Antoinette Jackson

Chloe -just texting

Commissions

Commissioning work:

I am very happy for clients to commission work.  I especially enjoy figurative work of children at play, and I am always looking for unusual or different inspirations for my work, so please do not hesitate to contact me. Prices do vary and reflect the client's choice of material ( bronze or cold- cast bronze), size and pose.

Should you wish to commission a figurative work I will detail a scheduled procedure as well as a quotation for the art work. It is preferable for a meeting to be arranged in the first instance to acquaint myself with the 'character' of the subject, though should this prove impossible I am able to work to photographs by mutual agreement.

Initially the  client and the artist work towards agreeing a 'pose'  - the energy and love I distil into my work is a direct result of my engagement with the character and pose I am expressing through the sculpture.

In the very  early stages ideas can remain somewhat fluid and the commission 'tentative' .From these ideas I will produce sketches to suggest the final artwork. When all factors have been mutually agreed the artwork can commence in clarity for both artist and client and at this point an initial payment of 50% is due.

 Modelling is a slow process and works usually take two to four months depending on the size of the piece and my existing commitments. At crucial stages within the modelling process the client will be sent photographs of the work in progress and when the model is complete, and the client satisfied with the artwork, the balance of money is due before the clay piece is delivered to the casters. The  casting work can take several weeks depending on the caster's  existing commitments.Thereafter delivery will be arranged and so begin the many years of pleasure that your commission will bring!


  Sculpting -The process:

I create my sculptures in either clay or wax by direct modelling onto an aluminium or copper armature. The clay or wax original is then translated into a cast piece.

All my sculptures are cast in small, limited editions and are available in either bronze or cold-cast bronze . Cold- cast bronze  ( otherwise known as bronze resin) is so called because it uses a 'cold' (and hence more affordable) process, rather than the 'hot' processes associated with foundry casting. The Cold-cast technique uses  pure bronze, ground to a powder, mixed in liquid resin to saturation point. The resultant mixture, which is a high concentration of pure bronze, remains just viscous enough to coat the mould;  hence ‘cold –cast’.  A  ‘near bronze’ is created at approximately one third of the costs associated with foundry (molten metal) casting.Small pieces are usually resin ‘filled’. Large pieces, however, (both cold- cast and foundry-cast) are hollow in parts to reduce weight , and ,therefore, cold-cast large pieces are more usually reinforced with fibre glass and metal rods, where appropriate, to lend additional strength and support to the finished artwork.

Foundry bronze though  is the more traditional material for sculpture and has been used since antiquity.  I am fortunate to be able to have my bronze work cast by Andrew Lacey . Andrew has a passion for rediscovering the skills of bronze casting from antiquity and now lectures and collaborates with institutions both here in England, such as the V&A and the Fitzwilliam, and in Europe and the United States, rediscovering the skills and techniques of Greek and Roman sculpture . I am very privileged that he finds the time to cast my work for me using the traditional 'lost wax ' casting method . This is a very labour intensive process and is reflected in the additional costs associated with pure bronze artworks.

After casting both bronze and cold-cast bronze undergo surface treatments which tinge  the artwork with colour . This is called 'patination' and results usually in artworks which are either tinged with green ( known as verdigris ) or with black, in varying degrees according to taste. Weathering is idiosyncratic and gradually the patination mellows ....the sculpture becomes an 'old friend' nuanced by the setting.