Art 7: Sculpture Unit: Wire Gesture Sculptures

My next unit for my Art 7 classes is a sculpture unit.  In trying to keep the whining at bay, I tried to come up with simple projects that anyone could excel at or go above and beyond if they chose to do so.  I have two projects up my sleeve and one group research project planned for this unit.

The first portion of this unit was to create gesture sculptures out of wire.  After taking notes about the different sculpting techniques (carving, assembling, modeling, and casting), I had students practice gesture drawings using my art mannequins.  I had students work in groups of 3 with one mannequin, positioning it into a posture with movement.  Students then had to do one final drawing in their sketchbook of a figure doing something that shows movement.  Students were then told to bring in a base for homework to put their sculpture on.

The sculpture part itself took two days.  I gave each student a long piece of aluminum wire, probably about 10 feet of wire, and told them they had to create a figure with that piece without cutting it.  A few really struggled in the beginning, but I felt this was simple enough that they should be able to problem-solve how to do this.  In the end, even one student who fought me about wanting to cut the wire managed to complete his sculpture and was extremely proud of himself. 

After the students created their sculpture, they had to attach it to their base.  Many painted their base to go along with their sculptures, which earned them more points on the creativity aspect of the rubric.

This one is one of my favorites!  I think the pose and lean in the figure really makes it feel like its running!

Another one of my favorites...this person was probably the most creative with their base!

This one is supposed to be a diver...just wish the person would have painted the base to look like a pool!

Love the headphones and arm bands on this runner!

This sculpture was the most creative in pose and in what it was doing...love it!

Again, another one of my favorites!  Very creative with the pose!

These two are serving a volleyball...

Absolutely love the hair on this one!

This one doesn't show very much movement...but I had to include it because it was very well built.  This was the student who wanted to cut the wire apart to build it.  We had a rough day the first day and he was asked to leave the classroom because he refused to work, but he came back strong on the second day and created this awesome sculpture!

5th Grade: 3-D Color Wheel Tutorial

When I left on my maternity leave, my 5th graders were still working on their complementary colored checker boards.  Unfortunately, they took them home while I was gone so I don't have any pictures of what their finished products looked like.  (If you didn't see last year's checkerboards, here's the link to those posts...)  Currently, my 5th graders are creating 3-D color wheels.  If you've been following me for a while, hopefully you remember that I decided my curriculum for 5th grade would concentrate entirely on color theory.  This is a project I did my first two years of teaching with 6th grade (before I started blogging) but did not do last year.  I thought it would be fun to bring it back and move it down to 5th grade where it seemed more appropriate to my curriculum.

Now, this is not something that I came up with on my own.  I saw it in an art magazine publication but for the life of me, cannot remember which one.  I tried to do a search to find it before I blogged this post, but could not.  What I will share, however, is a link to a rubric for this project that I did find in my search, as it is what I am using to model my rubric after for this project.  So, if anyone happens to know or find the publication where this comes from, please let me know so I can link back to it!  I want to say it was from an older publication of Arts & Activities, but I'm not sure...

Ok, here goes.  For this project, each student needs four paper plates.  First, you need to fold all four paper plates in sixths.  

Next I have the students label each plate what colors they should be painted and where.  Folding and labeling the plates usually takes one whole class period.

Front                  Back

Blue    ~     Blue green / Blue Violet

Red Violet     ~      Violet / Red

Orange     ~     Red orange / Yellow orange

Yellow green     ~     Yellow / Green

Next we take two class periods to paint these.  At this point, I still have not found a clean, tidy way to do this, nor a way that prevents wasting paint.  I've done this two ways...in the past, we have painted one side of each plate on one day, and painted the other side the second day.  This time around, I tried to waste paint less by having the students start with one color, say blue.  Then we mixed green, and finally blue green all in the same paint cup.  We cleaned out the cups and brushes and started over with yellow, than yellow-orange, then orange, then red-orange, and so on and so forth.  The only problem with this method is that you end up having to paint directly on the back side of the wet plates, sometimes causing you to get other colors on your plates.  I'm thinking next time, I may set up stations at each table for students to independently move around to.  (The only problem I would foresee with this is students not paying attention to their labeling and painting the plates wrong, but I suppose that would end up being part of their grade...being able to pay attention and such...)

Also, with regards to mixing paint, I tried to let the students mix their own paint, but TONS OF it was wasted because they wouldn't listen properly when we discussed using more yellow and red to make orange, more yellow than blue to make green, etc. etc.  I found that it was better to review how to mix each color with them and then I would squirt the paint into their cups for them to mix at their tables.

The fourth and final class is when we put these together.  First I have the students refold on their fold lines as the paint tends to stiffen the plates back up.  Then I show them how to make their plates into bow ties by pinching them together.  We clip them with paper clips.  In the past, I have used bobby pins, however that can get expensive, so this year we are just using metal paperclips.

Next comes the part where students are on their own.  They must figure out how to get their plates together in the correct color order.

Finally, before clipping the last plate on, I have students tie a big know on the end of a string and stick it in the middle of the plates before attaching the last one.  Now, I have something to hang them from.

And here is the finished product!  I can't wait to share the finished ones with you...I always hang them in my corner display case by my room and they always look so awesome and colorful. I never want to take them down!

I have one class who has all of their plates painted, and another who has one more painting day.  Hopefully I'll be sharing their end products in the next week or so.

Studio Art 3-D Media Unit

Ok, so here is my first catch-up post for my Studio Art class.  When I left for my maternity leave, they were working on their pop art prints, which they matted when I returned.  After that project, which finished off the 2-D art unit, they started a sculpture unit with my substitute.

For the first sculpture project, they learned about George Segal and created these body cast sculptures using saran wrap and packaging tape. I've seen these sculptures before on Pinterest as well as done by one of the sculpture classes when I was in college.  I knew they would probably enjoy making them and that it would be a great group project for them to be involved in.  The unfortunate thing, if you ever want to attempt this project, is that you use A LOT of packaging tape!  Lucky for me, the students were able to finish these projects because I won a gift card from the Classroom Project challenge for my post about spending money for my art room!  Some of the materials I ordered for my high school room included a bulk box of packaging tape so that students could finish these sculptures upon my return.  I think each sculpture, when done correctly and made stiff enough to stand on its own, takes at least five rolls of tape.

The Thinker, placed in the cafeteria.  This one was the most sturdy sculpture and needed no help, aside from the stool it was meant to be propped on, to stand up.

Cheerleader placed outside the high school gym.  She used to stand on her own but her legs were a little weak.  This group went above and beyond using colored masking tape to add embellishments to their sculpture.

This one was a sculpture that held books (made out of paper) and was placed in the library.

This guy drooped a little bit after a while, but he was a basketball player, placed near the high school gym.  He had an orange balloon inside the ball but eventually the air deflated inside of it.

Students were graded based on teamwork, having a full bodied sculpture, the composition, craftsmanship, creativity and installation of the sculpture.  Students received two grades: one from me and one from their group mates as well.  They were required to ask permission to place their sculpture somewhere appropriately in the school.  Unfortunately, some students asked teachers to place them in their classrooms and even though the teachers said yes, they didn't necessarily have room to keep them displayed.  These four sculptures (out of 8 total) were placed in an appropriate public place in the school (which was the goal) to which the sculpture was made for.

The second project students completed in this unit was an abstract wire sculpture.  My substitute took full control over this project.  In the future, I think I would like to give them a little more information about painting these...I had originally envisioned them to be painted in a surrealism style, but these are still pretty cool looking!  They are wire hangers manipulated and covered with nylons, then painted with tempera paint.  Some students glued theirs to a cardboard base.

Currently my Studio students are onto our 4th unit, which is a ceramics unit.  My next post will share what we have accomplished so far!