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The Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School holds workshops that allow you to make sculpture.  The most important parts of making sculpture at our studio are learning to;

• “see” (perception of 3D form, what it can be, its nuances and its metaphysical meanings),
• translate a reference (either self-created or found) successfully,
• be constructively self-critical,
• maintain a studio with its materials and tools,
• use tools and materials specific to clay and casting.

Our studio is unique in that we concentrate on the traditional methods of creating sculpture based around the use of clay and casting. This method has been in use by sculptors for millennia (metal casting has been dated back to 3500BC in India, for instance) with clay or wax being used to create sculpture. Learning this method can be valuable for even those with prior tertiary training in sculpture to get a traditional disciplined perspective on their artistic practise.

At the studio, we cast in plaster. Plaster casting has been in practise since the 16th century, at first as a way of easily and cheaply replicating valuable works, and now used as a cost-effective way to cast original work.

New students of sculpture have a long way to go before being able to cast in plaster, let alone in other materials. It is a beautiful creative process with instant tangible physical results – it is so easy to become entranced with the sculpting process!

Workshops

• 4 terms of 10 weeks per year.
• Participants encouraged to create the works they want.
• Teachers give guidance and advice as/where necessary at the student’s level.
• Participants work at their own pace.
• Focus on clay/plaster cast sculpture and can also accommodate carving (soapstone, limestone, serpentine).
• All materials supplied (except stone).

Beginner’s Program

• 10-week course designed to build confidence with basic materials and tools.
• Students are lead through a specific course structure that is paced for students to absorb each step wholly.
• Teachers offer a series of specific, easily executable references (masks or reliefs) for the course.
• If students attend every class, a sculpture will be finished by the end of the term.
• Beginners students are mixed within more advanced sculptors in the studio.

Life Class

• Advanced class.
• Live model.
• Most important step in learning the tradition of sculpture.
• Concentration on the fundamentals of perception.

Drawing for Sculpture

• Learn to focus on;

1. the rhythmic movement of the pose,
2. the structure of the figure and its major elements,
3. the relationship of the forms and the processes in the figure.
4. 6 week course usually starting 3 weeks into each term.

• Live model
• Drawing to compliment a sculptural practise (not drawing for its own sake)