Faces Tour, Part Two

Students chose one of the following sculptures to sketch at our next stop. What do you see or recognize in these sculptures? 

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For these artworks, Barry X Ball looked at sculptures by the artist Medardo Rosso. Rosso made Sick Child, the sculpture in the image below on the left, between 1893-1895. To create his own version, Ball first scanned Rosso's Sick Child. He used these scans to create a 3D digital model of Sick Child on his computer. Then he made changes to the 3D digital model. How are Barry X Ball's sculpture (below on the right) and Medardo Rosso's sculpture different?  

Left: Medardo Rosso, Enfant malade (Sick Child), 1893-95, Galleria D'Arte Moderna, Milano
Right: Barry X Ball, Sick Child, 2013-19

Ball usually creates a mirror image so that it is the opposite of the original sculpture.  He also makes changes so the subject might look more detailed or more abstract. Then he uses a machine that carves a solid block of stone to look like the digital model. Afterward, he and his assistants carve and polish the stone by hand to complete the sculpture. 

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Medardo Rosso made many of his sculptures out of wax. Wax is used during one of the steps in creating a bronze sculpture, but Rosso decided to treat his wax versions as the final artworks. He liked how wax looks translucent, as though light can pass through it (think of a candle, especially when it's lit). Ball also uses stone that plays with light and can also appear translucent. Below is a wax sculpture by Rosso on the left, next to Ball's version on the right.

Left: Medardo Rosso, La Portinaia, 1883–84, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milano
Right: Barry X Ball, Doorwoman, 2013-19

Ball carefully chooses the stone for his sculptures. Many stone sculptures are carved from white marble. Ball likes using stone with different colors and patterns. How might his sculptures look different if he had chosen a more traditional white marble?

Faces Tour, Part One

Our next tour is all about Faces, and we focused on sculptures in the Barry X Ball: Remaking Sculpture exhibition.

Vocabulary: 
portrait / el retrato 
self-portrait / auto retrato 
carve / esculpir
masterpiece / la obra maestra 
emotion / emoción 

We started at the sculpture below. First, we used our finger to trace the different lines in the sculpture. Then, we shared different things we noticed.  

front

This sculpture is a portrait of Pope Saint John Paul II. A portrait is an artwork – sculpture, painting, photograph, etc. – of a person. The Pope is the world leader of the Roman Catholic Church. 

For this portrait, the artist Barry X Ball not only shows what the person looks like, but also includes items that represent him. 

• Mitre (tall headdress worn by pope and different leaders in church) 
• The Pope’s Coat of arms – crossed keys represent the Keys to Heaven given by Jesus to St. Peter, and the papal tiara (crown) represents the Pope's powers as priest, ruler and teacher.
• Crosses – symbol for Jesus Christ and the Crucifixion 

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We also looked at the back of the sculpture, which includes additional items: 

• A pair of skis, John Paul II’s favorite sport 
• Two sculptures of John Paul II at different ages 
• The face at the very top is a portrait of the artist 

back

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If an artist wanted to make your portrait, what items would you want to include that tell about you? Students wrote down or drew things that best represent them. Some examples that students shared are soccer balls, chocolate, their pet, their friends, their family, ballet shoes, and their sketchbook. 

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