Marble

Marble is a material closely associated with Classical art, conjuring images of Greek gods and goddesses. The Ancient Greeks and Romans inspired the sculptors of the Renaissance, and the idealized nude figure in marble became a recurring subject throughout the Western tradition of art history. 

Though prized starting in the Renaissance for its gleaming white purity, marble was in fact always painted in ancient times. The true qualities that make it an excellent material are that it is a stone of medium hardness, and that the consistent grain of the stone make it predictable and easy to carve. With very fine-grained marble, a sculptor can achieve remarkable detail. 

While marble sculpture can last for thousands of years, it is quite heavy and not as strong as harder stones or bronze. Delicate parts are prone to breaking over time. Marble does not fare well in climates where it freezes and thaws often. Additionally it is susceptible to acid rain.

Marble is a metamorphic rock. It starts as organic material from sea life, which over millennia is compressed into limestone, a sedimentary stone. With eons more compression, marble is formed. Marble can come in many different colors or with different patterns of veining, though sometimes stones are referred to as marble when in fact they are a type of limestone or serpentine. White marble is the closest to pure calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is used for a variety of interesting applications, such as lowering acidity in bodies of water, as a pigment for white paint, and as a calcium supplement in foods like breakfast cereal.

Carrara marble is known worldwide for its quality and its history. Carrara, Italy is a town in northwest Tuscany where marble quarries have been active since ancient times. Michelangelo spent many months in Carrara throughout his life having blocks specifically quarried for his sculptures. While Carrara marble makes for excellent carving, there is marble all over the world. Here in the U.S.A., Marble, Colorado and Danby, Vermont still produce quality, white marble. Many monuments in Washington, D.C. were constructed using Vermont Marble. 

When it comes to carving marble or any other stone, the reductive nature of working is an important factor. The sculptor must begin with a piece of stone that has greater dimensions than the final product, and weight adds up fast with marble. It is about 165 pounds per square foot. That’s over 2 tons for a cubic yard. Of course, the most obvious issue with reductive sculpture is once you remove the material, you can’t put it back on, so the sculptor has to be in control! 

Terra Cotta

Terra Cotta, literally ‘cooked earth’, refers to clay that has been fired into hardened ceramic. Used since ancient times, it now mainly has associations as a craft material, used for pottery and functional objects, but it is an excellent, economical sculpture material as well. 

Plaster

Plaster is a material used most often for casting. It can serve as a mold to capture another form, such as a clay model, and it can also be cast into molds of plaster or rubber to duplicate forms. It is not often used as a finished material, though it is archival and will last in perpetuity if well cared for. Its most common finished application is architectural moulding or ornamentation. 

Bronze

A copper alloy, bronze is a strong, beautiful material that wears well outside and can support itself in far more delicate compositions than would be feasible with marble. It is an excellent finished material, but requires many stages of production. Bronzes can be reproduced in editions from the same mold, so unlike marble, bronze statues are seldom one-of-a-kind.