ment casting, art casting steps usually require a much longer time frame. The steps in creat- ing the Marine in Bronze fig- ure are detailed below.


Sculpting the Maquette


Once the basic “vision” of the work has been decided upon, in this case the “BAR on the Beach” painting, the first task is to take the two-di- mensional image in the paint- ing and transform it into a three dimensional object. The first version is a small mode known as a “maquette.” The maquette is a tool that works out the draft composition of the sculpture in small scale in order to provide the client


an idea of what the monument will ultimately scale up to when complete. For a veter- ans memorial, there is typical- ly a committee that performs the review of the maquette to ensure it meets the original objective of the work. If modifications or slight changes are requested by the committee, these are made to the maquette and later re- viewed once again until the final version is approved. Given the nature of this type of art casting, client maquette reviews can often push out overall timelines significantly. In the end, the approved ma- quette provides the “final ver- sion” that I then scale-up to a life-size equivalent in clay form.


Sculpting the Clay Monument


With the final version of


the client-approved maquette serving as my visual guide, the first step in scaling up to a life-sized clay monument is to design and build an articulat- ing steel skeleton (also known as an armature) which ends up supporting the (sometimes considerable) weight of


the


clay model. This steel arma- ture is then later “bulked-out” with Styrofoam to give the hu- man body sculpture its rough muscular form. At this point, the “re-creation” of the Ma- rine figure began. It is no co- incidence that the “armature” is also called a steel skeleton. In my experience, the most accurate way to create a true representation of the human


form is to actually


“build”


it, layer by layer. This means starting with the “skeleton,” adding the appropriate surface anatomy of musculature and skin, followed by the first lay- er of clothing, then uniform parts, and finally equipment and weaponry. During this phase, accurate


the historically uni-


forms, equipment and weap- ons are measured and studied so that every detail is captured in clay, ensuring the sculpture is a true and accurate repre- sentation of the original paint- ing. The creation of the final scaled up clay monument re- quired seven months of work when all was said and done, but given the importance of the piece to both myself as a former veteran and to the client-veterans, there are no acceptable shortcuts.


Figure 3 – Clay model with first layer of “skin” September 2012


Figure 4 – Final clay model 19


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