Fran Volz is an artist and mold maker living and working in the Chicago, IL area.  He has developed new media for creating his works, including creating sculpture with foam and snow, but he always finds himself returning to a classic form – bronze.  His website describes some of the influences that continue to influence and inspire his sculptural works:

“While Volz enjoys working with different media, his real love is creating monumental statues in bronze.  He likes the permanence of bronze and the classical appearance these works have.  Volz has been influenced by a variety of sources.  He enjoys the classical styles of such artists as Michelangelo, DaVinci, Rodin and Houdon; the whimsical subjects of Norman Rockwell; the dynamic poses of Marvel Comics superheroes and the fluid, flowing lines of Disney and Vargas characters.  Like his snow sculptures, Volz likes to create bronze works that touch people.  For this reason, he concentrates on human form compositions; and less on abstracts.“

This gallery features a monumental task – creating a mold from an oversized original sculpture of a Greek god.  Mr. Volz found Rebound® 25 silicone rubber to be an extremely versatile solution to this problem.  He engineered a complex, multi-piece mold as a step in the ‘lost-wax’ process that would eventually transform his water-based clay original into a bronze masterpiece. 

For more information about Mr. Volz’s process and to see more examples of his work, visit his website at: www.classicalworksartstudio.com