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In 1999 Chip first encountered the Midwest Coalition of Original Doll Artists (MCODA) club at the Independence Doll Extravaganza. When he saw the quality of the original sculptures represented by these talented artists, he joined the club on the spot and has been an active member since.
Over the pastseveral years with MCODA, Chip has been refining his sculpting skills on small figurative sculptures (dolls) as well as larger figure studies. MCODA introduced Chip to the joys of polymer clay and Chip has introduced MCODA to the rather unforgiving nature of sculpting in wood (subtractive process rather than additive process). He has also shared his moldmaking skills by conducting a seminars for MCODA members on how to make molds, the lost wax casting process, and facial proportions, body pose & balance.
When asked if there is a central theme to his work, Chip commented in the small figurative sculptures, he gravitates towards sculpting women and men rather than children. He has done portrait doll work, and finds it challenging to produce a figurative sculpture that closely resembles the commission subject. "It is easy to get a sculpture to the level of a close approximation, but the real difficulty is when you try to move past that level and get a really close resemblance of the subject. That is the challenge, the frustration and the joy when you get it right."
Mr. Paul can be reached through the MCODA club web site.
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