Relating Humanistic, Organic Forms to New Materials and Methods in Sculpture
Authors:   , Sinclair Mary 
Published: February 2023

In the area of sculpture many types of forms have been produced from the idealistic and humanistic forms of the earlier civilizations to the completely non-objective forms of many current artists. In my search f or meaning in human related forms I used both subjective and objective forms. I have not worked with completely non-objective forms as they seem to me more like design problems, as though the creator of these forms quit before he had reached an ultimate solution. To have the most meaning for the viewer, or for the artist, the form used must relate to human experience in some way. It needs to evoke familiar forms or memories, or excite the viewer and cause him to explore the form more deeply to find its significance. It is no concern if the form does not mean the same to the viewer as it did to the artist. As human reactions to other areas are varied, so will the reaction to the work of art be varied. In developing the sculpture theme of the thesis, I found another area that I wished to explore to see if other materials than those conventionally used could be as successful in carrying the idea. Two pieces used were cast because of the warmth and humanistic quality to be gained, but the balance of the work was done in contemporarily developed processes and contemporary materials such as welding and brazing rods and plastics. The eutalloy torch, to coat metals, was also utilized to give the warmth of some of the softer metals, such as bronze, to a steel form. There are many more forms that can be developed, and more ways of working with the materials and methods than have been used here. Limited time and the expense of some of them has made it impossible f or the present. These materials tend to be more expensive than the usual ones. The advantage is that the equipment needed is much simpler to procure and it is possible for the artist to work by himself without having to depend on outside help for certain processes. The early phases of the work done for this thesis are more in the area of exploring form. The forms tend to be unrelated to natural forms outside of being organic in origin. As the work progressed I began to feel a need to express my concern for humanity. While man is perhaps wandering in a morass of confusion of his own making, he is essentially good and given a chance to learn understanding of himself and his fellow man, he could eventually evolve into something much better than he is. In the thesis I have not gone much beyond the start of a theme that may take a lifetime to develop. It is not possible to see where it might lead, but to me it is much more meaningful than simply developing forms that are unrelated to a humanistic idea. In summing up the work done, I find it possible to use the newer materials and not lose the theme. Although the methods a.re mechanistic the quality of relating to humanistic, organic forms is not lost. Rather the forms change because of the difference in methods, but the differences tend to make them more exciting to the viewer. In some areas, such as work with the plastics, I do not feel that I was too successful. Possibly with more time and experimentation these forms will lose the commercial quality that marks them at the present. There are more methods in which I would like to form this material and I am hopeful that some of them will be more pleasing. All of the methods used and the materials explored lead me to further experimentation. The thesis work has opened new doors and perhaps has solved nothing, but I feel that an earlier reluctance to work with some of the methods used was because of the mechanistic quality. Since I have found that the methods need not dominate the form I am more willing to use them and am ,eager to see what further forms can be evolved through these methods.