The Sculpture Gallery

In Makati City, the M.West Rotary Club has been doing this annual project of hosting an art exhibition to help raise funds for different charities. Entitled the "Alay Sining" (Filipino), the exhibit brings together many of the country's nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. Pieces by Renowned sculptors Imao and Pilapil are among the works that belonged to the Alay Sining 4 exhibition that was held a few months ago at the Mandarin Oriental. Being the fourth exhibition in a row, art patrons and enthusiasts alike attended this ground-breaking event which featured sculpture as the main artistic media, as well as some pieces of art-based jewelry done by the sculptors. Life-size pieces were also on display. Mixed media pieces made creative use of bullets, copper wire, cast marble and bronze. Father and Son pairings Fred and William Baldemor and Seb and Kylo Chua were among the 20+ attending sculptors that were invited to the notable art endeavor. Other personalities included ceramic sculptor Maria Magdamit, who also took the time to create tiara-like sculptures for the jewelry part of the exhibition.

The one-day exhibit was curated in a way that allowed guests and patrons to move around with ease and view each of the artworks to their heart's content. The ground layout for the show was done in a circular spiral fashion that gave each artist a display table to showcase at least 3 of his fine sculptures. The life-size sculptures were placed in the middle of the showroom to add aesthetic ambiance to the entire exhibition. I hope that next year, Alay Sining will continue, as the Philippines is currently a great spot to find groundbreaking contemporary art and sculpture.

The Umlauf Sculpture garden is a spectacular site recognized by both travelers and artists alike for its natural ambiance and aesthetic medley of sculptures. It is located at Located at 605 Robert E. Lee Road beside Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. Charles Umlauf was an American Sculptor who studied with the Art Institute of Chicago. Umlauf eventually came to teach at the University of Texas' School of Art in Austin for 49 years.

Umlauf's donation to the world of art was his home studio, which later on became the Umlauf Sculpture Garden. He donated everything in 1985 and the total lot comprised of more than 160 Umlauf sculptures. Among the pieces Umlauf gave to the city were his bronze sculptures; Icarus (1965) and The Kiss (1970). In 1991, the city of Austin built a museum to display Umlauf's artworks on city property connected to the area as well. The garden is maintained by Austin's Parks and Recreation Department, while staff is comprised of volunteers and citizens. The museum park also features artworks and showcases by outside sculptors on a temporary basis.


The park's impressive display of lifesize artworks would be a great addition to any art lover's travel log. Sculptures like The Diver (1956) interact in still life with the natural surroundings by using permanent, yet natural postures created by Umlauf's eye for beauty.

One of the most basic materials to practice cast sculpture with is resin. Traditionally used for art crafts and decor, resin functions as a hard fundamental casting medium for you to try out casting for the first time. The resin used here is usually a synthetic monomer and not a natural resin. This type of material is commonly used to make polymer plastics. The types of Resins are Epoxy Resin (lower viscosity), Polyurethane Resin, Polyester Resin (shrinks while curing), and Acrylic Resin (good with transparency). An exothermic reaction is caused by mixing polyurethane for example, with a curing agent. This creates heat and causes the combined materials to harden/solidify.

Moulds for casting can be made out of several materials, but the two most common ones are silicone rubber and plain plaster. Both can be obtained for a relatively low cost.

Gravity casting is a term used when referring to allowing resin to flow into the mould cavities merely by using gravity's pull on it after letting it pour vertically into a mould. Air bubbles are usually formed when this happens, so a vacuum chamber is always necessary for clean material output. To push the resin material further into the mould (for detailed pieces), sometimes a centrifugal force or pressurized force can be used. There are lots of machines that can aid in the casting process' artistic quality and finesse.

There is another technique called injection moulding, however this involves the creation of a metal mould with a much higher cost rate. The upside is that much more quantity can be produced using a single mould.

Casting art, sculpture or decor with resin is one of the most common commercial and artistic processes anywhere in the world. This technique has even found its way into doll-making, dentistry and toy-making. The possibilities are simply endless.

The lost wax process is probably one of the most famous casting processes that has circulated throughout the modern art community. Aside from bronze usage it can also be used with other metals (for jewelry sculpture) or with some non-metal materials like powdered marble. The first step of the sculpting process is to fashion a 3D design out of wax. Sculptors may also mix the wax with paraffin in different amounts to adjust the hardness of the wax. This is very important because the wax needs to stay directly in place while the artist is carving it. Always keep in mind that the balance and position of every element within the sculpture could play a vital or fatal role in the durability of the finished bronze piece.

Carving sculptures in wax can be relatively easy due to the material traits of normal wax. Practice can be done in blocks or candlesticks before the actual design process takes place. This may give the artist a good feel of the material before proceeding any further.

Once the carved studies are finished in wax, a sculptor then needs to attach them to wax funnels by welding sprues (sticks also made of wax). Melting and fusing wax is easy when you have a heated metal material to join the two parts. A heated rod (with a non-heated handle) might be a good choice for doing this. Afterwards, the sculptures are always places near to the bottom of the funnel. Thick sticks of wax are joined using the heated metal rod onto the sculpture where the molten bronze will enter. Thinner sticks of wax can also be joined nearer to the top of the sculpture to form vents. An artist must take into consideration the fact of air entrapment in the negative mold to come. The reason vents are placed properly is so that the pockets of air can escape in order for the molten bronze to fill the cavity of the negative mold.

This mold that we've been talking about must be a negative side of the positive design of the wax sculpture. The wax sculpture must eventually be melted out of the mold before proceeding with the casting. Remember also that before pouring any amount of molten bronze into the mold, the mold must be heated to a suitable degree (it must never ever be cold). The artist then sets the mold onto a vertically stable position and can then proceed with pouring his molten bronze into the cavity of the mold.

Once the bronze has been allowed to cool off, the mold material can be scratched away to reveal the solid bronze interior of the sculpture. Remember the wax sticks that were used as vents? Well, in the final sculpture they are still present, now as solid bronze. The sculptor would need to clear them out with power tools and then simply finish the piece with sandblasting equipment and metal polish or an applicable patina.