Thursday, September 11, 2014

Career Profile: Sculptor



Being or becoming a sculptor, would appear to be an unusual choice of a career for the majority of people, but there are many, successful sculptors, around the world. Millions of people admire and appreciate their artistic endeavors and would love to know their secrets. 


It's important to look at the career profile of a sculptor in terms of being a potentially, viable career or an occupation of choice for a person, regardless of his or her age. Even a young child may manifest the type of personality that could potentially lead him or her to become a successful sculptor. Many retired people seeking a change in occupation become sculptors, because it is something they think or know they have the ability to do and see it as something they have always wanted to try.  

There are three distinct aspects of the personality of a potential sculptor.  

Love of the artistic form:

The potential sculptor perceives, recognizes, as well as appreciates, the artistic form evident in the world around him or her and recognizes the possibility of expressing it in sculpture. His or her love of the artistic form is extremely important in terms of success.     

Appreciation of beauty:

The potential sculptor has an eye for beauty and can perceive beauty that others may not be able to see in their environment, as well as in a piece of sculpture. In a hands-on approach, he or she can picture the sculpture internally and translate that beauty into a sculpture others can visualize.

Master of various media:

The potential sculptor seeks a media of choice, in terms of his or her work. He or she may choose to experiment with different kinds of media, from time to time. He or she will learn how to bring a work to completion in his or her media of choice and seek a high level of professionalism and expertise in that art form. The setting in which he or she works depends to a great deal upon one's choice of media.

One of the difficulties that a potential sculptor may experience is that of finding people who appreciate his or her work or are willing to work towards promoting it, marketing and selling it, as not everyone has the sculptor’s love of sculpture as an art form.

The appreciation of sculpture is rooted in individual preferences. What one person may love, another may have adverse or negative feelings towards, which can be frustrating for a sculptor as an artist.

While many sculptors tend to be artistic by nature, they do not necessarily have the training, ability, skills or education to promote and market their work. At times, it is necessary to find an agent to do this for them.

The academic education of a potential sculptor should include learning about various types of sculpture and media, as well as other kinds of artwork that will help to enhance his or her natural ability. Courses in art history are helpful, as the potential sculptor begins to examine and appreciate an historical approach towards sculpture as form of artwork.

Natural ability is the primary key to successful sculpturing. The sculptor loves his or her work, as well as his or her media of choice and has a natural propensity towards being able to do what many others cannot do in terms of sculpture.

Skills like photography, computer graphics programs and computer programming can help a sculptor to promote his or her work. Courses in advertising and marketing may prove to be beneficial for a potential sculptor who desires to remain independent. He or she may also want to take business-related courses like business management, bookkeeping and accounting.        

Other courses like drawing and anatomy can be helpful to anyone seeking to work on creative sculptures depicting the human body. This is also possible with the anatomical structure of animals  

Many universities and colleges offer different levels of courses in sculpture, mentored by successful professional sculptors, who seek talented and gifted people interested in sculpture as a lifetime occupation or career. Many sculptors train prospective sculptors with the intention of having them teach others their hands-on skills.


Teaching on a college or university level is a possible, long-term option for a sculptor.  

No comments:

Post a Comment