Wire sculpture

Wire sculpture is the creation of sculpture out of wire. The use of metal wire in jewelry dates back to the 2nd Dynasty in Egypt and to the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe. In the 20th century, the works of Alexander Calder, Ruth Asawa, and other modern practitioners developed the medium of wire sculpture as an art form.

Skill

Because the tools needed are simple, the techniques for making wire jewelry can be learned and practiced at home by hobby artists. Tools typically include pliers, files, wire cutters, and mandrels.

The wire used can be made of a variety of decorative metals variously intersecting. The jewelry can be complemented by beads (costume jewelry) or gems to enhance the design.

Metals used

Artists who are just starting out with wire should not do so using precious materials such as silver or gold. As an alternative, they can use less expensive and more ductile materials, such as brass, copper, aluminum, or 14K gold filled. The artist generally gains experience by working on various subjects and becoming familiar with the wire. There are many ways to treat and braid the wire. Later, they can move on to more noble metals such as 925 silver and 14K gold filled gold.

14k gold filled wire is a kind of capillary tube that has a jeweler's brass core. So it is not gold plated, since it contains about 100 times more gold.

Gold filled gold marked 14/20 means that at least 20% of the wire is made of 14 carat gold. Like solid gold, gold filled can be at least in pink and gold tones, allowing to expand the range of jewelry that can be produced.

Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder (July 22,1898–November 11,1976), an American sculptor, greatly developed the use of wire as a medium for sculpture with his kinetic and movement-based Cirque Calder, as well as pieces such as Two Acrobats, Romulus and Remus, and Hercules and Lion.

In 1926, after a stint spent making toys at the request of a Serbian toy merchant in Paris, Calder began creating his Cirque Calder, a miniature, movable circus that uses movable wire models of various circus performers, like sword eaters and lion tamers. After this, Calder created complete pieces only using wire and in 1927 had a show of wire sculptures at the Weyhe Gallery in New York City. In 1930, he had a solo show of wire sculptures in Paris, at Galerie Billiet.

Calder’s wire sculptures of this period tended to be portraits, caricatures, and stylized representations of people and animals. While originally believing the medium of wire sculpture to be merely clever and amusing, as his work developed, he began to state that wire sculpture had an important place in the history of art and remarked on the great possibilities within the medium.“These new studies in wire, however, did not remain the simple, modest little things I had done in New York. They are still simple, more simple than before, and therein lie the great possibilities which I have only recently come to feel for the wire medium... There is one thing, in particular, which connects them with history. One of the futuristic painters' canons, as propounded by Modigliani, was that objects should not be lost to view but should be shown through the others by making the latter transparent. The wire sculpture accomplishes this in a most decided manner!"

Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa came to prominence when her wire sculptures appeared at both the Whitney Museum of American Art and the 1955 São Paulo Art Biennial. Asawa learned to use commonplace materials from Josef Albers, her teacher at Black Mountain College, and began experimenting with wire using a variety of techniques.

In the 1950s, Asawa experimented with crocheted wire sculptures of abstract forms that appear as three dimensional line drawings. She learned the basic technique while in Toluca, Mexico, where villagers used a similar technique to make baskets from galvanized wire.

“I was interested in it because of the economy of a line, making something in space, enclosing it without blocking it out. It’s still transparent. I realized that if I was going to make these forms, which interlock and interweave, it can only be done with a line because a line can go anywhere.”

In 1962, Asawa began experimenting with tied wire sculptures of images rooted in nature, geometry, and abstraction.

Contemporary practitioners

Contemporary wire artists include:

Brian Boyer uses wire that would otherwise end up in a landfill to create wire trees. Known for his self-taught style and use of recycled copper/aluminum wire. His trees combine mathematical formulas, algorithms, and equations along with geometric shapes along with flowers and many other abstract patterns in the roots and branches. As of 2018 Brian has had an active profile with the "Canadian Council for the Arts" and continues to make his one of a kind wire trees under the brand name "Forrest Wire"

Gavin Worth has used wire sculpture to combine realistic images with 3-d abstract forms. Worth approached Calder's idea of mobility in sculpture by making the viewer the mobile element. By placing varying images on different planes of the sculpture, the image changes as the viewer see it from different angles.

Kue King has built a reputation combining wire and feather. He sculpts wire using a woven additive technique. Instead of creating a form with wireframing, he builds with it like clay.

Elizabeth Berrien began working with wire in the 1960s and is hailed as the "Godmother of Wire" by the wave of emerging wire sculptors she inspired.

Racso Jugarap works speak of organic volume and fluidity. Other than wire sculpture and installations, the artist also experiments with wearable wire arts.

Robin Wight creates wire sculptures of fairies. He works with stainless steel wire. One of his more notable works is Dancing with Dandelions

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