The family has requested donations to the Tom Bass Fund to help promote sculpture, instead of flowers.The donation is tax deductible. Visit tombasssculptureschool.org.au for more information.
See photographs from the exhibition:
The maquette holds within it all the design elements needed for the making of a sculpture. It is like the architect’s or engineer’s drawings which are explicit and detailed and can be used to make the larger construction required.
The process of arriving at the maquette includes defining the ideas and goal of the project in relation to the situation, drawings, research, inspiration and a period of gestation in the artist’s creative mind. Bass refers to the alchemy of this process – the cooking of the ingredients put into the unconscious which in a timely manner will begin to produce ideas and information that will lead to concept for the sculpture. The maquette is the way of physically working out the precise content the sculpture is to have.
The value of the maquette is in the artist’s ability to resolve problems at a scale that is manageable and accessible to the eye.
In today’s era of computer technology it is possible to create photomontage of the sculpture to scale in situ. In Bass’ days this was not available and either scale models of the situation or drawings often served the same purpose. Sometimes he would make the outline of a man to the proportion he would be in relation to the full scale work to test the maquette.
The maquette has all the problems of the making of the sculpture worked out, to the point where the actual scaling up or fabrication could even be carried out by someone else if this were necessary. In Bass’ career he always made the larger sculptures himself.
Bass was fastidious about making maquettes and often made more than one. If the work was to be very large as in the case of the National Library (70ft long) he would also make what he called a working model which would usually be 1/8th the size of the final sculpture.
When the full scale work is begun it is necessary to constantly refer to the maquette – to take it seriously. Right at the end when the whole work needs to be tightened up and completed it is necessary to go back to the maquette to ensure the essential quality of the work has been injected into the sculpture.
The maquette must not be abandoned. Should the sculptor reach the point when the maquette is not serving the project anymore, as the fabrication evolves, it may be an error has been made with the original concept and a new maquette may need to be designed; surrendering the maquette, especially in the early stages, and working out problems on a very large scale work is not advisable.
There is no point at which the maquette is not vital.
By Tom Bass and Margo Hoekstra
The Board of the Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School invites you to
23 May - 18 july 2009
Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 5.30pm
Exhibition & Birthday celebration
Friday 12 June 2009
6-8pm
RSVP essential
Exhibition talks (FREE )
Saturday 13 June, 1pm and 3pm & Saturday 11 July, 1 pm and 3pm
1a Clara Street, Erskineville NSW 2043
phone 02 9565 4851 or email tbsss@tpg.com.au
www.tombasssculptureschool.org.au
Bring the family and watch sculpture students in action as you explore the magic behind one of Sydney’s most unique venues; the Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School.
Listen to artists and students talk about their works while visiting the first exhibition 8 Sculptors at The Exhibition Space. Meet Raymond Hawkins of Into the Blue Creative Walks at 2.30pm who will be hosting the ‘Sculpture in the Desert’ tour (29 August - 5 September 2009) information session. A thirty minute Q&A session will follow.
When: Sunday 19 April 2009, 2pm - 4pm
Where: 1A Clara Street, Erskineville
For more information go to www.tombasssculptureschool.org.au or call on 02 9565 4851
Tom Bass AM, Australia’s most prolific public sculptor was honoured at a graduation ceremony in April by The University of Sydney with the degree of Doctor of Visual Arts (honoris causa).
Awarded in recognition of Bass’ excellence as a sculptor and teacher it marks a fifty-six year association with the University. The University holds three Bass sculptures in its collection including The Student 1953 and Votive Figure of the Sacred Heart 1961 situated at Sancta Sophia College. The poignant celebration held in the University’s Great Hall, comes twenty-five years after Bass completed The Arts and The Sciences for the niches on the neo-Gothic building, commissioned and unveiled by Lloyd Rees AC CMG in 1984.
A University of Sydney alumna, Dr Margo Hoekstra (Chair of the Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School and wife of Tom Bass), proudly watched on as Bass was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Visual Arts. As Bass approaches 93 years of age in June, Dr Hoekstra remarked, “With his walker in the ceremonial procession in the Great Hall, the words of John McDonald ran through my mind; he had described Tom as a pioneer with ‘an indomitable spirit of perseverance.’ This spirit, even in this frail state drove him to walk the entire procession and then, at the end, back again to do honour to the tribute placed upon him. McDonald acknowledged that ‘No artist had done more to shape the face of public art in Australia than Tom Bass.’”
Reflecting on the honour bestowed on him, Bass says, “Being a public sculptor in an art world for which the main focus was exhibiting in galleries was very hard and I often felt judged by my peers in a negative light. This left me feeling isolated and unacknowledged. I felt that year after year when I was doing my most important public work, when my peers refused to see the validity of it, that it was like being withheld the nourishment that I needed to go on. And the extraordinary thing was that I did go on being what I was in spite of the fact that it was ignored by my peers. Even when I founded the Sculpture School everyone thought I was crazy but it was one of the best things I could have done, even after a 30-year career as a sculptor. I feel the awarding of the Doctorate sets all this right and acknowledges who I am and what I am.”
Life as a Sculptor and Teacher
Bass emerged as a sculptor in a period of great urban and cultural change in Australia. After graduating from the National Art School after World War II under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme where he began to formulate his philosophy on public sculpture, he established himself as one of the country’s most successful public sculptors who lobbied for the inclusion of sculpture in civic spaces.
By deliberately choosing to operate without the supportive network of the commercial gallery system, Bass was very much on his own as his contemporaries sought the safety of teaching and gallery representation. Without a dedicated agent or dealer negotiating his commissions, Bass single-handedly generated his own income from sculpture commissions that resulted in a large body of public work being produced from the 1950s into the 1970s. Within that period, private, educational and religious commissions dominated his time enabling him to develop a trademark sculptural totemic style: every sculpture revealing a specific message within the design, composition and location of the work.
In a time when bronze casting was not readily available, Bass further developed techniques in copper deposit casting. Some of Bass’ most totemic works include the monumental Lintel Sculpture 1967-68 (National Library of Australia, Canberra), the serene Ethos 1959-61 (Civic Square, Canberra), The Trial of Socrates 1954-56 (University of Melbourne), The Falconer 1953-55 (University of New South Wales, Kensington) and the AMP Emblem 1960-62 (AMP, Sydney and Australia-wide). However, it is the P&O Wall Fountain 1962-63 in Sydney’s CBD that is viewed by some as Bass’ most famous legacy and in 2006 was reviewed by architect and artist Richard Goodwin as the most important public artwork in the world.
The establishment of the Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School in 1974 further extended Bass’ commitment to the teaching and practice of sculpture and public art. Encouraging local and international artists to visit the School, Bass has provided valuable insight, knowledge and skills for students of the School.
In 1988 Tom Bass was made a Member of the order of Australia for services to Sculpture.
To this day, Tom Bass has faced an ongoing struggle to be accepted - not by the general public where much of his work can be seen, but by his peers, public art institutions and art historians. The Tom Bass Retrospective held at the Sydney Opera House in 2006 drew widespread public support most notably from art critics who acknowledged Bass’ contribution. His journey as a sculptor of totems has been one of daring and conviction. Inspired by life - fact and fictional – Tom Bass’ symbolic sculptural narratives will continue to be introduced to new generations and contribute to the social fabric of communities.