Sculpture

Sculpture is art made in three dimensions. Instead of being painted on a flat surface, a sculpture takes up real space. You can walk around it, and sometimes you can touch it. Sculptors use materials like stone, wood, metal, clay, and even ice. Sculpture is one of the oldest kinds of art on Earth.

There are two main ways to make a sculpture. The first is taking material away. A sculptor starts with a block of stone or wood and chips, carves, or sands pieces off until the shape appears. Michelangelo worked this way. He once said his job was to free the figure trapped inside the marble.

The second way is adding material. Sculptors build up shapes from soft clay or wax. They can also pour hot metal into a mold and let it cool. This is called casting. The Statue of Liberty was made by hammering thin sheets of copper over a giant frame. She stands 305 feet tall from the ground to her torch, taller than a 30-story building.

People have been carving for a very long time. Ancient Egyptians built huge stone statues of their pharaohs and gods. The Great Sphinx of Giza, carved from solid rock about 4,500 years ago, is as long as a city block. Ancient Greek sculptors became famous for carving smooth marble figures of athletes and gods. Many of those statues were once painted in bright colors. Over thousands of years the paint wore away, which is why the marble looks plain white today. Most people are surprised to learn this.

Sculpture is not always a person or animal. Modern sculptors sometimes make abstract shapes that do not look like anything in the real world. Other artists build huge works outdoors. At Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, workers used dynamite and drills to carve the faces of four U.S. presidents into a granite cliff. Each face is about 60 feet tall.

Sculptures can also be tiny. Some Japanese artists carve detailed scenes called netsuke that fit in your palm. Sand sculptors at the beach build castles that wash away with the tide. Ice sculptors carve animals and buildings that melt within a day. Not every sculpture is meant to last forever.

The next time you walk past a statue in a park, look closely. Someone planned every fold of cloth and every curl of hair. They turned a lump of stone or metal into a person who has been standing there, quietly, for years.