fire, but first I need to finish the hands, feet, ears and hollow him out.

Don't let this happen to you!

2009-12-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I discovered that a sculpture which had been almost ready for casting had spontaneously self destructed. Because I waited so long, and it had to be kept moist, the plywood base rotted and pulled apart. The sculpture separated from the feet and fell over. There are numerous breaks and the gluteal area is a total loss. Also, the ankles, feet and hands. The pose of the legs will have to be reset. Luckily, the piece was able to be re-mounted and the restoration can begin. The moral of the story is not to delay making the mold once you complete something, use longer screws to attach the flange to the base which should be waterproofed! Here are a few pics of the devastation.

New Drawings

2009-12-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

Here are two drawings that I did recently at the Digipen open studio and the Gage Academy drawing jam. The first is in Sanguine chalk pencil with white highlights and the second is in olive-green Lyra pencil with chalk highlights. Both are on toned Canson paper.

Sneak Preview

2009-11-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here are two low resolution phone snapshots of my current work in progress. It's a male reclining figure about 1/3 to 1/2 life size. Since he didn't require an armature, it will be possible to fire him in a kiln rather than cast him. This will be a lot less work and expense, but dangerous since there's always the possibility that the piece could break or even explode during the firing process. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish the sculpting with about six additional hours and then he'll have t0 be gradually dried to "leather hard" and hollowed out. Stay tuned!

Photos of the completed sculpture

2009-11-18T13:45:00.001-08:00

Yma is home

2009-11-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I finally made it down to the foundry to approve the metalwork and choose a patina. It was a bit nerve wracking to drive by the site of my near demise last week, but the car behaved very well.

At the foundry, Danella, the artist in charge of the reassembly and chasing handed me a sharpie to note any areas for revision. After a few polishing touches, the sculpture was sandblasted again and taken to Steve the patinator. We discussed the various options and I chose a medium-dark version of a patina known as "French Brown".

Steve bolted the piece onto a revolving stand, heated it with a blow torch, and sprayed it with a coat of "liver of sulfur" or sulfurated potash. This turned it almost black. The next step was to rinse it with water, give it a quick blow dry and wipe back the darkness from the higher areas before massaging the whole thing with loose sand which gave it a nice burnished effect. In order to create more depth and richness, we heated it again with an even larger blow torch and sprayed it with ferric nitrate which produced a warm red overtone.

While the sculpture was still hot, Steve brushed it with wax. It would take another half hour for it to cool before the final coat of wax and buffing so I had a chance to witness a different piece being poured in the forge area before heading home. I'll post photos of the finished sculpture next week, in the meantime, enjoy the images from the final stage of the process!

Yma is cast!

2009-11-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was excited to receive news (and photos) that Yma has been cast, reassembled, chased and is ready for a patina. In these photos you can see that bronze, in its natural state is really not very attractive so I need to decide what color she should be; probably a fairly traditional dark brown.

I was looking forward to finishing this process today, but on the way to the foundry in Tacoma my car broke down on the freeway and I had to spend the rest of the afternoon waiting for the tow truck, taking my car back to Seattle and then getting home. Hopefully, the car will be fixed in time to try again next week...

Waiting for the next step

2009-10-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

We had a faculty meeting yesterday afternoon, so I wasn't able to go see the casting. It was a hard decision whether to ask the foundry to go ahead without me since I'm eager to see the finished product or ask them to wait in order to get some photos. In the end, I didn't want to disarrange their schedule since they had quite generously planned to cast yesterday for my convenience. I'll plan to get some pictures of the next sculpture after investment and as it's poured.

The next stage for Yma, after casting, will be reassembly, and chasing to get rid of seams etc. Then I'll have to choose what color the patina will be. In the meantime, I'm working on re-hydrating and finishing up "Brian" and "Zoey" so that their molds can be made.

Wax Pattern Chased and Ready to Cast!

2009-09-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon chasing (touching up) the wax casting of the "Yma" sculpture. The foundry casts the wax pattern using a dark brown wax that is quite durable. To resculpt or smooth certain areas I also used a softer red wax and for filling in air bubbles, a very soft white wax which you can see in the photos which Kevin the foundry owner kindly took for me. The arms don't need to be reattached as they will be cast separately.
In the background, you can see the mold. It was made in several pieces using a high quality silicone rubber on the inside, with a plaster shell for support.

Next, the foundry will cut her in half (again!) so that the bronze will be hollow, attach sprues and do about 12 to 15 coats of ceramic investment. Hopefully, we'll be able to pour the metal by next Friday.

Welcome Class of 2013!

2009-09-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome Freshmen! If you found my blog, you are probably wondering who is this person who will be teaching you Art History and drawing. Since I am generally an obliging sort of person I thought I'd satisfy your curiosity with a few images of my work:

Latest sculpture now at the foundry

2009-09-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

I was very happy last week to finish my latest sculpture and take her to the foundry in Tacoma to be cast in bronze. For those of you wondering why the hands are dark in the photo, it is because they are made with brown plasticene (oil based clay) rather than "vashon white" water clay like the rest of the sculpture. Hands on a 20 inch figure are just too fragile for water clay and will inevitably dry out, crack and lose fingers before the rest of the body is "leather hard" which is the necessary consistency for mold making. The clay should not be so damp that the brush will damage it as you apply the silicone rubber, but if it's too dry it will crack, shrink and distort. The foundry's mold maker should be finished in another week at the latest an then they will cast a wax copy of the sculpture out of it.

Welcome to my blog

2009-08-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally decided to join the 21st century and create a blog. Here are a few images of my work in progress