Word: sanding
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Nivola takes his own teaching very seriously. As for his particular method, he teaches what he knows, which means that most of his students can be found experimenting with his block and sand sculpture. He encourages them to read and participate in other arts as well; because he is dedicated to the Renaissance ideals of the universal man and universal art even in this age of specialization. A good sculptor, he believes, should be familiar with the traditions of architecture and painting. Likewise he says "I think architects and planners should learn to paint, to carve, to cast, to work...
Something of Nivola's ever present sense of humor must have come into play the day he was watching his family make patterns with the sand on a Long Island beach. That was when he conceived the idea for his sand-sculpturing technique. Now his most important sculpture is made by modeling details in reverse patterns in wet sand and then filling these molds with concrete or plaster of paris. The result is a kind of bas-relief...
...favor mere ornament or decoration, the relation between his sculpture and architecture is very close. Nivola aims at making his sculpture a functional element of architecture itself; perhaps solving architectural problems, but at any rate growing together with the building. Thus sculpture like the free standing bas-relief of sand "The Hermits" (pictured) can stand alone, serve as a mural, or even act as a building wall...
...Nivola's sand reliefs suggest comparison with Egyptian friezes both in technique and design. His modern use of plastic elements and abstract design have the same qualities of solemnity and simplicity; the concern for the essential; the regularity of the whole; and the flat streamlined look of their Egyptian counterparts. The most successful architectural use of the wall relief so far are the murals in the Olivetti showroom in New York where Nivola worked from the beginning of the stores construction with the architects. They show most clearly the influences of which he speaks: "Sardinian prehistoric constructions and sculptures, traditional...
...himself. The result was truly a stock car, tuned for the last ounce of performance, but not tricked up. A man could buy the duplicate anywhere Dodges are sold. When Danny skittered into the speed trap, his deep-treaded stockroom tires bounced over the ridged wet sand at an average speed of 130.577 m.p.h. His nearest competitor in the class: a 1956 Mercury, clocked at 124.503 m.p.h...