The sculpture market has been adversely hit by the previous year economic downturns just like the published fine art print market, however, the business has only expanded in the past few years. Sculpture is rebounding & attracting a new breed of collector, although, the sales of these three-dimensional art have been fairly one-dimensional the past year.
The sculpture industry has seen the emergence of more sculpture collectors than ever in a few years time leading to the formation of a much bigger market for sculpture than there was 10 years ago. It has much more awareness among the art connoisseurs world over for this collectible medium & due to better casting techniques & new materials, a new type of collector has emerged from the marketplace. This is known as the sculpture game & runs from about $500 to $4,000.
Sculpture industry was always considered to have an elite aura mainly because of the effort gone into the making which makes them all the more expensive. And perhaps this is the reason why the sculpture market is more sensitive to the vagaries of the economy. The market is susceptible to the economic & political climates, since, there were reports of flat (or worse) sales during the election period of President Bush & it bottomed out completely for all after Sept. 11. This proves that even this market follows the similar line as followed by the print market & it accordingly decides the sale of the artworks.
It is expected that the sculpture market will continue to grow as first-time buyers would seek to expand their collections, new materials & processes. All this will enliven the market & so the costs are going to be kept affordable for a larger group of buyers. However, the test of time still remains on the side of quality artwork which has the capacity to endure anything during economic fluctuations, evolving technologies & changing trends.

Sculptors make use of a wide array of materials to give a shape & figure to their sculptures. They generally sought to produce art works which are permanent. The commonly used materials are :

• Bronze
• Stone (as marble, limestone, porphyry, granite)
• Nickel
• Gold
• Silver
• Jade
• Ivory
• Hardwoods (as oak, box/boxwood, lime/linden)
• Terra cotta
• Ceramics
• Cast metals (as pewter, zinc (spelter)
• Rock
• Ephemeral materials (as plaster of Paris, wax, clay,plasticine)

There are many techniques which are commonly adopted by sculptors to give shape to their sculpture art works. These are :

• Stone carving
• Bronze sculpture
• Wood carving
• Casting