![]() ![]() Once hardened, the molds are removed and the surfaces are sanded or worked in various ways and with a range of tools, to smooth, refine, and ornament. On occasion other binding agents, like glue, might be added to the liquid mixture to yield different working surfaces. In its liquid forms, it is poured into molds to produce all manner of decorative and devotional objects. ![]() When mixed with water, depending on the proportions, plaster powder becomes a slurry or paste-like substance that releases heat in the process of hardening. Gypsum plaster, as distinct from lime plaster (more commonly used in fresco and whitewash, for example), is also named Plaster of Paris for the large deposits of the material in Paris near Montmartre. The production of plaster casts or other plaster wares begins with a dry, fine white powder, produced by heating the mineral compound gypsum. 2 Like wax, plaster maintained ritual uses as well artistic ones, generating such objects as death masks, ephemeral monuments and effigies, and religious tableaux for indoor and outdoor settings. The everyday medium of plaster has a centuries-long history in artist’s workshops and sculpture studios as well as interior architectural decoration. I am interested in the material and sensory properties of this medium, and in the kinds of objects these properties facilitated. ![]() This short study offers a preliminary exploration of a range of specific uses of chalkware statuary in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Christian homes, schools, churches, and landscapes, and in various missions fields. ![]()
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