jmc

The cylindrical sculpture has radius two inches and uses $\pi (2^2)(7)=28\pi \approx 87.96$ cubic inches of modeling clay. Each block contains $(6)(2)(1)=12$ cubic inches of modeling clay. If we have 7 blocks, then we have 84 cubic inches of clay which is not enough, so we need $\boxed{8}$ blocks of clay, and we see 96 cubic inches are indeed enough.