Galleria Romanelli, Bernini Foot
The next sculpture I would be copying is a foot from Bernini's sculpture of David. Bernini worked in the baroque style, and many of his sculptures had an idealized form which could be slightly different from normal human anatomy. In addition Rafaello would stress the importance of always copying the sculpture exactly, as there is a tendency to recreate ones own anatomy when doing a sculpture. In a way this makes sense as when you think of a foot, the foot you see the most over your lifetime is your own foot, and subconsciously you will copy its forms. This would happen to me on this sculpture, even with this warning, as it tends to be subconscious and you don't realize you have done it until quite a bit later.
Accidentally modeled my own foot arch and toes instead of the models.
This sculpture would prove challenging on many levels. It was more difficult than the previous and there are many subtle variations of depth in the human foot and hands. Another difficulty experienced was in the initial modeling phase which is done quickly much of the clay was so wet that it compressed giving this sculpture a case of fat ankles. One method Rafaello showed me that helped on this sculpture, was looking at the sculpture through a mirror. This makes the scuplture look unfamiliar, and easier to spot problems.
First steps, 30 minutes in. Important to always make sure the base is correct, as everything is built from there. then finding proper height and width.
Subtle differences in the size of the base, and the angle of the ankle would be a continuing issue. It is very important to make sure the base is accurate before moving forward.
By using the mirror technique, and frequently looking at the sculpture through a mirror, the base was able to be corrected, and angle of the ankle improved.
Whenever possible, getting sculpture and model as close together as practical will help with spotting differences. Here working on the angle and width of the ankles.
As time goes on a sculpture will start to dry out. For the ankles it was neccessary as the wet clay kept compressing to make fat ankles, But the only way to get rid of the cracks it to apply water and mix the layers of clay together. Managin the amount of water in the scuplture is important for being able to do different shapes and techniques
When complete, any piece that will be fired is hollowed out This will reduce the chance of cracking and explosions when the peice is fired in the kiln.
It is said that art is never finished, only abandoned. Having learned many lessons the peice is sent off to be fired, improved from earlier mistakes, but still not perfect.
A few weeks later it arrives back from the kiln. The discoloration and cracking can be fixed in a fininshing process, but time ran out as I was busy with other projects at the end of the internship.
