Sculpting a career in creativity

Updated on: Monday, March 30, 2009

Interested in carving an artistic career in sculpting? Then, courses in sculpture should be your choice of study. An option for students who are creatively inclined, sculpture offers job opportunities in a cross-section of fields including medical stream, teaching and interior decoration.

Bharathiar Palkalai Koodam (BPK), a government institution, is the only institute in Puducherry offering a four-year course, Bachelor of Visual Arts - Sculpture.

The first year will be an integrated preparatory course and the subsequent three years will focus on specialisation in sculpture.

“Interest and basic knowledge of drawing is essential for a student to pursue this course in sculpture. It is different from painting due to the three-dimensional feature involved in it and thus calls for intensive training,” says principal M. Jayaraman. Aimed at developing an aesthetic sense among the students, the course has been designed in such a way that it allows the students to come up with ideas and give form to their creativity.

It enables the students to have an in-depth look at things, study and observe and then give a form to their imagination, he explains.

The undergraduate course includes Indian culture and art, drawings, Indian art history, Western art history, Indian art and aesthetics, Western art and aesthetics, introduction to aesthetics and its scope and practicals in drawing, three-dimensional designs, applied art such as calligraphy and typography, sculpture and human anatomy, clay modelling, sand casting and methods, composition and head study, wood carving and terracotta, composition and life study, stone carving, multiple casting, sculptural design, metal sculpture by different processes and sculpture in modern media such as plastic and fibre glass and computer graphics.

For admission to the course, the institution conducts an entrance examination where the drawing skills of students are tested. They also have to create a clay model using their creativity. Students who have passed Class XII are eligible for the course.

“The scope for sculptors is very good when it comes to interior decorations for new buildings and houses. There is a good demand for sculptors in private works and even in the film industry for establishing sets,” says Mr. Jayaraman.

On completion of the course, the graduates can go as moulders and modellers. Medical colleges either have a separate art unit or a post for sculptors. There, the sculptors need to come up with models of human body parts for teaching purposes. Some of the former students of BPK are working in medical colleges, says the principal.

Another option is in the teaching arena. The graduates can go as craft or art teachers in educational institutions.

“There are freelance sculptors too who come up with their own creative work and conduct exhibitions. They can also do wall sculptures in buildings and houses for decorative purposes,” he says.

Higher studies in sculpture are being offered at fine art institutions in Chennai, Kumbakonam, Bangalore and Kerala.

For more information visit : www.hindu.com

Sculpting a career in creativity

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