sculpt

Sculpt is a verb meaning to shape a three-dimensional form by removing material, adding material, or organizing components to produce sculpture. It covers a range of practices—from stone and wood carving to clay modeling, metal casting, assembly, and digital fabrication. The resulting work is a sculpture.

Materials include stone, metal, wood, clay, plaster, glass, ice, and resin. Techniques are broadly subtractive (carving away material), additive (modeling, casting, 3D printing), and assemblage (combining objects). Tools range from chisels and hammers to modeling tools, welders, and CNC or 3D printers.

History shows sculpture in religious and commemorative contexts across civilizations. Ancient artists worked in marble and bronze; Greek naturalism and Roman portraiture influenced later periods. The Renaissance revived classical form; the 19th and 20th centuries expanded abstraction and experimentation. Contemporary sculpture often blends gallery, public, site-specific, and time-based practices.

Conservation emphasizes material knowledge, provenance, and appropriate environmental and physical care to preserve form and surface. The term also highlights sculpture as both process and object in a dynamic, evolving field.