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Actual texture refers to the tactile qualities of the physical surface of the object. In other words, how does the surface of the work feel when you touch it?

Texture in three-dimensional art

Texture is one of the most fundamental elements of three dimensional art. It is an element that needs to be carefully considered by sculptors. Texture is related to the material used--marble, wood, clay, bronze, brass, iron. steel, or plaster, for example-- as well as the process: casting, carving, construction, or welding. In addition to the material and the process, the final surface treatment offers even more textural possibilities. These include patination (chemically altering the surface of metal), painting, staining, bleaching, varnishing, polishing, waxing, sanding, buffing, scorching, tapping the sufrace with various tools to add texture, and using a grinder to smooth out rough textures and welding seams, among other things.

Portrait heads of Benin royalty

Nigeria; Edo peoples, court of BeninH. 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm) Head of an Oba, 16th century (ca. 1550)
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.86)

Brass

Source: Head of an Oba [Nigeria; Edo peoples, court of Benin] (1979.206.86) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This sculpture is an example of metalcasting. A mold is creted and molten metal is poured into it, and allowed to cool before removing it. Most of the textural elements must be fashioned in the mold before pouring the metal. Compare the decorative textural elements of this portrait head with the smooth surface of the subject's skin.

These portrait heads represent the long line of a ruling dynasty in 14th century Benin, in present day Nigeria. Each head commemorates a different oba, or king.Though the heads are meant to honor individual leaders, they are highly stylized, that is, they emphasize the regalia that symbolizes kingship rather than distinctive features.

Power figures

Power Figure (Nkisi Nkondi) Kongo (Solongo or Woyo subgroup) late 19th-early 20th century

Wood, iron, glass, fiber, pigment, bone 24 x 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (61.5 x 17.0 x 21.5 cm)

Possible places made: Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cabinda Province, Angola, Zaire Province, Angola

Brooklyn Museum Arts of Africa Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos

These figures were created by the people of the Kingdom of Kongo, which spanned the years from apporximately 1400 until 1914. The Kongo kingdom was located in west central Africa in the area which now includes northern Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa).

A nkisi nkondi, or power figure was carved out of wood. It contained a cavity for holding items used in magic and medicine. After it was created and filled with supernatural ingredients, it was breathed upon to animate it and then sealed with a mirror. Nails and blades were added to destroy evil. The use of texture here goes beyond aesthetics. The textural elements of the nkisi nkondi contain power and are used to protect others. The texture is meant to be forbidding and to evoke fear.

Deborah Butterfield: portraits of horses

Deborah Butterfield 1988
bronze 99 x 105 x 74 in.
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Gift of Harriet and Edson W. Spencer, 1988

Deborah Butterfield Aluminum Horse #5 1982

Steel and fused aluminum
San Diego Museum of Art Museum purchase 1990:7 © San Diego Museum of Art

Deborah Butterfield knows horses. She raises them, on a ranch. She is also a sculptor. These sculptures of horses are life-size, and are made of different materials. In these two examples, one is made out of aluminum, and the other of bronze casts of branches and pieces of wood. Each sculpture represents and is a portrait of an individual horse, one that she has raised.

Jackie Winsor: industrial elements

Jacki Winsor Paul Walter's Piece, 1975
copper, creosoted wood overall 24 x 32 x 32 in
Minneapolis Sculpture garden Gift of Paul F. Walter, 2000

Jackie Winsor is known for using industrial materials to make fine art sculptures. Often there is a process that takes place during its creation that becomes evident in the finished piece. Some contemporary sculptors have chosen to move beyond traditional materials such as bronze, marble, and wood in their work,to using ordinary building or industrial materials to create their work. How does the choice of nontraditional materials influence the viewer's response and affect the meaning of the work? Compare the textures in this sculpture with the following highly polished bronze sculpture.

Henry Moore: abstracted figures with a fluid surface

Henry Moore Reclining Mother and Child , 1960-1961
bronze 90 x 35 1/2 x 52 in.
Minneapolis Sculpture garden Gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, 1963

Henry Moore is known for his large, abstract figurative work. This sculpture represents a mother and child. How do the curves of the form, its fluid lines, and the smooth polished finish mirror the curves, lines, skin, and muscles of the human body? Notice how the "child" is cradled by the "mother". Also notice areas of high sheen on various parts of the sculpture. These are areas where people have touched and rubbed the sculpture. The oils in human skin interact with bronze.

Magdalena Abakanowicz: highly textured abstracted figures

Magdalena Abakanowicz Sagacious Head 6 and Sagacious Head 7, 1989-1990
bronze No. 6: 98 1/2 x 187 x 108 1/4 in. No. 7: 101 x 202 3/4 x 100 1/2 in.
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Purchased with funds provided by the Frederick R. Weisman Collection of Art, 1992

Magdalena Abakanowicz' sculptural work often consists of groups of abstract figurative forms that resemble each other and sometimes are exactly alike. This pair of sculptures are enormous and suggestive of giant mammoth-like creatures. The "skin" is roughly textured, and reminiscent of elephants' skin.

Haim Steinbach: assemblage of industrial fixtures

Haim SteinbachMuseum of Contemporary Art San Diego Museum purchase, International and Contemporary Collectors Fund Beep, honk, toot, #2
Chrome laminated wood shelf with chrome tea kettles and chrome trash cans, 1989

2004.9.a-j
© Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

In this work, instead of constructing, casting, or carving a sculpture, Steinbach has simply collected and arranged items on a shelf. This type of work calls attention to relationships between objects and the contextual elements of where they are placed. This work also uses repetition, or multiples of specific objects, which adds another layer of meaning. Notice the bright sheen of the texture of the chrome.

Meret Oppenheim: visual pun

From the gallery label text for the Museum of Modern Art exhibition "This Surrealist object was inspired by a conversation between Oppenheim and artists Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar at a Paris cafe. Admiring Oppenheim's fur-covered bracelet, Picasso remarked that one could cover anything with fur, to which she replied, "Even this cup and saucer." Soon after, when asked by André Breton, Surrealism's leader, to participate in the first Surrealist exhibition dedicated to objects, Oppenheim bought a teacup, saucer, and spoon at a department store and covered them with the fur of a Chinese gazelle. In so doing, she transformed genteel items traditionally associated with feminine decorum into sensuous, sexually punning tableware". source The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection ( June 24, 2009-January 4, 2010): http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=80997

The Surrealist movement included sculpture as well as painting. The term Surrealism is a shortened version of super realism. Surrealists offer viewers the unexpected. By creating objects and images that represent what appears to be real but never could be, they call our attention to how we view the reality we find ourselves in.

Texture in two-dimensional art

Both two and three-dimensional art can have actual texture.

Vincent Van Gogh, texture as expression

Vincent Van Gogh Olive Trees 1889
Oil on canvas 29 x 36 1/2 in. (73.66 x 92.71 cm) (canvas)
Minneapolis Institute of Arts The William Hood Dunwoody Fund

Vincent va Gogh used very thick and expressive brushstrokes which create a flowing textured pattern in his paintings. Imagine this painting without texture. The brushstrokes add interest to the painting, but they also add energy. It is as if they give us a glimpse into the artist's mind and the rapid movement of his thoughts and feelings.

Robert Rauschenberg Bed 1955

Oil and pencil on pillow, quilt, and sheet on wood supports, 6' 3 1/4" x 31 1/2" x 8" (191.1 x 80 x 20.3 cm).

Museum of Modern Art Gift of Leo Castelli in honor of Alfred H. Barr, Jr. © 2011 Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg Canyon, 1959
Combine painting: oil, pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard box, printed paper, printed reproductions, photograph, wood, paint tube, and mirror on canvas, with oil on bald eagle, string and pillow; 86 3/4 x 70 x 24 in.
Sonnabend Collection, New York Art © /Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Robert Rauschenberg began as an Abstract Expresionist, a movement which emphasized formal elements rather than subject matter, evidence of the artist's movement (expression) in ts style, and experimentation with the qualities of paint. Rauschenberg became interested in moving beyond the textural qualities of paint itself and incorporating three-dimensional objects with their own texture. It was also a combination of two-dimensional and three dimensional art within the same work. He called these works "combines".

Source: Combines bridged the gap between abstract expressionism's view of the artist as an isolated visonary and the real, banal world. Rauschenberg said about his work: "Painting relates to both art and life.... (I try to act in that gap between the two.)" as quoted in the gallery label text accompanying Rauschenberg's Bed at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78712

Anselm Kiefer The Names 1983

Oil, shellac, emulsion and fiber on canvas
support: 4205 x 2805 x 60 mm

From the exhibition Anselm Kiefer at Baltic October 8, 2010-January 16, 2011
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, United Kingdom

Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008. Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead Quays

Anselm Kiefer, Zim Zum, 1990

acrylic, emulsion, crayon, shellac, ashes and canvas on lead,

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.

source: Art Tatttler International: A Visual Arts SurveyInitiative, Editor and Publisher, Mike Miller Consulting Editor, Peregrine Honig,Consulting Editor, David Ford Artists: Words & Work http://arttattler.com/archivekiefer.html

From the article: "One of the foremost artists of our time, Kiefer was born in 1945, shortly before the end of World War II, and grew up witnessing the destruction of modern warfare, the division of his homeland, and the rebuilding of a fragmented nation and its struggle for renewal. Believing there are no truths, only interpretations, Kiefer questions the place of humans in the cosmos and has devoted himself to examining the interwoven patterns of German history, mythology, literature, identity, and architecture, creating all-encompassing works whose surfaces are as complex, multi-layered, and fragmented as their subjects. Infused with references to both the German romantic tradition and its political and philosophical heritage, these large-scale works meld painting with collage and sculpture, combining a nearly monochromatic painter's palette with unorthodox materials, such as lead, wire, straw, plaster, mud, seeds, sunflowers, ash, and dust. The result is a prolific oeuvre whose monumental scale and rich interplay of textures heighten the solemnity and transcendental nature of its contents." source: Anselm Kiefer's Practice, an Admixture of the Metaphysical and Alchemical as published in Artists: Words & Work : http://arttattler.com/archivekiefer.html

Like Rauschenberg, Anselm Kiefer combined two and three dimensional elements in his work. Kiefer integrated three-dimensional and textural elements as an aesthetic and metaphoric layer in his paintings, rather than as a contrasting element, as in Rauschenberg's work. Compare the effect of textural and three dimensional elements within the two artists' work. How does each artist use those elements, and what is the purpose behind it?

Certain artworks were made to be touched. Some artists purposefully make their art touchable so that the viewer can experience it more fully. This includes some three-dimensional work, and artists' books. Artists who allow their work to be touched understand that their work will be affected by human touch, through oils in the skin, but they acccept it so that they can provide a fuller experience.

There is also concern that people with visual impairments are limited or unable to experience visual art. Some artists create art that is meant to be touched rather than seen.There are organizations that work to provide opportunities for visually impaired people to enjoy visual art, through works that can be touched and through adaptive aids for works that cannot be touched, to provide a sense of the form of the art. One such organization is Blindart. They describe themselves on their website as " a charitable organisation based in UK whose aim is to encourage participation and interaction of the visually impaired in the sighted domain of the visual arts.BlindArt promotes artists; both sighted and visually impaired, to showcase their work through competitions, exhibitions, fairs, shows and private commissions". Link to their websdite: http://www.blindart.net/home

Public memorials are frequently touched, and that touch is an important part of the experience of visiting them. It is as if by touching the memorial we can somehow touch those who have gone.

The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial: a healing journey

A visitor touching a name on The Wall at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Photographed by en:User:Skyring 26 January 2005 2005-08-09 (first version); 2005-08-10 (last version) Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Estoymuybueno Original uploader was Skyring at en.wikipedia GFDL-WITH-DISCLAIMERS; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License

The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington D.C. was designed by Maya Lin to be an emotional, cathartic experience that would allow for healing to take place. She purposefully made the memorial a reachable wall of names of the departed. It is designed as a journey that the visitor moves through rather than a grand monument that can only be experienced at a distance. It is a deeply moving and profound experience for both those who have lost a loved one in the war and those who have not, because the nature of the design acts as a memorial for everyone who has ever lost someone. People make rubbings of their loved one's name to take home with them. They also leave objects at the site, so much so that a museum has been created to house the many items left at the Wall.

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Actual texture refers to the tactile qualities of the physical surface of the object. In other words, how does the surface of the work feel when you touch it? Texture in three-dimensional art Texture is one of the most fundamental elements of three dimensional art.

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Rocks cover with grass

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Metal

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MEta

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Rock Wall

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Gravel