Dynamic Gesture Sculpture
Adult Course | Registration opens 2/4/2025 7:00 AM MST
In Dynamic Gestural Sculpture students will learn how to use oil-based clay to quickly capture the expressiveness and energy of the model’s pose. This class is beneficial for anyone working in the figurative arts to bring your figurative art to life.
Students will work with two 12” armatures each class and learn how to rapidly build up the figure with clay to create dynamic gestural sculptures. Techniques of clay working, tool selection and texture will be demonstrated. Discussions will focus on anatomy, proportion, and sculptural movement.
There will also be a PowerPoint presentation regarding historical and contemporary figurative artwork. Each class begins with a brief lecture and a handout outlining the classes artistic goals for that day.
Students will learn the basics of working with oil-based clay, figurative proportion, how to think of the figure in terms of geometric construction, and will learn basic figurative anatomy.
- Students will be emailed a tools list that can be ordered ahead of class or after the class begins once we discuss sculpture tools. Clay and two 12" armatures will be provided.
Patrick Stephenson
Patrick Stephenson started his figure sculpture journey in 1997 when he enrolled in this first figure sculpture class at the Arts Students League of Denver. This class ignited a passion for the arts, he began to pour through anatomy and sculpture books absorbing as much as possible to improve his craft, including enrolling in a medical dissection course at the University of Colorado in Denver. Early on Patrick sought out the instruction of professional artists such as Blair Buswell, Don Gale, and Bill Starke to learn clay working techniques and soon began creating figure sculptures of his own. Patrick was the youngest exhibitor at the Sculpture in the Park exhibition in Loveland, CO in 1998.
After graduating high school from the Denver School for the Arts he began to work on his first monumental bronze work “IL Compositore”. This work was inspired by the old masterworks of Michelangelo and Bernini and features a meticulously detailed composer at his piano. This work took four years to complete due to its complexity and size.
Upon completing this piece, Patrick attended the Lyme Academy College in of Fine Arts where he earned his bachelor's degree in figure sculpture. At LACFA he diligently studied, drawing, sculpture, and painting as well as frequented the esteemed museums in New York City where he would draw for hours from the famous works of art. For two summers Patrick lived in NYC working for the Company Spaeth Design in Manhattan learning sculpture techniques in foam carving and production. During his time at LAFCA Patrick also interned for artist Gilbert Boro wo