Welcome! If you are interested in learning to sculpt, you might like to join my beginner sculpting class hosted by the Conroe Art League at the Madeley Fine Arts Gallery! My class is in session each year from Sept through May. Our last class for this spring will end on May 28th. Then we will start back up again in the fall. We meet on Tuesday nights from 6-8:30pm. If you are here because you are interested in joining my class, be sure to email me at donnacr3 @ gmail. com, and I can send you the registration information. My class lessons are not sequential, so I can always take a new person at the beginning of each month. For now, I’d like to share a little bit more about how my class works and what you can expect.
The Goal is to Learn While Having Fun!
Although I am a classical figurative sculptor, don’t worry! My class is geared for beginners and meant to be fun! My goal is to introduce you to the sculpting process and help you create some simple, but lovely sculptures that you will enjoy displaying in your home or giving as gifts. Most of my current students had little to no art experience or background at all! And they are all making beautiful sculptures!
Work at Your Own Pace
Several of my students have been in the class for 3-5 months, so they have learned a lot and understand the basics of sculpting. Each of them are also working on their own projects and at their own pace. If they have completed a project, we will consult on what they would like to try next. Then I will prepare reference materials and a model for them to use for their new project.
When class begins each week, most students are mid-project and can get to work right away. I will go from table to table, check out their progress, give them feedback, suggest the next steps, and demonstrate how to do what is needed. I often bring models and references to address issues that came up the week before or to help them on their next stage in their project.
Once everyone is back at work, I will work one on one with the student who is starting a new project. That will involve demonstrating the process for the new project and giving them reference materials and a model to work from. I continue to move from student to student helping and guiding them in their art work.
Suggested Seasonal Projects or Student’s Choice
I have a suggested list of projects available for students to choose from based on the season. Each month, I plan 2-3 projects that allow you to try a relief, an animal, or a fruit or figurative type sculpture. That way, if you don’t have an idea of what you’d like to try, I have some for you to pick from. Many times, as students get more sculpting experience, they begin to get inspired with ideas they would like to try. If you can imagine it, I can help you plan it! Some of the unique projects that have come up this year were bumble bees on honeycomb as a relief, a butterfly mobile, kites flying in the clouds relief, and ‘yoga’ frogs!
When New Students Join the Class
When a new student joins the class, I have a few required projects to help get them started. These projects are designed to teach the basic steps of sculpting. The first lesson will be sculpting a half sphere. We will open your tools and supplies, learn what they are and how they are used. I will give you a bucket to transport your sculpture to and from class as your early projects make take a couple of class sessions to complete. We can’t leave projects at the gallery because many other classes are held in the same room. You will use your tools to sculpt the half sphere first and learn the four main sculpting processes – adding, blending, averaging, and removing clay to make a shape. The tools are used for each of those steps. You will also learn how to care for the clay and how to prepare a piece for firing.
The next beginner project will be to sculpt a simple fruit and learn how match your clay creation to a model (a piece of fruit). You will learn how to block in the larger forms, add the medium forms, and use your tools and various techniques to refine your shape to match the original. Learning to ‘see’ the outline of the shapes is a very important lesson! Your measuring tools, photos, and a black background board will help you ‘see’ better and copy your model more accurately. Don’t worry, we aren’t trying to sculpt anything ‘perfectly’! But the closer you get to your model, the happier you will be with the result.
At that point, you should be able to choose one of the suggested projects for that month and either sculpt an animal or a relief. Once you have sculpted one of each of these four types of sculptures(half sphere, fruit, animal, and relief), you will have a good foundation for sculpting other things that you might be interested in!
At first, like all skills, you will find it a bit challenging, but with practice, you will get more proficient and your enjoyment will grow! Whatever stage you are at, I have lots of ways to help insure that you are able to make pretty things that you will enjoy.
As you get more experienced, I will move you from very beginner projects with patterns and simple shapes, to more technical sculpting techniques and projects that are more challenging. A bunny is pretty easy but an owl or a dog will be a more challenging and rewarding project!
Although we are sculpting cute and fun projects, I teach you the same sculpting principles I learned in my formal classes. I want you to have fun, but also learn the skills that will allow you to sculpt whatever you want to make and to be able to sculpt at home on your own. However, everything will move at a pace that is comfortable for you. I want you to enjoy every class! I don’t assign homework, but you are free to work at home when you feel ready to do that and have the space to work.
My goal is to teach you how to sculpt, so that you will develop the skills you need to sculpt other projects at home on your own once you leave my class. Some of my students even teach their grandchildren what they learn! And if you decide that you want to pursue more advanced sculpting studies, just let me know! I can help you with that too.
Just send me an email if you are interested, and I’ll let you know if I have an opening. Four of my students have been coming for several months, but I usually have one or two openings that come up from month to month. I keep the class to six so that I can give each of you adequate teaching time each week.
I look forward to meeting you if you decide to join!
Donna C. Rodgers, Sculptor 