Benchmarks – What standards am I setting for my model?

At this stage I think it is also important to establish some benchmarks that I will be aiming for in terms of quality of finish of my model of Edith Kramer.

Wade Waxworks produces stunning realistic waxworks with a high quality of finish. Their beautiful finish is broadly defined through a high standard of quality in all stages of production – from sculpting to dressing. Due to this, I will be using their models as benchmarks for my head bust of Edith Kramer.

Wade Waxwork’s Aa Ji model

Wade Waxwork’s Amma Ji model

I will be using their models of the elderly due to the age of my subject. I have respect for the accuracy and understanding of anatomy in their models. For instance, their Aa Ji model’s facial features flow well and are very cohesive. They portray the physical characteristics of their subjects such as age etc. in a highly realistic manner – Aa Ji’s cheeks droop to imitate the deteriorating physicality of muscle and fatty tissue over time without seeming forced or out of place, as the anatomy was constructed from a place of understanding underlying facial structures.

Another point I will use as a benchmark from their models, is their emotional representation. Have a look at Amma Ji’s model by Wade Waxworks – even though it is not an overtly expressive head bust, their neutral face still portrays a degree of personality and emotional representation that communicate with the viewer. They do this through careful appreciation of idiosyncratic features of the subject’s face, combined with research on their history and personal character. That is the realism that I am aiming for – a face with personality behind it.

During the moulding and casting process, I will also be paying attention to Wade Waxwork’s handling of the silicon, plaster and wax materials. To reduce clean up in the cast, they make jacket moulds for the silicon which stays in one piece. After the plaster jacket is made, a singular cut is made to the back of the silicon mould that results in a minimal seam line.

Their handling of wax is also something I am aiming for – their wax is tinted to match the base skin tone of their subjects so that there is minimal painting afterwards. I will be using Aa Ji’s model by Wade Waxworks to gauge the tint colour of the wax – I am going for a similar tone of light yellow with a touch of pink in Kramer.

Additionally, I will also be using qualities of the work of Ron Mueck, specifically during the sculpting of the model and the dressing stage. The National Gallery of Victoria explains how ‘his startling manipulations of scale are key to our experience of each work’ which is an element I am planning to represent in my model. Additionally, Mueck also pays special attention to dressing his models in clothing that imitates the full-scale version at whichever scale he chooses. For instance, in his model Two Women, the fabric was chosen and sewed together so that it would not only represent the thread line at half-scale, but also so that it would fall down their bodies in just the right way. As such, I will imitate the clothing of Kramer at half-scale in all ways – sight, touch, and even interaction with weight and gravity.

Jessica Ennis-Hill CBE model at Madame Tussaud’s London

Moreover, I am looking at Madame Tussaud’s and Wade Waxworks models to understand the benchmarks for the painting of my model. Both maker workshops finish their models with very light layers of oil paint that still allow the translucency of wax to peek through. This helps the realism. I will also be using the specific shades of paint that is normally used in painting of waxwork figures – I will touch on this more in an upcoming post.

Marble head of an athlete
ca. A.D. 138–192

Lastly, the presentation – I will be looking to Madame Tussaud and traditional head busts in order to present my model in the most fitting manner. I would like a simple stand that emphasises the informational and representational purposes of the model. I like the way traditional head busts such as the Marble head of an athlete let the viewer have the space to make their own impression of the head by not over-complicating the display. I will aim for this benchmark throughout all the features of the model, such as tucking the clothes into the edges of the bottom of the bust to create a clean look. The Brighton Museum used this tactic quite pleasantly in their facial reconstructions.  

Therefore, I am aiming for a delicate but durable, realistically representational benchmark for my model.

L-R: Whitehawk Woman; Patcham Woman; Ditchling Road Man; Stafford Road Man; Slonk Hill Man. © Royal Pavilion & Museums

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A Very Brief History of the Art Therapy Field

A timeline showing a (very simplified) early history of the formation of the art therapy field in the UK and US.

Having decided on my Final Major Project, I continued exploring the narrative behind my model by researching the history of art therapy.

It was interesting to learn that art therapy began forming as a field at a very similar time in both the UK and the US. Though many different influential figures were involved in both countries, they began experimenting and establishing similar ideas on the power of creativity that is inherent to art, and how it can be developed from Freudian approaches.

The timeline above illustrates a very brief outline of this process, citing some significant characters along the way. In the UK, it was Adrian Hill and Edward Adamson who helped to establish the usage of art and creativity as a therapeutic modality. They both worked frequently with patients in hospitals and sanatoriums, though had differing influences on the field – Hill developed art as therapy, while Adamson focused more on relating it through a psychoanalytical basis. They were both highly instrumental in the setting up of the British Association of Art Therapists in 1964.

Simultaneously, Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer were working on setting up art therapy through their work in the United States. Both working on a Freudian basis, they veered into different pathways as Naumberg’s practise focused heavily on the unconscious, while Kramer worked predominantly with children and emphasised art itself as therapy. Over time, their ideas inspired the establishment of the American Art Therapy Association in 1969.

Art therapy as a profession, however, is not unique to the UK and US – it has been globalised to numerous continents and countries which have all taken up their own research to expand and develop the field. For instance, in Poland art therapies developed due to the work and research done by the music therapists of Wroclaw university in the mid-1980s. Nowadays, there are several postgraduate programmes that focus on creativity and the fine arts as a therapeutic modality.

Throughout its history, Edith Kramer was a key figure to the art therapy practice. She shared what she learned in Vienna to the United States and continued developing her work further there. This emphasises how art therapy functions today – with the advent of the internet and ever easier global communication, art therapy is a growing field that is increasingly considered with more weight and power to help the wellbeing of others.

Final Major Project – Who was Edith Kramer?

Edith Kramer

I am nearing the end of my final year at University, which means it is now time for my Final Major Project! Despite the setbacks caused by the pandemic, I have been excited to start researching and making the last model for my degree.

I have chosen to make a wax bust of the late artist and pioneer of the Art Therapy movement, Edith Kramer. I was first introduced to Kramer during my dissertation research, and really admire her approach to creativity and people.

Edith Kramer was born in 1916 in Vienna and became involved with art early on in her life. Her childhood learning happened in one of Vienna’s progressive and liberal school, with her first art teacher being Trudl Hammerschlag. Later, she studied under the inspiration of the artist Friedl Dickers, who has been stated as a notable influence on Kramer’s later work.

Frederika “Friedl” Dicker-Brandeis (30 July 1898 Vienna – 9 October 1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau)

In the 1930s, Kramer came to America as a political refugee, where she got involved with teaching, and later worked as a mechanic during the second world war. It was in the latter that we saw her interest in social realism art, in particular her interest in people.

The first time Kramer officially worked as an art therapist, was at the Wiltwyck School for Boys in 1950. She continued to run therapeutically oriented art programmes at Leak and Watts Children’s Home from 1960 – 1963, and later worked with the Guild School of the Jewish Guild for the Blind from 1964 – 1974. She was officially given the title of art therapist some time into her career and dedicated a large percentage of her working life to research and setting up training programmes at various universities around the US.

She worked predominantly with a psychoanalytical approach, influenced by Freudian theories of sublimation and the unconscious. However, she was not simply a Freudian copycat and merged both psychoanalysis and art together. This was influenced through her early education by Hammerschlag who introduced her to the ‘free and unconventional expression of unconscious feelings’ in art and later, by Dickers’ teachings which showed her practical ways in which art can be used by children and adolescents to process traumatic experiences. These educational experiences build Kramer’s knowledge about both art and psychoanalysis, from which the term ‘art therapist’ was coined for her.

There were multiple ideas and theories that Kramer contributed to the field of art therapy that are still used by practitioners today to make a real difference in people’s lives, just as she did. Particularly, the art therapists’ ‘Third Hand’ – a way of supporting a child’s creative process so that they may use it to accept their inner conflict and feelings. She saw a great power in the creative process that artists cultivate in helping others to make sense of their own experiences.

Kramer, E. (1977). Art therapy in a children’s community.

Kramer, R. (1978). Art as therapy with children.

Kramer, E. (2001). Art as therapy: collected papers.

Her unconventional approaches have made a lasting impact on the field of art therapy, and subsequently, on so many people in the past and future. Personally, I have been really encouraged by her ideas – I have been studying a creative degree for nearly three years and have experienced an inkling of the power of that process that she writes about so eloquently. It seems quite fitting then, that I end my undergraduate university studies by commemorating Kramer’s significance, and relating it to my own experience of creativity.

Reflections on External Brief

The External Brief project has been a learning experience since the beginning. It has been particularly exciting to have the opportunity to work with a live client and to create a model that can have a use and a purpose for somebody else.

The most daunting aspect of this project, however, was the unpredictability that came hand-in-hand with learning to adjust pre-established working habits to fit new restrictions enforced by the pandemic. I believe I had the best intentions at the beginning of the unit when I was creating my project plan – I divided the work into certain stages that heavily emphasised the design process while leaving enough time to make the model. I portrayed this through a Gantt chart. In retrospective, however, I should have set aside more time as a fall-back for when the unexpected occurred. Additionally, I should not have underestimated the amount of time I would spend on experimenting with different ideas, techniques, and materials.

Consequently, the outcome has been affected. At the time of hand-in, the model is unfinished. It must be assembled on the planned stand and mechanism. A final layer of protective spray must be added to the model to protect the finish. The rest of the puzzle pieces must be finalised.

On the other hand, the outcome does meet the client brief. There is a recognisable form of an ammonite, which demonstrates water filling the animal’s chambers that ultimately influences its buoyancy. There is an interactive element as represented by the puzzle piece. Placing the puzzle piece into the chamber adds weight to the model. In this state, the model can be used to demonstrate the concept of ammonite buoyancy as a presentational model. It can be used by a handler to complement their explanation of the concept. There is definite opportunity for engagement with the model, which the audience can use to increase their understanding of ammonite buoyancy. Through this, the model does fit the context of immersive museums, and ultimately, The Etches Collection.

Once assembled and finalised, the model will also complement the context of the collection of the museum. The mechanism will add a secondary interactive element that will further increase audience engagement.

Lastly, The Etches Collection has expressed interest in increasing their online presence as a response to the current pandemic. In its present state, the model can also be utilised to create a short video demonstrating the concept of ammonite buoyancy, that can be published online.

In summary, my project management of this unit could have been improved by more realistic expectations of the impact of the new and the unknown. The outcome must be finalised to fulfil its potential, although it can be used effectively to represent the concept of ammonite buoyancy as of this current moment.