I’m confident the answer to the initial question is “yes”, but in my little corner of the world I’ve never met a sculptor - no students, no teachers, no amateurs or professionals - and I don’t recall hearing about significant sculptures being erected anywhere in the last few decades.

Sculpting fascinates me, but I’m totally ignorant of how it works. If you’re a sculptor -

• when/how did you start? Do you start with clay and pottery?
• How do you “practice”? Play-doh? Gotta imagine it’s different based on your preferred medium?
• do artists still use marble? Seems like it’d be insanely expensive & one mistake screws the whole thing up