PORTRAIT SCULPTURE COURSE

Contact: 301 633 2858, or 443 764 5364 by cell phone call, or text message, or contact: sculptorBradP@sculptorBradP.com to arrange a visit, or to enroll in a class or open group. Message Board below seems to have issues. Calendar is general information on classes available, days and times vary.

Portrait Sculpture Course

This course is divided into six parts. Each part includes 24 sessions over 12 weeks:

• Daytime classes: 5 hours each (includes a 30–60 min review after model time)

• Evening classes: 4 hours each (includes a 30 min review after model time)

Students will work from a single life model or antique plaster portrait bust or a plaster cast for the full duration, allowing for deep study and refinement.

Course Focus

• First half: Bone structure, mass, and proportion.

• Second half: Surface structure, anatomy, and character/personality of the model.

• Throughout: Geometric patterning, commensurate planes, and planar rhythms.

• Outcome: Extended study time develops a more mature, articulated portrait.

Workshop Option

Additional free optional workshop time 5 hours day, 4 hours evening each week (without a live model) is included at no extra cost.

• Focus: Continue working from the instructor’s demonstration sculpture, or plaster cast sculpture.

• Scheduled once weekly by class consensus.

• Attendance is optional.

• Rescheduling is not possible after the semester schedule is set.

Tuition

• $2,136.00 per 12-week segment

  • 24 classes, meeting twice weekly.

  • Options available for once-a-week or private instruction (day or evening).

• Materials & Armature Prep

  Choose one

  • Option A — Build your own:
    Build an armature before classes begin. A free armature-building workshop is included for students enrolled in the first 12-week session.

  • Option B — Use a loaner (limited):
    Loaners are for in-studio use only and must remain in the studio. If you use a loaner, you agree to replace the aluminum alloy wire and one stainless-steel pipe fitting (Tee or 4-way Cross) at the end of your enrollment.

  You may keep a self-built armature and/or use it for making a plaster cast.

  What to supply – Option A — Build your own:

  Plywood base (bring finished to the workshop)

  • Laminate two 18″ × 18″ × 3/4″ A/C exterior fir plywood panels with wood glue.

  • • While immediately after the two boards are together, curing, pin aligned boards flush together with ~20 resin-coated brads (≈1–1/8 to 1¼” long); countersink so no heads or points are exposed on the board surface.

    • Suggested layout: 16 around the perimeter (2″ in from edges) and 4 midway to center.

  • • Round all edges/corners with sandpaper – easier using a sandpaper holder rubber block and after seal all sides with 4–5 coats of polyurethane until smooth and fully sealed, should feel like a plastic coating.

  Hardware & wire (see full supply list)

  • Stainless-steel plumbing pipe and fittings (including one Tee or 4-way Cross)

  • Stainless-steel machine bolts

  • Aluminum sculpture wire (specified gauges/lengths)

  Bring to the free workshop: finished plywood base, stainless-steel pipe/fittings, aluminum wire, and stainless-steel bolts.
  A detailed supply list is provided upon enrollment.

  Materials: Sculpture Tools

  • Loaner tools (in-class only):
    A minimal set is provided for use during class sessions and must remain in the studio for the duration of the course.

  • Basic personal tools:
    A supply list of core tools (many with an ~1-year lifespan) will be provided. Plan to replace these as they wear out.

  • Optional: make your own tools:
    During designated workshop time, you may craft personal tools. This requires purchasing Lignum Vitae (or approved hardwood) and access to a table saw, band saw, and metal files (rat-tail and half-round).

  • Chavant NSP (Non-Sulfur, soft or medium hardness red brown) or Chavant Le Beau Touche HM (High Melt) red brown clay.
• Studio provides: wheeled sculpture stands, limited loaner armatures (with replacement parts required). Limited loaner sculpture tools on loan only in class

Method

• Sculpture in plasteline (non-drying clay).

• Emphasis on learning to “see dimensionally” by understanding relationships of shape and rhythm.

• Students develop essential skills to construct aesthetic and expressive sculptural form.

Course Objectives & Description

Objectives

Students will learn to:

• Recognize and work with patterned shapes

• Measure angles and proportions accurately

• Understand glyptek shape as it defines form

• Apply turning rhythms for effective composition

• Establish visual scale from life to sculpture

• Grasp the use of commensurate planes

• Study basic to intermediate anatomy

Course Benefits

This course is designed for students of sculpture, painting, and drawing. Through structured exercises, students will:

• Study anatomy, rhythms, geometric shape types, planes, symmetry, and balance.

• Learn how large forms relate to smaller details in the head and figure.

• Use shadows as a tool to reveal form rather than conceal it.

• Develop the ability to create natural, ordered, and functional figures—avoiding work that feels oversimplified or cartoon-like.

• Build a strong foundation, so that individual style can emerge intentionally rather than by mistake.

Resources

Students will have access to a unique reference collection, including:

• Anatomical models and full skeletons (European, early 20th c.)

• Painted plaster dissections of the head/neck and torso

• Antique European plaster casts and anatomical figure plasters

• Sectioned plaster dissections (life-cast, NYC)

Artistic Tradition

Classes combine both theory and practice, drawing on traditions from:

• Greek Classical & Hellenistic art

• Renaissance and Baroque masters

• Neo-Classical and Neo-Hellenistic art

Enrollment

• Class size is limited to 10 students.

• A complete supply list is provided upon enrollment.

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Parking is free, there is plenty of space available for the model and students to park on the Square, as well as additional parking behind the townhouse in a private parking area.
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More advanced classes available.

Private Sculpture Studio, Drawing & Sculpture Classes, By Appointment – Open Drawing & Sculpture Group Sessions, Commissioned Portrait Bust Sculpture, Fountain Sculpture, Figure Sculpture, & Relief Sculpture Compositions. Private Gallery of exhibited sculpture, by appointment only.

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