CARA'S TIPSModelling, carving, casting, construction; product design; Paper 3C project
JAMBWAECNECO
What the syllabus asks
JAMB: sculpture (clay, metal, wood, papier-mâché, cement; clay works fired), product design/modelling (automobiles, phones, bottles, cosmetics); materials (POP, fibreglass, cement, card); 6-month project with notes and working drawings (10%). JAMB Section C 1(c) sculpture techniques; C 2d improvisation (spatula, beater); Section B traditional and contemporary Nigerian sculpture.
WAEC: sculpture (clay, metal, wood, papier-mâché, cement; clay works fired), product design/modelling (automobiles, phones, bottles, cosmetics); materials (POP, fibreglass, cement, card); 6-month project with notes and working drawings (10%). JAMB Section C 1(c) sculpture techniques; C 2d improvisation (spatula, beater); Section B traditional and contemporary Nigerian sculpture.
NECO: sculpture (clay, metal, wood, papier-mâché, cement; clay works fired), product design/modelling (automobiles, phones, bottles, cosmetics); materials (POP, fibreglass, cement, card); 6-month project with notes and working drawings (10%). JAMB Section C 1(c) sculpture techniques; C 2d improvisation (spatula, beater); Section B traditional and contemporary Nigerian sculpture.
What you will learn
- Classify sculpture by form and method.
- Describe modelling, carving, casting and construction processes.
- Use POP, cement, papier-mâché and fibreglass safely.
- Finish, mount and care for sculpture.
- Explain product design principles and process.
- Plan and document a Paper 3C project.
Key points
- Sculpture in the round vs relief.
- Additive: modelling, construction; subtractive: carving; replacement: casting.
- Fired clay: hollow, even walls, air hole, slow drying.
- Wood: seasoned, with the grain; adze, gouges, rasps; finish.
- POP: sprinkle into water; separators; waste, piece, flexible moulds.
- Cement: armature, layers, cure damp.
- Papier-mâché: strip or pulp; fibreglass: resin + catalyst + mat.
- Plinth, patina, care, display.
- Product design principles and process; mock-up vs prototype.
- Paper 3C: six months; notes 10%; clay fired.
Start here: Sculpture: meaning, types and forms
Sculpture is the art of creating three-dimensional forms that have height, width and depth and occupy real space. It may be representational (a human figure, an animal) or abstract (pure form).
Free-standing and relief
- Sculpture in the round (free-standing): can be viewed from all sides, such as Ben Enwonwu’s Anyanwu or an Ife bronze head.
- Relief: forms project from a background surface and are seen mainly from the front, such as Benin brass plaques, carved Yoruba palace doors, and cement wall panels.
- Low (bas) relief: shallow projection (coins, medals, many Benin plaque backgrounds).
- High relief: forms project at least half their depth, sometimes with undercuts.
- Sunken (incised) relief: forms cut below the surface (much ancient Egyptian wall carving, va9).
Other categories
- Monumental sculpture: large public works, statues and memorials (for example statues of national heroes at roundabouts and government buildings).
- Kinetic sculpture: moves, by wind or motor (mobiles).
- Installation and assemblage: arrangements of objects in a space (El Anatsui’s metal-foil hangings bridge sculpture and textile).
- Functional/applied sculpture: carved doors, stools, house posts, staffs, masks.
Functions
Religious (shrine figures, masks), commemorative (ancestor and royal figures, statues), decorative (architectural reliefs), political (monuments to unity), educational, and economic (tourist carvings, commissions).
Elements specific to sculpture
Mass and volume (solid bulk and the space it encloses), surface texture (polished or tooled), light and shadow on forms, negative space (openings, as in modern abstract sculpture), plinth/base (how the work meets the ground), and viewpoint (how the form changes as the viewer moves around it).
WAEC requirement
Paper 3 Section C sculpture may be in clay, metal, wood, papier-mâché, cement and other materials. All works in clay must be fired. The project is executed over the six months before the examination, with notes, diagrams and working drawings (10% of the marks).
Worked example 15.1 Paper 2: “Distinguish between high relief and low relief, giving one Nigerian example of relief sculpture.” (8 marks)
- Relief: forms projecting from a flat background, viewed mainly from the front (2 marks).
- Low (bas) relief: shallow projection, no undercutting, such as the low background figures on some Benin plaques or coin designs (2 marks).
- High relief: forms project at least half their natural depth and may be undercut, such as the main figures of Benin brass plaques or Lamidi Fakeye’s carved door panels (2 marks).
- Sketch of both sections (2 marks).
Answer: Definitions, examples and a labelled sketch.
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Practice questions
- subtractive method
- additive method
- casting method
- construction method
Show answer
A: subtractive method
Material removed.
- subtractive method
- intaglio method
- planographic method
- additive method
Show answer
D: additive method
Material built up.
- plinth
- sprue
- armature
- maquette
Show answer
C: armature
Support skeleton.
- relief
- maquette
- plinth
- armature
Show answer
B: maquette
Sketch model.
- prevent cracking and bursting
- make them heavier
- add colour
- increase shrinkage
Show answer
A: prevent cracking and bursting
Even drying and firing.
Key words
- In the round
- Free-standing, seen from all sides.
- Relief
- Forms projecting from a surface.
- Modelling
- Building up soft material.
- Carving
- Cutting away material.
- Casting
- Pouring into a mould.
- Construction
- Joining parts.
- Armature
- Internal support.
- Maquette
- Small preliminary model.
- Adze
- Chopping carving tool.
- Riffler
- Small curved file.
- POP
- Plaster of Paris.
- Shim
- Thin metal divider for moulds.
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