"Two years ago I entered the competition and was a finalist and the only sculptor who made it to the finals. I feel it (WCA) is an important organization and they are doing good things, and I am happy to be part of what they are doing. I believe that art can significantly affect people’s perceptions about the world. It can inform us and open minds and hearts and create new perspectives.
Especially in this time in our world, it is really important to support organizations that use art to make a difference. It is an underutilized resource that can change the world. For me, all of my inspiration comes from what I feel or what I see. For this award, it’s about art creating Peace in the world. I sculpt based on emotion, and ideas come to me as I move the sculpture around. Citizen of the World is a long-legged bronze figure reaching upwards holding a clear globe with an origami paper crane inside.” Lorri Acott
A stunning emblem of hope, the Citizen of the World statuette will soon adorn the mantels of three winners in the World Citizen Artists 2018 COMPETE FOR PEACE – NOT WAR initiative. First place winners in the categories of visual art and music will each be awarded with one of two statuettes designed and sculpted by artist Lorri Acott.
Citizen of the World stands approximately 45cm tall and is made of solid bronze. The statuette depicts a long-legged bronze figure reaching upwards and holding a clear resin globe with a hand-folded origami paper crane inside. The statuettes have the symbolism of long legs – a metaphor for rising above the challenges in life, embodying the artist inspiration of creating a piece to represent what we as people can do to make the world a better place. The crane is suspended in the globe and held up high as the figure gazes at it, stretching skyward and beckoning Peace to come to the World. The statuettes are created using a lost-wax casting process.
It takes about 6 months for each piece to be created from start to finish.
Lorri begins the process by making a clay statuette, carefully forming all of the features and details. Once the clay sculpture is perfected, a rubber mold is painted on to allow for a flexible, yet detailed mold into which the wax will later be poured. A plaster cast is then created over the rubber mold to add stability so that the poured wax will harden in the proper shape. After the plaster has hardened, the combined jacket can be cut away from the clay and the mold cleaned and the wax poured.
Several steps are required during the wax casting process, including painting the wax into every detail, pouring, and chasing the wax (removing imperfections with a specially designed tool). Another step in the process, called spruing, involves adding channels sprues and gates through which molten bronze will later be poured.
The finished wax is a positive copy of the original sculpture with sprues and gates added. A ceramic mold is then created around the finished wax. Once the ceramic is completed, the wax is burned out of the mold in a high pressure sealed oven, hence the name Lost-Wax Process.
At a foundry, molten bronze is poured into the ceramic shell and the process of creating the actual bronze piece begins. After the bronze hardens, the ceramic is broken away from it in pieces and the metal is chased, sand-blasted and cleaned to perfection. The sculptor adds a final patina to the Citizen of the World statuettes each a unique work of art due to the individual patina and hand-folded origami crane.