Sculpture

Sculpture is a kind of art. Artists make shapes you can walk around. Some sculptures are tiny. Others are as big as buildings. Sculptors use many things to make their art. They might use stone, wood, metal, or clay. People have been making sculptures for thousands of years.

How Sculptures Are Made

There are a few main ways to make a sculpture. Carving means cutting away bits of stone or wood until a shape appears. Modeling means shaping soft clay or wax with your hands. Casting means pouring hot metal into a mold and letting it cool. Some artists also weld metal pieces together. Each way makes a different kind of art.

Famous Sculptures

Some sculptures are known all over the world. The Statue of Liberty stands tall in New York. It welcomes people to America. In Italy, a sculptor named Michelangelo carved a huge statue called David out of marble. Long ago, people in Egypt built the Great Sphinx. It has a lion's body and a human head. These works still amaze us today.

Fun Facts

• The tallest statue in the world is the Statue of Unity in India. It is taller than a 50-story building.
• Mount Rushmore shows the faces of four U.S. presidents carved into a mountain.
• Some ancient Greek sculptures were once painted in bright colors, but the paint wore off over time.

Did You Know?

Ice sculptures are real art, but they melt away! Artists use chainsaws and chisels to carve huge blocks of ice into amazing shapes.