Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture Workshops

01/30/2025

Please join us for an upcoming sculpture workshop, March 10 - 14, Sculptural Masks, from Reference and Imagination with Evan Morse, $650 plus materials fee. Please call Kay Filar, Curatorial Associate at 843-235-6034 to begin registration.

Sculpting a mask, or the front of a face, is a great way to explore high relief. Whether the face is human, animal, or mythical creature, participants will begin by working from a reference. Arrive with photos, drawings or a physical model or be inspired by the sculpture onsite. How you alter, embellish or decorate your mask is up to you. We will work in water-based clay for three days before casting each piece in plaster using waste-molds. The final day will allow for clean-up and patina of your plaster mask. Note: These masks will be designed to hang on a wall, not to wear on your face!

Evan Morse earned an MFA in sculpture from Boston University and a BA from Wheaton College, MA. He also enrolled in schools in Italy, studying the traditional sculpture techniques of clay-modeling, plaster-casting, and stone-carving in Carrara and Florence. He is an accomplished stone carver, with completed commissions for the New York State Capitol building, Iowa State University, Harvard University, and several marble monuments for the city of Rutland, Vermont. His studio work has been recognized with two grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, a 2017 fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a 2021 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award. He is a two-time recipient of the Dexter Jones Award, presented by The National Sculpture Society for an ‘outstanding work of sculpture in bas-relief.’ Morse is honored to have sculpted the 2024 medal in the Brookgreen Gardens medal series.

12/03/2024

The Wallace Master Sculptor Program at Brookgreen Gardens is excited to announce that we have moved into the new Simpson Art Center which houses a sculpture studio, conservation lab, 3d print lab, and foundry yard. The 2025 workshop schedule of instructors and courses are online at https://www.brookgreen.org/sculpture-workshops. If you have any questions about the workshops or our facility, please email Bryan Rapp, Director of the Master Sculptor Program at [email protected]. If you would like to begin the registration process for any 2025 workshop, you may call Kay Filar, Curatorial Associate at 843-235-6034. More information on workshops and regular updates on our program coming soon.

04/05/2023

Our 2023 workshop series is underway with limited space still available in most workshops. More information, including instructor bios and full course descriptions are on our website, which can be accessed here, https://www.brookgreen.org/sculpture-workshops.

May 8-12 - Dynamic Animal Sculpture with Adam Matano - Filled.

May 22-26 - The Seated Figure with Alicia Ponzio, FNSS - Filled.

June 12-16 - Make Your Own Brookgreen Medal with Heidi Wastweet, FNSS. Limited space available. $650 + material fees.

June 26-29 - Sculpting a Bust from Photos with Bryan Rapp. Limited space available. $325 + materials fee.

July 17-21 - Composition and narrative in Sculpture with John Belardo, FNSS. $650 + material and model fees.

August 21-25 - Beginning the Human Figure with Bryan Rapp - Filled.

Sept. 4-8 - The Portrait in Relief Sculpture: A Course in Medallic Design and Process with Eugene Daub, FNSS. $650 + materials fee.

Sept. 25-29 - Plein Air Figure Sculpture with Kevin Chambers. $650 + model and materials fee.

Oct. 16-19 - Sculpting Extinct Animals with Gary Staab. $650 + materials fee.

Oct. 23-27 - Birds in Sculpture with Sandy Scott, FNSS. $650 + materials fee.

Nov. 6-10 - Modelling the Tao of Equus: Structure and Expression in the Horse with Stephanie Revennaugh. $650 + materials fee.

If you have any questions about any of our workshops, please don't hesitate to contact Bryan Rapp, Director of the Master Sculptor Program at [email protected]. If you'd like to register for a workshop, please call Kay Filar, Curatorial Associate at 843-235-6034, or email Kay at [email protected]. https://www.brookgreen.org/sculpture-workshops. All skill levels, including beginners are welcome.

04/05/2023

John Belardo, FNSS will be teaching Composition and Narrative in Sculpture, July 17 - 21, 2023 as part of our Master Sculptor Program workshops. Cost is $650 + materials/model fees. If you are interested in learning more about this workshop, please contact Bryan Rapp at [email protected]. If you'd like to register, please contact Kay Filar at [email protected], or call 843-235-6034.

This workshop is geared for both intermediate and advanced sculpture students, but all levels including beginners are welcome. In this workshop we will explore sculpture composition using multiple figures. Through a series of small bozzetti we will develop unique compositions in which multiple figures share the same sculptural space. Starting with one life model we will compose a secondary figure from memory in order to develop sophisticated compositions. We will examine how figures interact to compound into larger narratives and meanings and to study how the composition manifests into allegory. A three-dimensional composition is uniquely able to engage with a sequential narrative as it unfolds over time through the viewers position in space. We will study masterworks from the collection to illuminate some of these ideas.

John Belardo was educated as a sculptor at the New York Academy of Art and the Newington Cropsey Academy of Art, and as an apprentice in the studio of Richard McDermott Miller. His work is wide ranging, from monumental public installations to digital prototyping and design, as well as large-scale ceramic sculpture. He is currently the Artist in Residence at Chesterwood (historic home of Daniel Chester French). His sculptures and drawings recently have been exhibited at Brookgreen Gardens, Azarian McCullough Gallery, Vytlacil, Lodge Gallery, The Cathedral of St John the Divine, Salmagundi Club, Lyme Art Association, and the World Maker Faire at New York Hall of Science. Belardo’s work is permanently installed at Georgetown University, Cooperstown NY, and Lehman CUNY. His travel notebook drawings were featured in Drawing Magazine, and he has contributed to scholarly journals on developmental perception. Belardo recently presented the talk “Piccirilli Studio” at the NSS Annual Conference. He won the Gold Medal from the Hudson Valley Art Association. Belardo is a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society and a faculty member at Lehman College CUNY, the New York Academy of Art, Newington Cropsey Foundation Academy of Art, and a visiting scholar for the Institute for American Universities.

08/04/2022

Coming soon to Brookgreen - Sculptor Paul Moore, FNSS. Limited spots are available for his weeklong figurative workshop, Sept. 12 - 16, 2022. Paul was my mentor at the University of Oklahoma during grad school, and we are very fortunate to have him here in SC.

Paul is in constant demand for portrait and monumental commissions and in the past 40 years, he has sculpted more than 150 commissions. His work is in the U.S. Capitol Collection, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the Brookgreen Gardens Collection and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to name a few.

In addition, Paul has won numerous awards throughout his career including four Anne Marion Best of Show Awards, two Ray Swanson Memorial Awards, the Stetson Award and four Gold Medal and five Silver Medals for Sculpture at the annual Cowboy Artists of America show. In 2021, Paul received the Medal of Honor from the NSS.
Paul and his sons recently finished up a twenty-year project creating 45 life and a half elements for the Oklahoma Land Run Monument in Oklahoma City, OK. The monument is 365 feet long by 36 feet wide by 16 feet high.

https://www.pbs.org/video/paul-moore-monument-man-ujf2wh/

To register, please call Kay Filar, Curatorial Associate at 843-235-6034, or email her at [email protected]. Any other questions can be directed to Bryan Rapp, Director of the Master Sculptor Program at [email protected].

The Oklahoma sculptor who created one of the largest bronze installations in the world.

08/04/2022

Its here! Brookgreen was recently featured on the Sculptor's Funeral podcast, hosted by sculptor Jason Arkles, an American sculptor living in Florence, Italy. Brookgreen was fortunate to have Jason here for two weeks as a sculptor in residence, followed by a week teaching the Sight/Size method. The episode covers a lot of ground from Brookgreen's origins to our new state of the art sculpture facility that is soon to be built. Its also a great tribute to Anna Hyatt Huntington and Robin Salmon, VP of Art and Historical Collections and Curator of Sculpture here at Brookgreen, who just received the Medal of Honor from the National Sculpture Society for her forty plus years of service and contributions to sculpture. Can't wait to have Jason back.

Huntington was a prolific American sculptor in the early 20th century, but her greatest legacy may be the extensive and unique sculpture park she built, the first of its kind in the United States. Listen here to learn about the past and future of Brookgreen Garden; with interviews with Bryan Rapp an...

08/04/2022

Images from Jason Arkles' workshop on the "Sight/Size method" of sculpting the human figure, June 2022.

08/02/2022

Images from Brittany Ryan's workshop on the female figure in motion back in early June.

05/04/2022

Brittany Ryan's upcoming workshop, Sculpting the Figure in Motion is June 6 - 10. Brittany is the sculpture department coordinator and an instructor at Laguna College of Art + Design in California. In 2021 Brittany was juried into the California Art club Gold Metal Show and won first place in sculpture at the Portrait Society International competition. In 2020 she won the Gold Medal award at the National Sculpture Societies 87th Annual Awards show. This is her first visit to Brookgreen and you don't want to miss it!

The cost for this 5-day workshop is $650 + materials, with a $150 registration deposit (paid online through an emailed invoice) to reserve your spot in the class. Please contact Kay Filar at [email protected], or call 843-235-6034 to reserve your spot, or Bryan Rapp ([email protected], 843-780-0371) for further information.

05/04/2022

Adam Matano returns to Brookgreen May 16 - 20 from Los Angeles to teach Animal Sculpture. There is space available if you are interested. The cost for this 5-day workshop is $650 + materials, with a $150 registration deposit (paid online through an emailed invoice) to reserve your spot in the class. Please contact Kay Filar at [email protected], or call 843-235-6034 to reserve your spot, or Bryan Rapp ([email protected], 843-780-0371) for further information.

05/04/2022

April 11 - 14 brought us Sculpting the Portrait with David Simon.