Learn: A Maquette is a small model that is shaped with clay, wax or another soft material. A Maquette is used to help an artist plan the idea for their sculpture, much like how a clothing designer uses a pattern to help create a garment. Watch artist Jason Millward’s video below to see a demonstration of the way a maquette is used to plan for a sculpture. In Jason’s video, he presents his maquette of a horse and illustrates his plan for his sculpture. He wants to carve the horse out of marble. Marble and stone are unforgiving, so having a plan like a maquette eliminates the guesswork and helps you visualize whatever you're about to carve, eliminating mistakes. Sketching an idea and being precise in the design of the maquettes is an important step in the sculpting process.
Activity: Make your own maquette! Look at the example provided in the photographs for this project to see how Museum Educator Lisa J transforms her idea from clay to alabaster.
Materials:
● Clay, play dough, or whatever soft material you may want to use to carve your maquette. We used clay for one maquette and Model Magic by Crayola for the other example.
● Sketch paper
● Pencil
● A flat surface and good lighting
Directions:
1 - Take the sketch paper and sketch out an idea of what you want your sculpture to look like.
2 - Take your clay or whatever soft material you chose and start molding and shaping your sketched idea with your hands. You can experiment by adding lines and patterns to your design by using various things you have in your home, like a popsicle stick or a fork. If you were going to make a sculpture out of another material, you would have to measure the molding material you have and make sure your maquette is the same size. For this activity, we are just going to practice making the maquette.
3 - Compare your maquette to your sketch and make corrections when needed.
Model Magic
Clay
Alabaster
Artists will often recycle the clay they use for the maquette for a future design. You may choose to keep your model. If you do, be sure to provide a base for your maquette.
Remember, you’re the artist here! Get inspired, be creative, and, most importantly, have fun!