Source: City of Broken Arrow
In the hands of sculptor J. David Nunneley, warm slabs of malleable clay will become the bronze face of a young soldier braving the elements while keeping watch during the Korean War.
The City commissioned Nunneley to create a bronze statue in honor of the heroes who served for a new Korean War Memorial to be installed at Broken Arrow Veterans Park, 1111 S. Main St.
When sculpting the soldier’s face, Nunneley intricately designs his facial features, expressions, and the details of his clothing and armaments.
“The Broken Arrow Military History Center will loan me a helmet and an M-1 rifle so the details will be as accurate as possible.”
Nunneley also uses visuals from books and the internet for inspiration but says with something like a gun, he wants to have the actual item to capture its detail and gain perspective on its size.
In a multi-stage process, the sculptor “roughs it together” by putting the clay on top of an 82-inch Styrofoam form created from Nunneley’s original clay sculpture, and then the process becomes more detailed.
“I rough it out and build it like anatomy,” he said. “I prefer to get a deep-set in the eyeballs. You put everything on it that real people have, eyelashes, eyebrows, and you are just building it from the skeleton out.”
The Broken Arrow artist, who has created more than 24 life-size and larger monuments across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, says there are ways of making the eyes convey an emotion.
“You can put this one little piece in there, and it reflects in a bronze and looks very realistic,” Nunneley said. “I will put a little fear or agony in his face.”
Nunnely begins his creative process by sculpting a miniature statue out of clay and then creates a wax mold sealed in plaster. He then sends the wax mold to an enlarger who digitally makes a life-sized Styrofoam statue based on a scan of the wax mold.
It’s a tenuous process as some of the details from the original art piece will be lost in the process, and Nunneley will have to sculpt it again.
“Once I capture what I am looking for, I stop,” he said.
The statue arrives from the enlarger in pieces of Styrofoam that he assembles and carves to the shape and design he wants. The clay is in blocks that resemble peanut butter fudge, and he chops it up into smaller pieces and puts it in a warmer to make it more pliable.
Starting with the head on a table, he uses his hands and tools to form the clay face on the Styrofoam.
The Styrofoam hands are held on with a wooden dowel, and Nunneley will glue them on the arms once he has the detail of the hands to his satisfaction. He cuts the Styrofoam pieces off individually, sculpts them with clay, and makes them proportionately correct.
“I take it one piece at a time,” Nunneley said.
This is the second in a series of articles exploring J. David Nunneley’s creative process as he creates an 82-inch bronze sculpture for display at Veterans Park honoring Korean War Veterans.
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