Will Kurtz: Sculpting a Pet with Feeling and Expression Newspaper and Tape
This small group workshop will focus on making a dog sculpture with newspaper and tape. It is for all different levels of artists from those who have never sculpted to experienced artists. The emphasis will be to have fun and be playful with materials you might have used as a child. I will show my technique that I have refined over many years, to create a very realistic sculpture of a pet that is full of emotion and captures their personality.
In this hands-on workshop we will learn how to:
- Select the best photo that shows movement and body language
- Make correct size and proportions
- Make an armature as a framework
- Attach the newspaper to the armature with just making tape
- Make details such as toes, noses and ears
- Create different surfaces with collage or cut hair
This is a lot for just one workshop, so the goal will be to teach my process rather than finish a whole sculpture. I will get you started and you can finish the piece after the workshop on your own time. My hope is to awaken the inner artist and let you find your own style and materials to create sculptures of your own and others pets.
About Will
Will Kurtz is a sculptor who was born in Flint, Michigan. He received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Michigan State University in 1981 and practiced as a landscape architect for 25 years, throughout the United States and Canada. It wasn’t until he was in his mid thirties that he began creating art as a self-taught artist. Eventually his passion for art superseded landscape architecture and he moved to New York at the age of 50 to attend graduate school at the New York Academy of Art.
After graduation with an MFA he was selected to remain and do a one-year fellowship. He had many solo and group shows with his sculptures and paintings in New York and at galleries and museums in the US, Canada and Europe. His sculptures are in many prominent collections around the world. He is currently represented by Avant Gallery in Miami and White Room Gallery in East Hampton, NY.
Will is a full-time artist and teacher and has taught sculpture, drawing and painting at The New York Academy of Art, Lyme Academy and Penn State University. He has a studio in Athens, NY and splits his time living in both Athens and Brooklyn.