Meaning & use
person who makes sculpture
Last updated
Meanings
phrase
Someone whose work or hobby is carving, shaping, or building figures and objects as art.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase; it can take a plural verb when it refers to more than one person: people who make sculpture.
Patterns
- a person who makes sculpture in stone
- a person who makes sculpture from wood
- a person who makes sculpture for a living
The museum invited a person who makes sculpture from recycled metal to talk about her work.
He is a person who makes sculpture, so his studio is full of dust, tools, and half-finished figures.
If you are a person who makes sculpture, you need to think about weight and balance, not just shape.
phrase
Used to describe any artist in this field, including those who work in clay, stone, metal, or found objects.
Grammar: Often followed by 'in' plus a material or 'from' plus a material: a person who makes sculpture in bronze.
Patterns
- a person who makes sculpture in bronze
- a person who makes sculpture from clay
A person who makes sculpture in bronze usually works with a foundry to cast the finished piece.
She is a person who makes sculpture from clay and then fires it in a large kiln.
Common combinations
- a person who makes sculpture
- A person who makes sculpture often studies drawing before learning to carve.
- a person who makes sculpture in stone
- He is a person who makes sculpture in stone and works mostly with marble.
- a person who makes sculpture from recycled materials
- The exhibition features a person who makes sculpture from recycled materials such as old car parts.
- a person who makes sculpture for a living
- It is hard to be a person who makes sculpture for a living without gallery representation.
- a person who makes sculpture and pottery
- She is a person who makes sculpture and pottery in the same small studio.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sculptor
- The normal single-word term for this job; use it in most writing, and keep the longer phrase for explanations or when you do not know the person's gender.
- carver
- Fits someone who cuts shapes out of wood, stone, or ivory; it is narrower than the general phrase.
- artist
- Much broader: it covers painters, printmakers, and others, so it does not tell the reader which material or method is involved.
Word family
- sculpture noun
- The art form or the finished object itself.
- sculpt verb
- To make a shape by carving or modeling a material.
- sculptural adjective
- Relating to sculpture, or having a solid, three-dimensional quality.
- sculptor noun
- The usual one-word name for this person.
Commonly confused: person who makes sculpture or sculpture?
person who makes sculpture vs sculpture
This is the art or the object, not the person. Say 'a person who makes sculpture' or 'a sculptor', not 'a sculpture' for the human being.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'In bronze' names the material an artist works with, so it fits here. 'Of bronze' describes what something is made of, not the artist's material, and 'by' and 'on' do not collocate with a material in this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “person who makes sculpture”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.