This is the worst part of the year weather-wise in Arizona. It’s called The Monsoon Season. Usually July, August and into September. it is not the heat, I enjoy the heat in Arizona, most of the time it’s a dry heat, but the Monsoon season is much higher humidity. That is the way it is now hot and humid!! Not complaining too much, have so much to be thankful for. It just got me to thinking about sculpture, it is not effected by heat and humidity right away, but I feel as the years go by it will take it toll on a sculptures patina if it is a bronze casting, wood often loves the humidity. Put a wood sculpture in an extremely dry climate and it depends on the origin of the wood itself. In moving wood carvings, one must careful especially with wood sculpture or carvings to keep the move with climate in mind, no drastic changes would be my advice.
Stone carvings or sculpture statues are not so much affected by weather, but more by handling as they can be quite heavy and unwieldy!
Stainless Steel sculpture/statues are increasing popular as an alternative to bronze, although the pricing can be similar. I feel the look and feel can be more appropriate to bronze in some situations, but that works both ways as does so much in life.
That being said, I’m sure glad we have sculpture in our lives, high humidity or not! Reminds me, there was a hit song back in the sixties by Jackie DeShannon and The Searchers an English group, called “Every time you Walk in the Room” both covered it so well. Here are the links
Jackie DeShannon Walk in the Room
The Searchers Walk in the Room
– enjoy or not!
Time and Sculpture, that is for another day!
Have you ever walked into a room and there was a nice sculpture there, large or small? I feel it changes the room with either a strong message or a beautiful design or quite commonly both!
Sculpture has such power over our conscious and subconscious minds!
Lets give out a huge thank you throughout time to sculptor-artists the world over and their wonderful creative creations! Let’s not forget the Collectors of sculpture as well:)
By for now – Bill West
(an advocate for good sculpture everywhere all the time!)
Hi there!
I live in Pennsylvania and mainly collect Western bronzes purchased on the secondary market (300+ and I stopped counting), many of them true antiques. Here, we have all four seasons in roughly the same lengths, and we get plenty of precipitation. The heat of summer brings a good deal of humidity. I was trained as a clockmaker however (apprenticed at 13), and I was taught how to best preserve wood and metal – WAX! Yep, I came up using good old Butcher’s Wax (Minwax at one shop) to keep statues and antiques in good condition, especially after restoration. Today I use Renaissance Wax as it hardens better and is less prone to collecting fingerprints. The thing to remember though is that wax is a sacrificial coating and needs to be renewed on a regular basis. It’s easy enough to remove too should the piece need cleaning. I wash my bronzes in hot soapy water (blue Dawn dish soap and a soft brush work great to remove stubborn crud – ever had a bronze that was owned by a chain smoker? I have a few but you’d never know it) before being dab dried with a terrycloth towel and waxed anew, preferably while still warm. It’s very easy to do if you’re careful and have an eye for detail. If your statue has a fragile coating on it, well, test your wax on a small, out of the way spot first. I have yet to damage a statue and I’ve been at it for four decades now, though I’m sure it’s possible. Interstitial dust and dirt is NOT patina, no matter what the dealers say!
Nowadays I put my bronzes either in a closed display case or under cloche domes. Some of those domes can be stupid expensive themselves, but they do save on a whole lot of work. I have a bad back and can’t heave the large bronzes around like I used to.
You probably know all of this, being a collector yourself, but I thought I’d throw it out there.
Cheers,
Frank B.