1 July 2009 - I give an experimental course in portrait sculpture to Master students in Ingenierie de Projets at the Ecole Superieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancees, in Bidart, Basque Country.
The idea is to explore their artistic creativity in first-time sculpture-making and thus reflect on their personal approach in their other professional (and life) projects.
I encourage them to first look at the model from a point of view as objective as possible, stand back, look at the object from all sides, use the mirror (a device used by Da Vinci amongst others to refresh the eye), touching, pausing and observing. After an initial phase spent doing this, understanding the bigger picture, are the students encouraged to zoom in and embark finally on a more subjective and personal approach.