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Sculpture Vocabulary

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3D

See Three-dimensional below

A
Additive

Adding material together to create a sculpture/form.

Armature

A skeleton of a sculpture that supports the outside material.

Assemblage

Combining non-art materials together to make a sculpture.

B
Base

A foundation piece(s) that a sculpture is attached to preventing tipping and gives a sculpture a sense of presentation.

Bust

A portrait sculpture or a painting representing a person’s head, neck, shoulders and upper chest, and perhaps the upper arms.

C
Carving

Removing material/ media by cutting or chipping away to create a sculpture. 

Casting

A sculpture method where the material in its liquid form is poured into a mold and then the material turns to a solid thereby taking the negative shape of the mold.

E
Earthworks

Large sculptures made outside with earth

Ephemral

Using impermanent materials that don’t last or slowly change.

Freestanding

Sculpture stands on its own and is meant to be viewed from all sides/angles.

I
Installation

A sculpture where participants are able to be in the sculpture or a part of the sculpture. It is generally a site-specific design and might have a “lifespan.”

K
Kinetic

A sculpture that moves. This could be due to a motor, air movement, or any other external force.

M
Maquette

A small scaled model of a larger (monumental) sculpture.

Mobile

A sculpture that relies on the balancing of sculptural arms to create suspended artwork that moves with air circulation.

Modeling

This is a process of applying a malleable material to an armature for the purpose of creating a sculpture. Similar to laminating but with thicker layers.

P
Paper-mache

Is a mixture of a binding agent (glue) and water that is applied to strips of paper and then put over a form/armature using a laminating process.

Plasticine

A form of modeling clay. It does not dry out and is commonly used in stop motion. It also can be molded (see molding) over a form/armature.

S
Sculpture

A three-dimensional work of art

Subtractive

The artist starts with a larger piece of material and removes some of it until only the desired form remains.

T
Three dimensional

Having three dimensions. For example, a box is three-dimensional.