Artists are scrambling for alternatives to a specialty plaster that is an important ingredient in the sculpting process after the mine and processing plant responsible for most of that material in the United States said it would cease production by the end of November.
The specialty plaster is a type of gypsum product known as Hydrocal, which has a consistency like cement and is durable enough for metal casting but soft enough for direct sculpting. In addition to artworks, it is used in architectural restoration projects, dental molds, orthopedic molds and the customization of prosthetic limbs.
“Artists are freaking out,” said Heather Rowe, head of the sculpture department at the Rhode Island School of Design, adding that some have tried to stock up while supplies last.
The USG Corporation, a building materials company and leading manufacturer of gypsum products, announced in July that it would be shutting down its factory in Blaine County, Okla., and laying off nearly 250 employees because of the “escalating complexity and cost to mine and manufacture the specialized products in the portfolio.” Hydrocal will be the main product affected.
Melissa Vogley Woods is among the many artists concerned about a shortage of Hydrocal. She said her retailer in Columbus, Ohio, had already sold out.
“You use it in any sculpture or ceramic studio to make molds,” she explained. “It’s fundamental to any three-dimensional art practice.”
She has just about 8 bags of the specialty plaster left, she said. That is enough for maybe three months of production if she severely cuts down on large projects that would have brought thousands of dollars into her studio.
“For now, nobody has a solution,” Woods said, noting the plaster has a shelf life between six months to a year. “I have to either try to find the formula or make my own, somehow.”
Artists have dealt with other material shortages and rising costs recently, said Nate Bozeman, a ceramics technician at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Particularly painful were the losses of Custer Feldspar, a common component in pottery glazes, and Edgar Plastic Kaolin, a white clay.
The prices for colors derived from cobalt and lithium have also increased in recent years because of demand for those elements in the tech industry.
“Artists and smaller studios depend on materials that are also used by much larger industries, so changes in supply can have a significant impact,” Bozeman said. “Finding an alternative isn’t always straightforward, as different plasters behave differently and need to be tested.”
Many sculptors are still trying to wrap their heads around what the loss of Hydrocal means for their artistic processes.
“It reminds me of the panic when Polaroid stopped making film,” said Sandra Burns, who teaches sculpture at the Yale School of Art. “I know a few people who still have film sitting in their fridges from back then, thinking it would never be made again (myself included).”
Polaroid eventually had a resurgence, driven by a wave of nostalgia for the film type. Sculptors are hoping that other plaster production companies will see the widespread demand for Hydrocal and respond with a replacement.
The post Sculptors Panic as Specialty Plaster Used in Artworks to Be Discontinued appeared first on New York Times.
