The Sculptor In You

Shortcuts to Portrait Sculpture, the first volume in this three-tape series designed to teach viewers the basic elements and techniques of clay portrait and body sculpture, features well-known sculptor and teacher, A. Wasil, as he demonstrates, step-by-step, how to form a portrait `bust'. Opening with some brief biographical information, Wasil begins instruction by taking measurements on a real-life model using calipers and discusses working from photographs so as not to tire the model. From this point, Wasil starts working with clay, explaining as he adds clay to a base and armature to form the head structure. Working from this rough beginning, he deftly shows how to add facial features and transform it into a life sculpture. While this program shows instruction steps in a logical fashion, it does not really discuss tools or methods. Transition-shot editing is poor on the fade-to-blacks, video resolution is average, and the whole program labors because the presentation is just "real-time" cut up into segments; nothing innovative is happening--no music, nada. Better than a book on the subject because viewers can see how the transformation occurs between steps, but the video medium could have been better utilized. The other two titles in the series are: The Full Figure in High Relief and Sculpting the Female Torso. An optional purchase for librarians needing art instructional videos. (J. Scholtz)