Relief SculpturePrepared for Art 1

By Mrs. M. McDyreTo enhance part 1 of the paper sculpture relief

projects

A relief is a sculpted art work in which figures are either carved into a level plane, or the plane is removed to create images sculpted on its surface without completely disconnecting them from the plane, or pieces of the same material are created and assembled on top of a level plane. It is not free-standing or in the round, but usually has a background from which the main elements of the composition rise.There are three basic forms of relief sculpture:

bas-relief (low-relief), in which the sculpture is raised only slightly from the background surfacealto-relievo (high-relief), in which part of the sculpture is rendered in three dimensionsintaglio (sunken-relief), in which the image is carved into the surface material.

•Relief sculpture has a notable history dating back over 20,000 years in both eastern and western cultures. •They are often found on the walls of monumental buildings. Several panels or sections of relief together may represent a sequence of scenes.•Generally, relief figures and backgrounds are sculpted from the same material, but there are a few exceptions in Greek art and in the decorative work of the Chinese and Japanese, and others who used inlaid ivory , gold and cloisonne’ techniques to form reliefs.

bas-relief (low-relief), in which the sculpture is raised only slightly from the background surface

Low Relief sculpture ofSaint phylactery

At the Louvre12 Century

Modern Day and Ancient Coins are low relief

Santa Sabina AbductionOf Habakkuk

(doors of Santa Sabina in Rome)Early 5th Century

alto-relievo (high-relief), in which part of the sculpture is rendered in three dimensions (a form that extends at least halfway out of the background)

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564),

The Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs (Centauromachia)

1491-92, marble 33 1/4 x 35 5/8 inches

Casa Buonarroti, FlorenceRenaissance

This sculpture combines free-standing elements along with high and low relief

Robert Gould Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens,

1897, Boston

intaglio (sunken-relief), in which the image is carved into the surface material. Sunken relief is historically found in the art of Ancient Egypt where it is very common. Many forms of printmaking use the intaglio method to create their prints.

Luxor Temple of Thebes in Egypt5000 BC to 300 AD

As depicgted in a shrine, Pharaoh Ankhenaten with Nefertiti and their daughters 1300’s BC

Jeff Nishinaka is a modern day paper relief sculptor. Click on the following links, in order, to see some of his amazing art, and the process in which he creates it.

Jeff Nishinaka

http://freshperspectives.msn.com/theme/challenge/artist/jeffreynishinaka1/videos/511

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5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDz55tgvnrs&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdI1aNMBto&feature=player_detailpae

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhDuMUrPRxk&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDdI1aNMBto&feature=player_detailpage

http://freshperspectives.msn.com/theme/challenge/artist/jeffreynishinaka1/videos/52

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7

http://freshperspectives.msn.com/theme/challenge/artist/jeffreynishinaka1/videos/54

8 http://design-milk.com/fresh-perspectives-jeff-nishinaka/

Jeff Nishinaka- An article by Geoff CarterTo many artists, a blank sheet of paper represents a beginning, but to Jeffrey Nishinaka, it’s a means to an end. This inventive Los Angeles-based talent takes sheets of artist-grade paper, then cuts, folds and shapes them into multidimensional paper sculptures whose properties defy easy description, unless you drop the word “magic” in there somewhere.

“The way that things are in the foreground, middle ground and off in the distance … I see the world that way,” Nishinaka says. “I try to see things through my mind’s eye. If I look down this street to the intersection of another street, I can see the perspective — and I think, ‘That might make a really interesting sculpture.’”

“Interesting” doesn’t quite capture it. Think of a 3-D movie, with its overlapping planes and receding horizon, then remove all the color, leaving only texture and shadow. Through Nishinaka’s eye, the whole of our world is transformed into the shapes we once saw in clouds when we were young. This cloud looks like a city with gently bowing skyscrapers; that cloud looks like a dragon.

You’d expect Nishinaka to be boastful — it isn’t everyone who can see into other worlds or count Jackie Chan among his most devoted collectors — but he couldn’t be more humble. He sees paper sculpting as something he more or less fell into “back in [his] art school days.”

“It was quite by accident, but I seemed to take to it,” he says. “I was not really aware that there weren’t that many of us doing paper sculpture when I started, and later I was told that I was the first serious paper sculptor to come around in seven years. There still aren’t that many of us doing it.”

One need only examine Nishinaka’s methods to understand why there aren’t many paper sculptors around. His pieces take days, if not weeks, of close, patient work — there’s lots of shaping, folding, cutting and gluing to do. And, of course, there’s the matter of seeing the world in shapes you can cut out with an X-Acto blade.

“Individually, the shapes look like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces,” Nishinaka says. “I make the shapes a little bit more organic. I try to curve things. Even if a building is straight, I play with the perspective to make things more animated-looking.”

As it turns out, artists who play with perspective are exactly what we’ve been looking for.

Nishinaka was asked to create two pieces for Fresh Perspectives, on the themes of challenge and empower. The latter theme came easy: To Nishinaka, there’s nothing more powerful than a dragon. “The dragon seems to be the king of all those other mythological creatures,” he says.

Expressing challenge, however, proved a bit of an uphill climb.

“I did this building that’s basically on the top of a cliff, overlooking the ocean with a big sun coming up,” he says. “To me, it’s always a challenge to work yourself up to the top of it, and it’s also a challenge to stay up there. Once you’re up on top, there are people and circumstances that try to knock you off.”

And Nishinaka wouldn’t have it any other way.

“If I ever think, ‘OK, this is it, I’ve created the ultimate sculpture,’ then I really should retire, because that means I’m dead,” he says. “I hope to feel challenged for the rest of my life.”

Other Interesting things you can do

with paper sculpture

Now you have seen some amazing relief sculptures created by Jeff Nishinaka. The following pages are other forms of sculpture that can be made from paper.

Click on the link from each page then make it full screen to watch .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ceebqVQAk4&feature=player_detailpage

Patty and Allen Eckman have been creating wonderful high detail works in their hand made acid free cast paper sculpture since 1988 and they have become internationally recognized as not only masters in the medium but also the only masters of their medium. the Eckman Method® of museum quality fine art cast paper sculpture is a trademark of Eckman Fine Art Inc. and Allen and Patty Eckman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uzF-MxHa5YA

Misfold 1: Paper Sculpture in motion. Click on the link below to watch it in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDlY_Jt-Ba0&feature=related

A variety of interesting paper sculptures

Now that you have had a chance to see and learn about relief sculpture, modern paper relief sculpture, and modern paper sculpture take some time and go exploring in museums (use my website to help you), and youtube (use paper relief sculpture as the basis of your search) to see new things.

Go Exploring!

Have Fun!