Sculpture
The First Fort Worth Sculpture Symposium

Sculpture is an art form that requires a great deal of technical skill as well as creativity. Often, sculptors train for many years. Sculptors create their art in many different ways and different materials.

Additive-When a sculptor starts with nothing and builds a form with wax, clay, papier mache, or other materials. (Red Grooms, The Kid, 1987, Enamel on steel, Edition of four, 33 x 30 x 24 inches, Collection of the artist and Lysiane Loung). Commissioned by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Benjamin I. Tillar Memorial Trust.

Subtractive-When a sculptor cuts or carves away from material such as wood or stone to create a form. The sculptor subtracts what is not necessary in the sculpture. (Michelangelo, Moses, 1513-1516, Rome, San Pietro in Vincoli)

Constructive-When a sculptor uses materials such as metal, wood, or plastic and puts them together with bolts, nails, and glue. Contemporary artists may create sculpture by putting together objects they have found in new and interesting ways. This is called assemblage. (Alexander Calder [1898-1976]; Hats Off, 1969, from the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo.)

Casting-A method of reproducing a sculpture by pouring a liquid, such as bronze, into a mold made by the artist. This allows the artist to make many copies of the piece. (Glenna Goodacre, Naiads, bronze casting, larger-than-life, Botanic Garden Center and Conservatory)

Sculpture is the oldest known art form with objects that have survived. The earliest sculptures were made from bone, ivory, stone, or antlers. They were often engraved, relief, or sculptures in the round. Sculpture is internationally practiced and has been created for thousands and thousands of years.

During July and August of 1999, the Botanic Garden of Fort Worth hosted a unique symposium (a symposium is a friendly meeting to discuss a topic). What made Fort Worth’s symposium unique was that the topic explored was the collaborative creation of a monumental sculpture, as well as the creation of an individual work by each of the four artists. Each of the individual works is to be housed on a site in different parts of Fort Worth, and the organizers and supporters of this symposium are optimistic that this will be just the beginning of many such events in the city’s future.

Another unique aspect of this event was that it was open to the public and visited by FWISD students from year-round schools, and documented on video by TCU students and faculty. The students and public had the first-hand opportunity to view the process behind the creation of a sculpture.

Selected by the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, all four of the artists are residents of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Artist Biographies

Bread Clay

Edible Sculpture

Synthetic Marble

Fort Worth Outdoor Sculpture Scavenger Hunt