The Sculptor's Funeral

Today's podcast features interviews of three sculptors - Matt Kindy, Spencer Schubert, and Philippe Faraut - who have found that the best quality sculpture tools are the ones they make themselves. And luckily for us, these sculptors also handcraft their high quality tools in small amounts and make them available to others.

...You know which David. You know who created it. But do you know why it was created in the first place, or how it ended up becoming one of the most famous works of art on earth? And what's with the big head?? The Sculptor's Funeral Podcast digs into the David's origins to get a better understanding of Michelangelo's masterpiece, and debunks a few myths along the way.

Happy New Year from The Sculptor's Funeral, everyone! Here's the introduction to Michelangelo episode which aired a year ago - good prep for next week's all new episode about his David.

Happy Holidays! - Enjoy this repeat episode which details the rise of academic institutions in the training of artists.

The greatest sculptor in Florence between the time of Donatello and the rise of Michelangelo, Andrea del Verrocchio explored figurative composition like no sculptor before him - but his greatest contribution to art might be in the painters he taught - from Ghirlandaio and Signorelli, to Leonadro da Vinci himself.

In a career cut short by an early death, Desiderio Da Settignano nevertheless managed to rival Donatello in relief work, and re-invent the genre of child portraiture in sculpture, bringing the Age of Ugly Renaissance Babies to a thankful end.

"I tried to fire my sculpture once, and it blew up in the kiln." -And thus endeth the exploration of terracotta sculpture for many a clay modeller. But it doesn't have to be that way! In this Shop Talk episode, Jason discusses tips and tricks, principles and practices of modelling figurative work for firing into terracotta.

New kid on the Florentine block Luca Della Robbia didn't have to reinvent the wheel in sculpture, like the sculptors of the generation before him had to; instead, he started with those new wheels and invented the bicycle. Learning lessons from not just sculptors, but from painters and even potters, Luca developed a style, and a genre, all his own. And he did it with Dolcezza.

Cosimo de' Medici - Cosimo Pater Patriae, Father of the Country -was one of the wealthiest, most powerful and most intelligent men in Europe, and had a cantankerous, stick-in-the-mud sculptor as a best friend. This episode explores what made the Medici the Medici, and how a collaboration between secular power and the Renaissance Avant-Garde led to Donatello's striking and controversial David.

The Representational Art Conference was the largest event of the year for the world of figurative art. Host Jason Arkles speaks with Michael Pearce, Alicia Ponzio, and Poppy Field, all participants in this year's TRAC in different ways.