Long considered a mere preparatory step to bronze casting, wax is now being rediscovered as an artistic medium in its own right. In this training, inspired by the approach of artist Mona Oren, wax is no longer a transitory tool, but a final, expressive, and living material capable of embodying memory, gesture, and emotion.
Delicate in its finest, wax offers a unique visual richness: organic, sensual, and vulnerable, it melts, evolves, and acquires a patina, yet always retains the imprint of handwork. Composed of subtle blends of animal, vegetable, and mineral waxes, it can become skin, flower, breath, or trace, depending on the artist's intentions and gestures. Worked in thin layers using plaster molds, it allows for the creation of refined, almost translucent forms, playing with light in a subtle balance between fragility and presence.
Working alongside artist Mona Oren, this program explores the multiple possibilities of wax sculpture, combining technical learning, reflection on the material, and visual experimentation. It invites students to embrace this unique medium, understand its constraints and freedoms, and develop a personal style, where each form reveals a little of the gesture that created it.
At the end of the training, the intern will be able to:
- Understand the plastic properties and techniques of wax
- Manage the basics of casting, modeling, and imprinting
- Develop a personal approach to a wax project
- Experience the contextualization of works
- Reflect on temporality, impermanence, and memory in contemporary creation
Day 1
Encounter with the material (morning and afternoon)
- Presentation of Mona Oren's work and her artistic approach
- Selection and collection of elements in the campus park
- Introduction to the plaster technique for making molds
- Creation of molds from the collected elements
Day 2
Introduction to wax as an artistic medium (morning and afternoon)
- Preparation of plaster molds for the next step: cleaning and humidification
- Introduction to wax: presentation of tools, casting, and stamping techniques
- Preparation of the casting tables Work
- First brush stamping attempts, with the possibility of adding pigments to personalize the prints
- Free experimentation to create the first wax sculptures
Day 3
In-depth study and creation (morning and afternoon)
- Review of the wax tests carried out the day before: group discussions and analyses, discussions on the final sculptures and their shapes
- Opportunity to rework the molds, refine the shapes, or explore new ideas
- Intensive work with wax: remolding, new prints, stamping, hand modeling, etc.
- Development of the pieces with a view to their realization and finalization
Day 4
Finalization and presentation (morning and afternoon)
- Finishing the sculptures
- Presentation of the completed projects to the group: discussions on each participant's experiences and results
- Photographs of the final works
- Selection of the pieces that each trainee will take home
- Workshop tidying
Working alongside artist Mona Oren, this program explores the many possibilities of wax sculpture, combining technical learning, reflection on the material, and visual experimentation. It invites students to embrace this unique medium, understand its constraints and freedoms, and develop a personal style, where each form reveals a little of the gesture that created it.
At the end of the training, the intern will be able to:
- Understand the plastic and technical properties of wax
- Manage the basics of molding, modeling, and imprinting
- Develop a personal approach to a wax project
- Experience the presentation of works
- Reflect on temporality, impermanence, and memory in contemporary creation
Day 1
Encounter with the material/ morning and afternoon
- Presentation of Mona Oren's work and her artistic approach
- Selection and collection of elements in the campus park
- Introduction to the plaster technique for making molds
- Creation of molds from the elements harvested
Day 2
Introduction to wax as an artistic medium/
morning and afternoon
- Preparation of plaster molds for the next step: cleaning, humidification
- Introduction to wax: presentation of tools, casting and stamping techniques
- Preparation of work tables
- First brush stamping tests, with the possibility of adding pigments to personalize the prints
- Free experimentation to create the first wax sculptures
Day 3
In-depth study and creation/ morning and afternoon
- Review of the wax tests carried out the day before: discussions and collective analyses, evocations of the final sculptures and their forms
- Possibility of Rework the molds, refine the shapes, or explore new ideas
- Intensive work with wax: remolding, new castings, stamping, hand-modeling, etc.
- Development of the pieces with a view to their finalization and completion.
Day 4
In-depth study and creation/ morning and afternoon
- Review of the wax tests carried out the day before: discussions and group analyses, discussions on the final sculptures and their shapes
- Opportunity to rework the molds, refine the shapes, or explore new ideas
- Intensive work with wax: remolding, new castings, stamping, hand-modeling, etc.
- Development of the pieces with a view to their finalization and completion.
Day 5
Finalization and Presentation/ Morning and Afternoon
- Finishing the Sculptures
- Presentation of the completed projects to the group: discussion of each participant's experiences and results
- Photographs of the final works
- Selection of the pieces that each participant will take home
- Tidying Up the Workshop
