Folded Metal Sculpture

Students will make sculptures from supplied patterns and learn how to draw out a plan. We will use tin snips and files and fold the metal using pliers and hammers. Pop rivets will be used.

The course will emphasize personal artistic expression while recognizing individual skill  levels.
The intention of this workshop is for the student to be able to create Folded Metal Sculptures afterwards at home WITHOUT the need of a metal workshop.
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Course Info

Over the week, you’ll learn how to cut sheet metal sections to size and transfer patterns to metal.

You will learn how to cut out negative shapes and then the flat drawings using tin snips.

Adriaan will take you through filing edges to ensure safe handling, then how to shape and bend the metal to create the imagined forms. He will walk you through the steps involved in constructing and finishing your piece and then how to install and display it.

A long-time sculptor, Adriaan, will also share tips on setting up a workspace at home and finding time to activate creativity.

No prior experience required

Please bring the following on your first day of class:

Tools

  • Small straight tin snips
  • Small curved tin snips
  • Very small files (jeweller’s files perhaps)
  • Normal pliers
  • Needle nose pliers
  • Ball Peon hammer
  • Wood chisel (10mm or so)
  • Small Neoprene or rubber hammer
  • Two clamps to hold work to the bench

SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS

Recycled copper sheeting. Recycled copper has its own patina. (New copper sheeting seems to have a coating on it that will not allow for a patina to develop). Try Recycling Centres. There is copper in old hot water heaters, you may have to dismantle one. Size? 500x800mm for the life size Scrub Turkey Pattern (cut that in half to 500×400 for travel needs if necessary) and 200x300mm for the small Scrub Turkey and Baby Turtle patterns. That much material takes care of 2.5 days of work. 

You will need more material for the sculptures you will design in the remaining days. Another option is to use offcuts of Galvanised sheet metal, but that lacks character. Think about the thickness of your material, you should be able to bend it with pliers.

YOU WILL ALSO NEED

  • A3 Visual Arts pad
  • 2B or 4B pencils and marker pen
  • Ruler
  • Scissors
  • Gloves (optional)
  • Covered in shoes

TUTOR WILL SUPPLY

  • Patterns
  • Battery Drill, drill bits and charging unit
  • Pop Riveter and Nickel-Plated Copper pop rivets        

Adriaan will contact all students by email or phone to discuss what tools and materials they have, what needs to be purchased and what can be borrowed.

Happy Camper Reviews

Adriaan was supportive and very talented. He was incredibly generous in the way he endeavoured to give his time and attention to each participant no matter what their experience or ability..
Adriaan was very knowledgeable and he was able to provide ideas to assist. He was always conscious of not 'overriding' your idea. He just wanted to make it better.
Adriaan was able to provide design or technique suggestions without taking over from the student. He gave inexperienced students the confidence to take on challenging designs that they otherwise wouldn’t have attempted or completed.
Adriaan had the ability to get our thoughts and designs out of our minds and transform them into on-the-ground works. Brilliant yet humble.
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Adriaan Vanderlugt
Course Tutor

Adriaan Vanderlugt

Adriaan began his art career as a graphic designer at an advertising agency in Canada.

In 1969, whilst travelling the world on a motorcycle, he was inspired by Canadian Inuit stone carvings to begin carving wildlife in soapstone.

Adriaan has now been carving bone, stone, wood, marble and metal for over five decades, and his sculptures of animals, birds and fish are held in collections worldwide.

He has completed commissions of public art commissions all over Australia and, in 2003, received a Centenary Medal ‘for distinguished service to the arts.

A recent commission saw Adriaan sculpt in metal a 4m wide Manta Ray and a 4m long Maori Wrasse, part of a project to create Australia’s first underwater sculptures in the Great Barrier Reef.

Adriaan was filmed for an episode for the TV show ‘Colour In Your Life’ hosted by Graeme Stevenson, which has been distributed worldwide.
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