Mária Bartuszová

Born in the former Czechoslovakia in

1936, Bartuszová became an innovator in
the medium of sculpture in the 1960s.
Bartuszová worked over three decades in
Košice, the second-largest city in Slovakia.
She created around 500 sculptures, from
small organic forms to commissions for
public spaces as well as works in the
landscape.

Bartuszová experimented using her own

distinctive method of casting plaster by
hand. Inspired by playing with her young
daughter, she created abstract shapes by
pouring plaster into rubber balloons – her
signature material was white plaster,
giving the sculptures a fragile quality.

…tactile, sensual, and evocative sculptures, with

organic and biomorphic shapes…
Rachel Whiteread
HER WORK MAKES THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
Rachel Whiteread’s work typically takes the
form of casts, which are formed when a
liquid material is poured into a mold and
allowed to solidify. Using materials like
concrete, resin, and even snow, her
sculptures take the shape of everyday
objects: mattresses, hot water bottles,
stairwells, and the like.

But more often than not, Whiteread’s casts

are of negative space, or the space between,
under, or otherwise around things. The
space that surrounds and defines an object
is what we see in her sculptures.

Look closely at Untitled (Book Corridors), “I simply found a wardrobe ... I stripped the interior ...
and you’ll see that what initially registers in turned it on its back, drilled some holes in the doors
your mind as books on shelves is actually a and filled it with plaster until it overflowed.”
cast of the spaces between shelves. There Rachel Whiteread
are no books or shelves left in the work, only
the ruffled edges of pages torn out. It’s the
invisible spaces around us that Whiteread
has turned our focus to.
Homework for tomorrow (Tuesday 13th):

1. Present all plaster experiments on A2 sheets.

2. Evaluate your plaster experiments making reference to the artists given.

• Using the formal elements, describe the sculpture you’ve made.
• Describe the process you used to create your sculptures.
• Compare work by the two artists provided, what are the similarities and
differences in their work? Consider both practical techniques and meaning
behind the work.
Key terms:
• What is successful about your plaster experiments? How could they be
improved?
Impression
• Compare your experiments with the artists provided: what are the similarities
and differences? Cast
Negative
FORMAL ELEMENTS Mould
Tone & Colour: values (how light/how dark), complimentary, harmonious, warm/cool, translucent, opaque,
monochromatic, tones, tinge, layered, muted, fluorescent, hue, tints, shades, contrasting, flat Form

Line: Expressive, loose, precise, controlled, free flowing, undulating, strokes, marks, painterly, graphic, heavy, Ratio
confident, forceful, delicate, fragile, harsh, straight, curved
Plaster
Shape & Space: Geometric, interlacing, overlapping, layered, organic, natural, mechanical, heavy, positive, Mod roc
negative, void, depth, 3D, length, width
Setting
Pattern/Texture: Mark making, mottled, smooth, rough, uneven, strokes, soft, hard, sharp, bumpy, repeated,
tessellated Process