About Medals
What is an art medal?
A medal (a generic term for medallions and plaques) is a small sculpture with definite obverse and reverse faces. ‘Object medals’ investigate a third dimension and became very popular in the 60’s, particularly in France.
Each ‘face’ can be used to explore different aspects of an idea. The illusion of space is rendered through bas-relief and the play of light on the surface. Even the rim face of the medal i can be incorporated. In addition text and image must be cohesive within the design.
These days a large variety of geometric shapes are acceptable forms for art medals but the use or reference to the circle continues to be the most accepted or preferred. Traditionally, medals must be produced as editions and made of permanent materials such as bronze, silver or gold but other materials may be used and these are quite varied, particularly with technological advances; glass and porcelain for instance. The main requirement is that they are durable.
Edition sizes vary according to the methods of production, and scale ranges from very small and intimate works to those as wide as 150mm and as heavy as 2kg., The requirement is that it comfortably fits in your hand.
The Federation International de la Medaille (FIDEM) http://www.fidem-medals.org/ is the international member based group for medal makers. Approximately 35 countries including New Zealand exhibit in the FIDEM bi-annual congress exhibitions. Each year new countries join the most recent being Cuba and China. Many countries also have their own member based groups. A list of such organisations can be found on the FIDEM website. The most established and active being BAMS (British Art Medal Society) www.bams.org.uk which produces a quarterly publication entitled The Medal.
