Paul Bearman, a sculptor, works chiefly with found materials, mostly wood. He developed work with pupils from Woodchurch High School & Higher Bebington Junior School based around living creatures, particularly birds & gave the students an opportunity to work with multiple images taken from the natural environment close to the schools. Sculpture is the art of creating forms in three dimensions. Two techniques used in creating form from materials are carving & modelling. Carving is a subtractive process removing waste material until the form emerges. Modelling is the opposite process using materials to build up the form. A variety of materials can be used to model a form. Malleable materials like clay & wax can be used as a foundation for building a sculptural form in more permanent material such as bronze. It is possible to construct an armature or skeleton to which flesh is added. Skeletal material include wire, willow, wood and rolls of paper. Armatures can be carved with plaster, paper, and clay, which are moulded into shape. The purpose of casting objects is to reproduce objects in a more permanent material or replicas of the same image over again. Anthony Gormley's bronze figures at the Royal Academy are an example of this. Christine Kowal's posts wooden carving at the Williamson Art Gallery is an excellent example of a subtractive process. Ceramics Clay is probably the most commonly used modelling material as it is found throughout the world. Clay is baked in a kiln to render the shape permanent. The first firing in a kiln is known as biscuit firing to harden the material. The second firing requires the addition of glazes made from copper oxide. Glazing gives a colour and a waterproof finish to the object fired. The examples above display pupils completing a mosaic for a wall relief at Pensby High School for Girls, & a ceramic wall plaque to celebrate 175 years of the founding of St Bridgets Primary School.

To watch a video clip about the project click below: If you are on a 56k modem Internet connection click here. If you are on a Broadband connection click here.

What are Artists-in-Residence? | Meet the Artists Involved | Year 2000 Projects | Final Exhibition | Past Projects | Sponsorship | Preview the Videos | Acknowledgements

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This page was last updated on Thursday, 27 January, 2005