Newsboy Sculpture

January 22-29, 2004
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we learned a little about adding a hand and newspaper.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

Looking back over the journal of this project, it has been almost three months since the start of the life-size newsboy. I began the life-size sculpture on November 8, 2004 and it is now six months since the beginning of the project – August 2004. The weeks between August and November were spent on research, finding a pose, learning about clothing of the period, finding an original pattern and sewing outfit of the time period, finalizing photos for reference, and creating the small newsboy sculpture in bronze.

It is wonderful to see the sculpture in such a state of completion. Although it is said, “artwork is never finished, only abandoned.”

Artistically, there are still some things I will do with the sculpture; however, I will do them in the next step, as I get the sculpture ready for the foundry, either as I prepare for the wax or in the wax. Most artists that I know send the sculpture off to the foundry at this stage; however, we will be doing the mold, and I’ll go to the foundry to do the wax so you will be able to watch that process as well. After that I’ll be sure to document the foundry process for the web site.

DUSTY SEES HIMSELF
It was so much fun to have Dusty come in and meet the sculpture in person. When I gave Dusty a hug, I couldn’t help but pull back and feel his shoulders. For a moment there I wished he could somehow have been in the studio the past three months, holding the pose, so I could see him when I needed to.Next week we will be working on the mold and waxes. According to our schedule we have until the end of the month to get the waxes to the foundry. That will give the foundry two months for the metal work. I’m hoping to have the final product by May 1st. The unveiling is May 19th.
With those extra 19 days, it gives us time to solve any problems that may occur and also to install the sculpture on our target date.

THE LEGISLATION PROCESS
We still don’t know when the Texas legislators will discuss our newsboy.  Senator Whitmire prefiled the bill in December.  The Texas Press Association, my client, is staying on top of that.  I’ll be sure to post as soon as I hear something.   

Now, we are going to enter the foundry process. It is a huge amount of work that starts with The Mold Making Process.

January 18-21, 2005
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we learned a little about how the details on the life-size sculpture come together.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

This week I finished the right hand and put it on the sculpture. I was thrilled to see it come together. The left hand is another story. I can’t put that one on until I have the papers sculpted. The paper is seen both under the left arm, in the right hand, and on the ground. I need to have one good paper with headlines, and then I’ll make a mold of it and cast the others in wax. That way they will all be the same, and it will save me a tremendous amount of sculpting time.

SCULPTING THE PAPER
To sculpt the paper, I printed out the masthead of the paper and the headlines. I dipped a real paper in several coats of wax, smoothed it out and then placed these headlines on the wax paper. To transfer the letters, sometimes I cut them in or pinprick the outside edges, and then cut them out with an Exacto knife. It is very time consuming. The cuts in each letter must be done on an angle and then cleaned up with solvent and several tools. Each column of type is “greeked” in with scribbles, but even that is time consuming.

We are getting close to the finish line. Let’s see the Sculpting Complete in th next blog post.

January 10-17, 2005
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, Now We Are Getting There, we saw a lot of progress.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

The small newsboy came together in the last post, and we also began to see the large newsboy take shape. Now, let’s get down to some details.

I have decided to cover papers in wax to put in the newsboy’s hands. I set up a clothesline system for the papers to drip into as they cured. I still have to sculpt the headline in the papers. That will come next week. Meanwhile, I have a bundle of papers for Dusty’s left arm. I’ll clean them up later. Having them in place is important in sculpting the left arm.

With a trip to Houston Leather for brads for the shoes and another trip to The Way We Wore Vintage Clothing store, I finally have the leather suspenders that I was looking for. I have dipped them in wax and added them to the sculpture. Dipping them in wax stiffens them up for the mold.

Because I have decided to cast the sculpture with these real suspenders, I must prepare them for the mold making process. Every place where there is an undercut, a deep area like behind the suspenders or in between, it must be sealed. This is a place where rubber can get caught during the mold making process. That is our next step, and I hope to get to it in the next few days. I’m filling in the gaps very carefully. I can still show depth in between the suspenders, but it won’t go all the way through. Just a few more things to add to get this together.

We are getting there. Keep reading to see how the newspaper is sculpted and his hand is added in the next blog post Adding the Hand to the Life-Size Sculpture And Sculpting the Newspaper.

January 3-10, 2005
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we learned a little about making huge strides in the creation of the life-size newsboy

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

I was so excited to pick up the first small bronze newsboy sculptures from the foundry. The foundry did take photos of the process, but I will wait and post those later.

The life-size sculpture is coming along well. It feels so good to have the head attached. We put a rod through the head and into the torso to secure it. You can still see the rod in the photo. Now that the head is attached, he is coming to life. I can hardly wait to get the arms more refined and add the hands. The excitement continues.

I have, however, lost one assistant to be replaced by another. My daughter, Christina, worked with me over the holidays, and I think that Miguel, who is now helping, is probably as frustrated with me as she was. No sooner does my assistant get done smoothing the sculpture, which is quite a bit of physical work, and I take one look at the sculpture and the changes needing to done jump out at me. Then, there I go again, carving and adding clay. The assistant comes in the next day and has to smooth it all over again.

THE DETAILS
I had to stop sculpting the shoes, because of the old fashion brads on the shoes. I could not figure out how to fabricate them, so I have opted for trying to find real brads for the shoes. Houston Leather says they carry them.

It looks like I will have a few “real” things on the sculpture. The buttons are staying, and because I am running out of time, I will most likely cast real suspenders. The white suspenders that I have now are not really what I want. I would prefer the ones with the leather at the buttons.

My deadline of getting this life size sculpture completely sculpted is quickly approaching. I want to leave myself plenty of time for foundry work, including mold making and working the waxes.

I can hardly wait to get going on the hands.

I attached his unfinished hand and put a paper in it just to see how it might look all put together. I had to snap the picture very quickly because the hand was not secure.

It is moving along, now let’s go see the Details on A Life Size Sculpture.

December 28, 2004- January 3, 2005
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, there was a lot of working through the holidays.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

What an exciting week it has been. We have made tremendous progress on the sculpture this week. It started with the shoes. They are defined, and now we are just getting to the fine detail. We are moving up the leg to the socks and pants.

Throughout the week, Christina and I have taken turns working on the head, adding clay, taking away, smoothing and then adding clay, taking away, smoothing. The last day of the week I asked Christina to finalize her work on the face and then hand it over to me. I just wanted to spend an hour or so with it before securing it to the body. Doing any of the detail work on Dusty’s face after it is on the body is a job for an acrobat. It is much easier to work on his face when I can hold it in my own hands.

When we are not working on the head, we spend a lot of time working on the floor, lying on pillows and blankets, making ourselves as comfortable as possible as we refined and defined the shoes, the socks, and under the knickers. There is still much to do in that area. The last day of the week, Chris was beginning the long process of cutting shoelaces and threading them into the clay, like we did with the small sculpture. We also must spend a great deal of time closing up any undercuts in this area. An undercut is an area that you can pass something through or a deep grove. So we fill the little areas under each shoelace with clay. If we did not do this, the rubber would get stuck around the shoelace when we start making the mold and would tear the rubber.

Before we entered the New Year I wanted to attach the head, a milestone of the process. I had to hold off with defining the upper torso until the head was attached. Though I did surprise myself. I “eyed” the space between the buttons on his shirt by using the photos. Then I remembered I had the shirt to look at, and don’t you know I was right on with my measurements! The head was added on the last day of the year.

To attach the head we had to be very careful of placement, a very tricky thing. You don’t want too much neck or too little, and then we had to make sure it was secure to the torso. We did so by hammering a threaded rod through the head, neck and deep into the torso. It was such a great satisfaction to see him put together. It is also exciting to know I am getting to a new stage in the process. It renews the creative energy inside. I am hoping to have the sculpture finished within the next three weeks and ready for approval by the client.

Monday, January 3rd, I am picking up the first small bronze sculptures from the foundry. I can hardly wait to see them.

Stay tuned next week to see the sculpture complete with head and torso and photos of the small bronze in the blog post, Now We Are Getting There.

December 22-27, 2004
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we got to see the morphing of a sculpture.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

My, it was cold in the studio this week! We were thankful for the torches, but sitting on the ground and working on the shoes was something that neither my assistant nor myself wanted to do.

Last week I had wooden skewers in the place of the buttons. This helped me to be able to get my proportions correct and also greatly affected the folds. This week I have replaced them with buttons. Now I can really see what needs to be defined.

I also added a “fake” newspaper in Dusty’s left arm. It helped me to be able to see the arm and upper torso better. I also wrapped some Saran wrap around the suspenders and put them on Dusty. The wrap was to keep the suspenders clean. I put them in place with buttons and pins. Previous photos show strips of cloth for suspenders. I know the suspenders have not changed in size since Dusty wore them. Using them helps with proportions. Having them in place plays a great role in the folds of the shirt and pants.

Sometimes I will pin the photos directly to the sculpture. When I’m working I’m usually holding several of my favorite tools and a hand full of photos and then there is the torch. I wish I had an extra appendage to hold some things.

Some of my favorite tools are dental tools. They are very sturdy and can handle the stiff clay. They also can be heated up. As I understand it, dentists will often toss their old dental tools. If you are a dentist please don’t toss them, send them to me. My favorite two tools are the “hockey stick” looking tool and the one that looks like an ice chopper. Chris and I often fight over the tools.

Artists do get used to the feel of a tool, and you get so used to how it feels that it works like a part of your own hand. Change that tool and it throws your production off.

The blog will get back to student and teacher posts, but for now, let’s move on to see some Huge Strides in the Life-Size Sculpture.

December 14-21, 2004
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we learned a little about the frustration in the creative process

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

I have had assistance with the sculpture, this week. My daughter, Christina, is home from college and is helping smooth out the clay on the sculpture.

Remember that this clay is very difficult to smooth. You have to heat it up with a torch or brush it with warm brushes. I spend time putting clay on and taking it off and Chris comes behind me and smoothes out the clay. I have always liked smooth clay and I can see the errors better if the sculpture is smoothed out. Many times I come right after her, add and take away and she smoothes all over again. I guess we have a system going.

I have had assistance with the sculpture, this week. My daughter, Christina, is home from college and is helping smooth out the clay on the sculpture.

Remember that this clay is very difficult to smooth. You have to heat it up with a torch or brush it with warm brushes. I spend time putting clay on and taking it off and Chris comes behind me and smoothes out the clay. I have always liked smooth clay and I can see the errors better if the sculpture is smoothed out. Many times I come right after her, add and take away and she smoothes all over again. I guess we have a system going.

After such a frustrating series of days, last week, the sculpture is finally becoming more friendly. At least that is the way it feels to this artist.

I had a sitting with Dusty to take photos of his teeth. Before I met with him, I printed out all the pages of this journal and some of the articles that have been printed about the sculpture. I put them in a photo album and gave them to him, a scrapbook of sorts. He was thrilled. I can only imagine what it must be like to be 12 years old and to have your image created in bronze and put at the State Capitol building.

I have many measurements that I took of Dusty, but because I am actually starting from the ground up, I was very interested in getting his calf measurements.

He also gave me his mom’s boots, with her permission of course. These boots were used in the initial photo sitting. I was so thrilled to get the teeth photos, boots, and calf measurement. I felt renewed creatively

Having the boots really has been a tremendous help. I spent a day, laying on the floor and roughing in the right boot. Then handed it off to Christina who spent another entire day smoothing the clay and defining the details that I indicated. We still have not finished it, but it has come a long way.From the boot I am moving my way up the leg, and those calf measurements sure are coming in handy, then on to the left leg. By the end of the week it looked as if the sculpture is morphing from the ground up. It is so cool to see.

Now let’s keep going. Working hard and to the next post –Working Through The Holidays.

December 7-13, 2004
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we learned a little about the possible history of the this newsboy sculpture.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

I have a hard time actually seeing my progress at this point of the project. The work is progressing very slowly. I just keep working and working, and working, moving around the sculpture, taking clay off and putting clay on, comparing it from all directions, looking at the many photos. It is very frustrating. I wonder if anyone else can see the progress?

In many different art projects there is a point of frustration. Sometimes it is a feeling of being overwhelmed; sometimes it just doesn’t seem to come together quick enough and you end up frustrated with the process. All artists go through this. It is important to push past the frustration, stay motivated keep pushing to greatness. I have told this to my own children as they have worked with their creativity. I’m not sure if they understand totally. I think the more you push past the frustration and then finally see the finished art, the easier it is to continue in this difficult part of the creative process.

As artists, my husband and I have many years of creativity between us, and the frustration with our art still comes. The most welcoming part of the frustration is that you know there is a wonderful feeling on the other side of it.

TEETH
This is the first time that I have ever had to sculpt the inside of someone’s mouth. I need to set up another sitting with Dusty to get more reference photos.

BOOTS
The boots that Dusty wore in the photo sitting were his mothers. She collects antique clothing. I plan on getting the real boots to work from next week, while at the photo shoot for Dusty’s teeth.Being able to work from life, even if it is a boot, will be a tremendous help. I can hardly wait.

Let’s move on to the Morphing of a Sculpture.

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

History
• There was a sales campaign for the zipper in children’s clothing in 1939. Can you search the history of the zipper link above, and tell me what items the zipper was used for before it was used on pants?

• There is a copy of the newsboy strike printed in the New York Times, July 21, 1899. Kids your age were able to change the minds of very powerful people.

“Friens and feller workers. Dis is a time which tries de hearts of men. Dis is de time when we’se got to stick together like glue…. We know wot we wants and we’ll git it even if we is blind.” 

The New York Tribune quoted Kid Blink’s speech to 2,000 strikers:

November 29-December 6, 2004
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we were watching the process of the beginning of sculpting the life-size newsboy

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

Remember that this sculpture is intended for the State Capital. I thought that this might be a good time to look at the road that the newsboy will have to travel to get there.

Our destination is the Texas State Preservation Board. “The State Preservation Board was established in 1983 by the 68th Legislature for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and restoring the State Capitol and the General Land Office building, and their contents and ground for the benefit of the citizens of Texas”

You can read about the State Preservation Board on their web site. According to this web site “the Texas Capitol building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986 for its significant contribution to American History.” The state preservation board will determine the future of our newsboy.

What road do you take to get to the State Preservation Board? It is a long journey. To be put on the agenda for the State Preservation Board the project must be brought as a resolution before the state senate.

The Legislature meets every odd-numbered year for 140 days. The 79th regular legislative session begins Jan. 11, 2005. If you would like to find out more about the legislature processes the Texas Legislature site Online web site is excellent.

There is also quite a bit of information at the Association of Texas Professional Educators.

WHO IS MY REPRESENTATIVE?
I am very proud to report that John Whitmire, the state senator who represents my district will file the bill supporting the Texas Press Association’s statue request.

If you live in Texas and you are interested in finding out whom your own state representative is, you can do so by going to the capitol state web site and typing in your address.

If you would like to learn about the Texas Senate you can play games and collect senator trading cards, like the one above, at Texas Senate Kids web site.

There is a section for preschool children as well as a special section for parents and teachers. You can also take a capitol tour. When take the tour you will see the sculptures of Elizabet Ney that we spoke about in the October 26th journal. I love the Texas Senate Kids web site, it is so much fun!

THE JOURNEY’S END
We really will not know the standing and destination of our newsboy until next year. The designated date of placement for the sculpture is May 19th 2005. This is the 125th anniversary date of the Texas Press Association.

If for some reason the newsboy should not make it through the legislation process, with favor, the sculpture will be placed at the Texas Press Association’s office building in Austin, Texas.

As we follow this legislative process it will be a wonderful educational adventure. I am hopeful about the placement at the State Capitol building and I look forward to uniting with many people at the unveiling. My job, right now, is to keep sculpting. The rest will be history.

Now let’s move on with the sculpting process in the Frustration of the Creative Process.

November 12-21, 2004
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, started the sculpting of the life size newsboy.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

Headless
The sculpture is coming along. I am working on the head separately from the body. This enables me to work on it from all directions. Sometimes turning a head upside down helps me to get the details and proportions correct. For the brim of the hat I have used the pattern that I purchased and cut it out in cardboard and then covered it with clay, pinned it to the head, and added the top of the hat. I have to be careful; I don’t want to add these details too soon, because I need to be able to reach the eyes.

Torch
This clay is very hard. After heating it up and putting it on the armature it cools down and hardens. To put more detail in the sculpture I have to heat it up. The torch is my best friend. The process of doing the life size sculpture is very physical. This is where my Popeye forearms come from. During this process I’ll sculpt for two days and then let my arms and hands rest. In between I spend a lot of time cleaning up. This processes is messy, messy, messy.

Paper
I have taken real newspapers and coated them with wax. They are just pinned in place for now. Putting them in place helps me with proportions. Later I’ll carve the headline in the paper.I am really counting on the small wax sculpture. I spend a lot of time holding it up, in line with the large sculpture, to see how it is progressing.
Next week I’ll take some time off to spend some time with my family for Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Time to continue on with the process, but first, let’s learn about the possible future journey of this newsboy.

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
Learning how to enlarge a sculpture

There are several ways to enlarge a sculpture.  There is a method called pointing up that is described by Christopher Pardell in his article.This You Tube Video by Joe McCluskey shows the pointing up process with a pantograph. might help you to understand the process. A new way of enlarging sculpture is done by a company called Synappsys. They scan artwork and then take the image into a computer and enlarge it. Foam is cut out by another machine. The pieces are then secured with rods through them, to keep them together.  And then she put clay on top of the foam.  Now that is quite a bit of hot wax to put on a sculpture! The artist’s Alice in Wonderland Sculpture was created this way. Watch her video to see how it is done.