The Art of
SCULPTURE
DIANA REUTER-TWINING
MAESTRO
MAESTRO 4/14/17 3:15 PM
SCULPTURE
The Art of
Casting a bronze sculpture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 African influence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 About Diana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Into the garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Imagine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The art of jewelry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
To contact Diana Reuter-Twining Mail may be sent to: P.O. Box 552, Aldie, Virginia, 20105 Phone: (803) 824-9123 Website: www.bronzed.net Diana’s gallery*: 109 W. Washington Street, Middleburg, Virginia, 20118
Studio photography by Brandon Webster Magazine design by Pam Owens
(*Please call ahead if you would like to meet Diana at the gallery)
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CASTING
a bronze sculpture Creating a bronze sculpture is a time consuming process. An artist creates an original in clay, which is then taken or shipped to a foundry, a factory that produces metal castings. The following steps can represent eight to twelve weeks of foundry time, and are performed by skilled craftspeople.
Step 1
Create the original sculpture
The artist using clay, wax or plastilina creates the original sculpture. Depending on size, sculptures can be cast as a single piece or cut into pieces.
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Step 2
Creating molds and wax
A rubber mold is made directly on to the original sculpture. A plaster “mother mold� is made encasing the rubber. Molds are removed re-assembled, and filled with melted wax. The hardened wax is removed and carefully hand-finished to replicate the original.
The blue material is a mother mold which encases the wax . The wax , an exact replica of the original clay (see above, right), will be taken out of this mold and be dipped every couple of days into a silica (sand and glass) mixture which will harden to form the final mold which will be durable enough to hold the pouring of the molten bronze.
Revealing the wax.
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CASTING
a bronze sculpture
Step 3
Spruing the wax
Wax rods are attached to the sculpture (called gates and sprues) in a manner resembling arteries. These gates lead to a wax funnel at one end of the rod.
Step 4
Step 7
Hardened wax is first dipped into a liquid “shell” vat. While still wet, it is slowly lowered into a dry silica sand, forming a rigid shell.
Once the bronze is cool, the shell is broken away with hammer and chisel. Bars and funnels are also removed.
Step 5
Step 8
The wax, with its heavy shell coating, is now steam heated, melting out all of the wax. Leaving only a hollow shell. This is origination of the term “lost wax” or cire perdue.
Any remaining shell is removed by two stages of sandblasting: first with coarse, then with fine sand.
Investing the wax
Burning out the wax
Step 6
Pouring the bronze
While the bronze bars are heated to liquid form, shells are baked to a ceramic-like stone. Melted bronze is then poured into the hollow cavity within the shell.
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Revealing the bronze
Sandblasting
Step 9
Chasing the bronze
Imperfections to the surface, as well as marks and scars left when removing the bars and funnel are repaired in a process called “chasing”.
Step 10 Assembling and welding
The sculpture is reassembled and welded into the correct positioning. Welded seams are again “chased” by the artist until the bronze is identical to the original work.
Step 11 Patinations
The coloration of the bronze is achieved by applying heat and chemically controlled tarnishing to the metal. Chemicals can be dipped, sprayed, or brushed on in various degrees of heat known as “applying the patina”. The bronze needs to be “chased” or smoothed down to a perfect finish to allow for the patina application. The patina is acid etched into the bronze with large torches. The acids are a made of different chemicals which achieve varied effects when they are applied in certain orders. For example if you put silver nitrate on before you apply a base of a different color it will react differently than if you apply it as a second coat.The order in which you apply a chemical will determine its color. It is like following a cooking recipe.
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Diana Reuter-Twining
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Diana Reuter-Twining
Contemporary
Naturalist
Having been trained first as an architect and photographer, Diana has the vantage point of an intimacy with space and nature, which is made evident through her use of a bold stroke and a quick eye. Diana’s interest in art and architecture may have started after she assisted her father on a photographic assignment for the National Geographic. Diana went on to apprentice as a photographer with the magazine. She later became a registered architect. Her formal studies in art and architecture initially took her to Paris with Hollins College where she received a degree in Art History. She then went on to Catholic University where she received her Masters of Architecture. She studied sculpture at the Corcoran School of Art, Loveland Academy of Fine Arts and Scottsdale Artists’ School. Living in rural communities in the Southern United States and the American West has given Diana the opportunity to study in detail that which has become the focus of her work; the natural world. Her years in Southern Africa exposed her to the philosophy of conservation science which forever changed her life and has inspired her to catalogue the frail balance of nature and man. Through her art, Diana hopes to engage people in being stewards of the natural world and its habitats. Diana’s bronzes are found in gardens throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa as well as private collections.
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While staying at Mombo Camp in the Okavanogo Delta I was able to study this beautiful elephant. Everything with them is slow and steady, almost like in slow motion.
The vervet monkey sits playfully under a tree. His tail approximates the limb he watches. I imagine he is watching a bird and is keeping very still.
After creating GOING, GOING, GONE, I decided to isolate one ostrich and study its “aerodynamics” for lack of another word. Here an ostrich defies gravity and propels itself on one foot up and away. These birds are actually very large and top heavy so when they finally get their momentum started they do seem to have a different kind of grace and balance.
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The cheetah, a threatened species, well known as the fastest mammal on earth, reaches speeds of up to 60 m.p.h in only three seconds. It must kill quickly before its stamina is spent; tripping its overtaken prey from behind allows the cheetah valuable time to choke its victim before it too becomes prey.
The ostrich seems to be always moving away from a situation. The sculpture marvels at the dexterity and beauty of the bird when it is doing what it does best… running!!
After studying the giraffe I found that this pose represented the elegance, grace and emotion I see in the species. Shidzidzi is a game preserve in South Africa owned by friends Peter and Linda Anderson. It is here that I was able to study giraffes in detail.
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In the historic gardens at Glenstone, near Aldie, Virginia, Diana has showcased many of these sculptures in both formal and informal settings. She has played with the idea of enlarging a grassphopper, for example, to a monumental scale and taken the concept of a hornet’s nest and a honey comb to contemporary abstract forms in her sculptures of the same name. Diana installs THE NEST (above). GRASSHOPPER as a central feature in the garden (right).
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PROPHET (above) in the snow. MACAW (right), HONEYCOMB (below) in its natural habitat. THE NEST and GRASSHOPPER sit among the beauty in the garden (left).
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View any of Diana’s sculptures in your own garden with her new “Imagine” service Many of Diana’s clients find it difficult to imagine how sculptures will look in their own gardens. At the foundry, her sculptures can be scaled larger or smaller as they are created to meet the needs of a particular location. To aid clients in visualizing a sculpture in their garden, Diana is offering a new service called “Imagine”. Through photographic manipulation she works with her clients to determine the proper
STEP 1: Send a photo of where you would like a sculpture. 16 Bronzed ~ The Art of Sculpture
size and placement before the sculpture is created. This method helps make it easier to decide between multiple sculptures which might work best for a space, and allows scaling of the piece as well as any other considerations related to a specific location. This new offering has been very successful in helping clients visualize the sculptures in place. Find more examples and information about “Imagine” on Diana’s website at www.bronzed.net.
STEP 2: The photo comes back to you with a sculpture of your choice in place.
RIVER DANCERS shown in a lily pond
LECHUZA on a gatepost “Imagine” PEACOCK in the garden Bronzed ~ The Art of Sculpture 17
Diana’s jewelry is inspired by her sculptures. The shape and forms repeat themselves in these beautiful designs following her intricate study of subject. More information can be found on her website at www.bronzed.net.
FOX NECKLACE 18k green gold fox face, set with (2)~.50ct marquise emerald stone eyes, suspended from a leather cord with complimentary green gold accent stations on the cord, and end in an 18k green gold toggle clasp. 5 inches x 2. 5 inches. Earrings available. 18 Bronzed M The Art of Sculpture
On display as art Diana worked with Richard Waller, the acclaimed frame maker Middleburg, Virginia, and together they designed prototypes for frames which would showcase her necklaces. Using the Tuscan Tabernacle Frame as found in the quatrocento the two were able to establish a prototype for these and future works. Diana is showing her work as wearable art—when it is not being worn it is displayed as traditional art would be, on a table in the living room or hanging on the wall. By weighting the frames on the bottom Mr. Waller’s frames are stable enough to sit safely on any surface. They may also be hung on the wall. TEMPTATION NECKLACE (left, shown in frame) 18k white gold tree and base, with buds of freshwater pearls and cognac diamond accents, 18k yellow gold monkey, 16 freshwater rice pearls, 1 freshwater boulder pearl, 84 champagne diamonds.
PEAR NECKLACE Two 18k gold pears, one rose gold and one yellow gold, pave set with 35 pave set sapphires per pear accented with a white gold leaf with veins of pave set orange sapphire. The overlapping white gold stems make up the necklace, adorned with buds of carnelian with yellow sapphire accents, ending in an integrated clasp. Earrings available.
GRASSHOPPER NECKLACE Two 18k yellow gold grasshopper rest on an 18k white gold vase, with a base and lip of 18k yellow gold, pave set with 18 yellow sapphires, 26 yellow sapphires pave set on top. The grasshoppers eyes are sapphires and their antenna come together to form an arch over the vase as well as the gold neckwire, and end in an 18k yellow gold toggle clasp. Earrings available.
HONEYCOMB NECKLACE 18k yellow gold honeycomb set with 13 honey colored hexagon citrines, adorned with 18k yellow gold bee, 48 pave set yellow sapphire wings, 44 mixed size orange-to-yellow gradient pave sapphire body, yellow sapphire stinger and 2 carnelian cabochon eyes. The necklace is made up of gradient color citrine beads accented by a honeycomb element, finished with an 18k yellow gold toggle clasp. Earrings available. Bronzed M The Art of Sculpture 19
Reprint of Virginia Living article
JUNE 2010
A RT S
Wild Emotion Sculptor Diana Reuter-Twining specializes in bronze works that reflect the “beauty, mystery and grace” of the animal world. BY LISA ANTONELLI BACON
Sculptor Diana Reuter-Twining is puzzled. “I can’t decide what to do with it,” she says, surveying a hefty, seven-foot-long peacock hide she keeps in the barn that is her showroom on Bull Run Farm in rural Aldie, Va. Dressed fashionably in black (save for light brown cowboy boots and brown belt with silver-and-turquoise buckle), the petite, animated brunette seems more amused than perplexed as she fingers the ethereal feathers, which are tufted in five or six pounds of leathery, avian epidermis. However long it takes Reuter-Twining to decide how best to transform the peacock hide into a piece of art, the resulting work likely will capture the essence of the animal. Trained as an architect and practiced as a photographer, Reuter-Twining in recent years has emerged as a sculptor distinguished for her acute observations of wildlife, from rabbit and river otter to fox and cheetah. Her bronze representations are sometimes large and, often, lifelike. “I’m inspired by the natural world,” says Reuter-Twining, “its beauty, mystery and grace.”
Reprint of Virginia Living article
Her work has appeared in numerous exhibitions—including the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Society of Animal Artists and the National Sculpture Society, and clients on three continents have bought her pieces. Typically, it takes her about six months to complete a sculpture. “She is very innovative,” says Jack Summers, owner of the Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who has several Reuter-Twining animal pieces on display. “I’ve done quite well with her work.” The average price, he estimates, is $4,500. Summers says that the sculptor’s style can be “somewhat traditional with some pieces and very contemporary with others. You could own several and not know it’s the same artist.”
ing is the basis for all design. In sculpture, the sketch establishes a gesture, and the gesture evokes an emotion. Integrating those elements is the challenge.” The artist, who also produces figuratives and objets d’art, has had ample opportunity to observe animals. She grew up on a farm and, when young, followed her father to exotic locales. He is a retired surgeon and professional photographer who did freelance work for National Geographic magazine.
Reuter-Twining has lived most of her 58 years on two adjacent farms that have been in her family for more than a century. Now she and husband Ned Twining (whom she calls an “enlightened philanthropist”) divide their time between their farm, Bull Run (across the road from her family homestead, Glenstone Farm), and their ranch in Savery, Wyoming. Reuter-Twining works primarily in the animalier style, a movement centered on the realistic portrayal of animals and made popular around the turn of the 20th century by Italian artist Rembrandt Bugatti. But realism is not the sole aim. The sculptor seeks to capture a subject at an emblematic moment in time, when it moves or poses in a defining way. Think the first lazy stride of a cheetah descending a plateau, for example, or the final lift of a goose’s wings before touchdown. How does she know when to freeze the subject? “Observation,” she says. “Draw-
drawing took a turn. After sketching a family of baboons, she told Ned that the drawing might lend itself to three-dimensional representation, and that, once back in the states, she might commission someone to turn the drawing into a sculpture. “Ned said, ‘Do it yourself,’” she recalls. She did. But not before enrolling in a program at the Corcoran School of Art, where she learned the fundamentals of sculpture, welding and making molds. “It allowed me to get to another level in my art,” she says. Within a year, she entered her first show, in Charleston, S.C. “I was a little surprised I was admitted,” she confesses. But it inspired her to focus on individualizing her style, and it wasn’t long before she’d earned a spot in the award show of the National Sculpture Society, a prestigious group founded by architects. Now 12 years into her sculpture career, ReuterTwining seems in a good artistic place because she likes working in three-dimensional space. “Space is a medium, and it can be manipulated,” she says. “With painting, you’re dealing with [only] the illusion of space.”
After graduating from Hollins College (now University) in 1973 with a degree in art history, she landed a job as an interior designer for an architectural firm in Alexandria. In spare time, she took art classes at the Torpedo Factory. After two years, she enrolled in the graduate architectural program at Catholic University. After earning the degree, she worked for a couple of architectural firms and then, with a partner, opened her own shop in Washington. It wasn’t until the mid-90s, while on a trip to Africa, that her joy for photography and
Last November, Reuter-Twining started a spin-off business. She introduced a jewelry collection that includes miniature reproductions of some of her animal works, as well as other more whimsical original pieces, cast mostly in silver and gold. Might that mean a peacock brooch is in the offing? Maybe, but first she intends to do something larger with the hide in her barn.
DIANA REUTER-TWINING
Setter
18.5" H x 11" W x 16" D Now available in 6 inch height Bronze • Edition/9
Pointer
19" H x 20.5" W x 12.5" D Now available in 6 inch height Bronze • Edition/9
T H E A RT OF J E W E L RY A N D S C U L P T U R E (803) 824-9123 | 109 W. Washington Street, Middleburg, VA 20118 | dreutertwi@aol.com
www.drtjewelry.net | www.bronzed.net
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echiza
acaw
ezza Luna
andarin Wall Hanging Still Life with Pears
Peacock
Parakeets with Berries
Swift
Rufus