Wax is a wonderful medium and has many unique properties that make it ideal for sculpting. Wax can be used as a liquid, as a paste, warm (like plasticine), or cold (carvable). During this workshop students will be shown various techniques to utilize these variable states of the medium. Students will be shown how to construct a wax armature, explore modelling techniques and the use of tools for smoothing and texturing. Students will have the opportunity (at an additional cost*) to have their finished wax sculptures cast in bronze by Michael at his foundry.

*Bronze casting will be provided at a significant discount to students who wish to cast their work. However prices will need to be looked at on a case by case basis after the the workshop concludes as it is impossible to predict the size and complexity of individual artworks before they are made.

About Michael Vaynman:

Born in December 1974 to a family of artists in St Petersburg, Michael was taken to Australia as a refugee during the Cold War when he was just a child. The early years in St Petersburg, the transit through Europe, and a six month stay in Italy exposed Michael to the beauty of early antiquity classical sculpture and renaissance paintings. This experience stayed with him and informs his artistic sensibilities to this day.

Michael has worked as a professional artist since 2001, specialising in figurative and abstract bronze and stainless steel sculpture. Using wax as a sculpting medium to explore the aesthetic synthesis of abstraction and the human figure, Michael’s contemporary art practice often incorporates mythological or religious symbolism to create a narrative within the artwork.

Over the years Michael has produced many private and public commissions and his sculptures can be seen in the film Mao’s Last Dancer (2008).

Currently Michael is on a path to explore the Sublime through the lens of sculpture with works like, Creation of Man, Death of a Star, Hope and collaborative art work Holy Kiss.

On a more technical side Michael is also knowledgeable in many foundry casting and patination processes and produces all his own bronzes, overseeing the production of each artwork from start to finish.

Michael is most recently represented by Frances Keevil and Soho Galleries.

This workshop is now fully booked. If you would like to join the waitlist, please get in touch admin@tbsss.org.au.