Choose Your Own Adventure: Sculpture

We managed to do TWO sculpture projects this semester! I am so glad that my students can have the experience of 3D creating, even with my limited knowledge- we learn together and they always LOVE it!

Just before we moved to online learning for the remainder of the year, my students had finished (but yet to be painted) pop art clay sculptures- here is the same project from a few years ago.

As part of our art processes exploration, I decided to give them an abstract sculpture challenge using recycled materials. Like always, they had the choice based on whatever they had around the house, and I included several artists for inspiration. See the project details here.

Cardboard • Alexander Calder

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Cardboard was by far the most popular choice, likely because it is the easiest material to work with! As you can see, we had a variety of different results, from abstract to more representational.

Plastic • Dale Chihuly

Plastic is a difficult material to work with- I have always wanted to try a Chihuly inspired project but it felt to craft-like for my classroom. I was excited to see a few students attempt it, despite my pitiful results in the demo video. I would like one day to try a version of this using Shrinky Dinks!

Styrofoam • Jules Vitali

Styrofoam is also tricky to work with (I am having flashbacks to yet another undergrad sculpture project!) There are many artists who have found inspiration in the form of styrofoam cups, either drawing on them or, like Jules Vitali, creating intricate 3D works cut from one piece. I am proud of this one student’s effort in trying it!