This sculpture is large in scale. Standing at ground level, we look directly at the closed eyes of the portrait.
The scale of a sculpture determines how we react to it. The smooth surface and peaceful expression of Nobel One are magnified by its size. Even in a hectic atmosphere like this public sculpture show, it is easy to become transfixed by the calming nature of this sculpture. Scarlett Kanistanaux created the sculpture in clay. It was later cast in bronze. Kanistanaux d escribes “sculpting from the inside out” using the coil method. “I developed my personal method of building the sculptural form by visually studying the traditional coil building techniques of clay artisans from the countries of Africa, Korea and Vietnam. Using a combination of these ancient traditions, I developed my own technique of
Nobel One by Scarlett Kanistanaux. Bronze 4.5’ x 5.9’. Photo Credit: Daniel Ellis
layering the soft coils of clay, one on top of another, blending each new coil into the previous one. The coils of clay I use range in size from the thickness of a finger to that of the wrist. Small circumference coils are used for small heads and large circumference coils for the largest heads. The sculpture is created in the manner of a hollow vessel. This allows me to form the desired rounded volumes of the facial features by simply reaching inside and gently pushing the clay wall outward. I think of this method as ‘sculpting from the inside out’.”
Before moving on, take a moment and imagine standing in the presence of this large scale sculpture.
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