Royal Society of Sculptors

10gram Challenge

Free

Date

5 Jul – 19 Sep 2021

Times

11am – 5pm

Address

Royal Society of Sculptors, 108 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3RA

More than 200 miniature sculptures are on display at Dora House as part of the 10gram Challenge. The Royal Society of Sculptors in partnership with Milwyn, a specialist bronze casting art foundry based in the heart of Surrey, invited its members and additional invited artists to take part in the 10gram Challenge as a lockdown activity.

The brief was to produce a small scale sculpture from a 10 gram piece of wax. The kit was supplied by post and participants sculpted their piece which was sent to the Milwyn foundry to be cast in bronze. The subject and style of the sculpture was open to interpretation and could be anything the artist was inspired to create during this period of isolation. There is a huge variety in creative responses from a goat’s head and a beaked figure to industrial abstract forms.

The idea transpired when Alex Davies, founder of Milwyn and member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, challenged himself to make a small sculpture when he was isolated at home during lockdown, unable to access his studio space. Realising the plight of other members faced with the same restrictions, the challenge grew organically as a way to create something on a smaller scale from the kitchen table.

Alex Davies says: “Like most people during lockdown, I was looking for ways to keep myself busy and occupied. After finding myself unable to visit my studio for the foreseeable, I created a project to ensure I kept making sculptures throughout the pandemic. I spoke to other members of the Royal Society of Sculptors who let me know that they were struggling to find ways to keep themselves busy. I mentioned the 10gram challenge project and they sounded really interested in it and so I decided to roll it out as an idea.”