Designing the Pose: The Seated Figure
Workshop | Available
A seated pose offers new possibilities for expression and some inherent challenges that are different from standing poses. Alicia's curriculum places emphasis on exploring the gesture and its meaning, as well as developing one's method and problem-solving skills. The week will begin with several quick clay sketches from a live model in order to explore various poses and discuss the compositional elements of each pose. Students will be encouraged to participate in selecting poses. The group will discuss each pose in terms of content and aesthetic value as well as expressive qualities. After selecting the pose for a longer study, the group will spend the remaining four days developing the pose as a clay model. Alicia will introduce her "Three Stages of Figure Modeling", a framework for helping students to prioritize information and develop a coherent method for describing the human form in clay. Students will work on a wire armature in oil-based clay at an 18-inch scale. Teaching methods will include brief lectures, step-by-step demonstrations, group discussions, and individual feedback. Alicia will work alongside students throughout the week. All experience levels welcome. www.aliciaponzio.com
Alicia Ponzio
Alicia N. Ponzio (b.1974) began her career as a Lieutenant in the United States' Navy Nurse Corps. After experimenting with various mediums in figurative art, she found her voice in sculpture and made the decision to pursue it. Her pursuit took her to the Florence Academy of Art (FAA) in Florence, Italy, where she completed the Sculpture Program in 2008. She was then the director of the Artistic Anatomy and Écorché Sculpture programs, as well as a figure drawing instructor at the FAA until 2011, when she returned to the United States to set up her creative studio in downtown San Francisco. In 2014 Alicia and her partner, Justin Hess (painter, b. 1981), co-founded a private teaching atelier, also in San Francisco, JHess Studios. Alicia is active in a number of professional organizations including the National Sculpture Society and Portrait Society of America, in addition to creating works for gallery and commission, and maintaining an active teaching schedule at JHess Studios and various other venues in the United States and beyond. Alicia brings life to her bronzes and plasters, focusing on the abstract movement of forms as embodied in the human figure, as well as the subtle shades of human emotion. She favors asymmetry, irregularity, and variety in design: qualities that suggest a human touch. Her figure compositions and portraits have received recognition and honors from several organizations including the Art Renewal Center, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, The Portrait Society of America, The California Art Club and The National Sculpture Society from which Alicia received the Alex J. Ettl Grant in 2016. Her work ranges from miniature portraits to larger scale single figure and multi-figure compositions. She works extensively in plaster to achieve her effect, and casts the final product in bronze.