Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society is the oldest organization of professional sculptures in the United States. Its Annual Awards Exhibition, now in its 93rd year, is the society’s most prestigious show of the year, and is on display at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, through October 25.
This year’s Awards Exhibitionwill feature 43 representational works—selected from 266 entries—in a wide range of traditional and innovative media that includes bronze, marble, alabaster, terra cotta, wood, resin, stoneware and more. The variety of subject matter is equally diverse, encompassing wildlife and figurative works, as well as dozens of busts and reliefs by today’s leading sculptors.
Eva-Maria Wohn, The Missing Piece, Hydro-Stone, casein and gouache, 11½ x 23¾ in.
Among the many highlights in the exhibition is Béla Bácsi’s Nimbus, a contemporary bust sculpted out of an ancient medium—Italian statuary marble. “I have 35 tons of marble from the Michelangelo quarry in Carrara, Italy,” shares Bácsi, adding that she also has a forklift. “As far back as I can remember I was modeling objects in clay. I was discovered ‘carving’ pieces of blackboard chalk with a straight pin during elementary school class. So I guess you could say I was born this way.”
The process of bringing Nimbusto life involved modeling the design she had doodled on paper in clay, making a plaster mold of the clay model, pouring plaster into the plaster negative which formed the positive maquette, or working model. At this point, she chose a suitable block of marble and began carving using the maquette as reference. The carving process took roughly eight months.
Chuong Pham, Impermanence, Forton MG resin, 20 x 27 x 18 in.
“Nimbus represents individualism as realized through alteration of our own physical appearance,” explains Bácsi. “Through millennia all cultures have created art, however simple or extreme, on their own bodies, their clothing, and in their environment. This goddess wears a ‘nimbus’ or halo, radiating her aura of passion, strength and dignity.”
Sculptor Susannah Israel is also a writer of Afrofuturistic novels. “I am a born storyteller,” she says. “I tell stories with words and with clay. With sculpture, my idea takes solid form and presence in the world of the audience.” Her colorful and highly textural show piece Beekeeperis hand-painted terracotta. “I use terracotta for its pliability, strength and rich natural color, and because it has been telling our stories for centuries,” Israel explains. “My practice is a fusion of planning, process, and discovery. I begin with a series of drawings to develop a concept; I make notes about clay color, texture and finishes; when working directly with the material, I respond to its expressive possibilities.
Susannah Israel, Beekeeper, hand-painted terracotta, 21 x 6 x 4½ in.
“Beekeeper is about passion, intoxication and the sweet side of life, about bees and flowering vines and long summer days. The beehive represents nurture and stewardship, the letters remind us that whether in images or words, we can capture a moment and give it to someone else. I hope everyone finds their story in this piece.”
Another marble work in the show is Steve Flom’s Introspection,a female figure with soft curves folding into the arms of her own embrace. Flom’s work initiates with a human model. When the pose is established he draws the outline on all sides of the stone. “Next, I’ll carve away all the material that’s outside my lines,” he explains. “I then continue carving, trying to liberate the figure within—working round and round and round the piece, constantly referring to my sketches/photos—always striving to get the shadows to fall in the right places…When thoughtfully finished, marble and limestone can seem to have a warm inner glow, reminding the viewer that it was once alive.”
Béla Bácsi, Nimbus, Italian statuary marble, 35 x 18 x 9 in.
Bob Clyatt’s bust Askance was sculpted out of a porcelain clay blend that the artist developed himself. “I love sculpting busts, seeing this being come alive in front of me,” says Clyatt. “But it’s been done literally for millennia, so I have to puzzle out how to make the bust fresh, contemporary…Ceramics have an advantage here since it literally melts and morphs in the kiln, and clay is such a responsive medium to the sculptor’s touch. [I also have] to find expressions, which are simultaneously very human and recognizable to us, but also somehow speak to current concerns in our culture…Working with these ancient forms lets me try to weave together the new and uncertain with something timeless. It feels right to work with this long human experiential and artistic legacy even as the future is rushing at us.”
Bob Clyatt, Askance, glazed porcelain, 21½ x 13 x 9½ in.
The Missing Piece is a bass relief by Eva-Maria Wohn cast in Hydro-Stone, a gypsum cement that calls for the inclusion of other media. Wohn also casts in bronze, but says “Hydro-Stone is an experimental paradise. I use casein, gouache, cold wax, hot wax, gesso, oil paint, dry pigments, egg tempera, shoe polish and sometimes a piece will have all of these.” The Missing Piece was inspired by a memory of building a huge Lego ship with her nephew when he was a young boy. “Despite our best efforts, we lost a small piece. We searched everywhere,” she recounts. “I remember so vividly his little mind trying to grasp the concept that the ship would be incomplete. Years later, during a remodel, I found the small Lego under a bookcase…I found the missing piece. I swear I heard the angels sing.”
Steve Flom, Introspection, marble, 27 x 10 x 10 in.
Nearly $19,000 in cash prizes will be awarded during a closing reception on Saturday, October 24. The 15 award-winning works from the show will then travel to New York City where it will be displayed at the National Sculpture Society Gallery from November 16, 2026, through January 22, 2027. View the entire exhibition online at www.nationalsculpture.org. —
National Sculpture Society’s 93rd Annual Awards Exhibition
Through October 25, 2026
Brookgreen Gardens
1931 Brookgreen Drive, Murrell Inlet, SC 29576
(843) 235-6000, www.brookgreen.org
www.nationalsculpture.org
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