Figures in Imagined Environments

I still have not grown tired of this project, even after four years and looking at the 70+ sculptures from this quarter! This is such a fun unit to teach, enjoyed by many (if not most) of my students; and I continually have new ideas of how to reinvent it each time.

This year I had my students draw a background to add meaning to their sculpture. We thought about what pose each figure was conveying, where we might see this pose being made and where we could imagine displaying the finished sculpture to add to its meaning.

The sky was the limit! I watched the ideas take off with the addition of props to enhance a pose, and the development of imagined environments through drawing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

see past figure sculpture projects here and here

Art and the Olympics!

This year I wanted a theme for elementary art. In Canada (and in my family) we get really excited about the Olympics, particularly in the winter. Living in a country that is cold and snowy for the majority of the year… it is a necessity to take part in winter pastimes! This year’s Olympic Games also were exciting to talk about since they took place in Korea! The majority of my students are of Korean descent, though many have grown up here in Turkey.

We started with talking about what the games are- when they take place, how often, the teams from each country, different events for summer versus winter, the medals…

We looked at the visual symbols for the Olympics- the rings in conjunction with the logo designs for some of the past Games. I had both my high school classes and elementary classes make new logos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Next we worked on a sculpture. First grade designed medals, second and third grade worked on trophies depicting athlete action poses, and fourth and fifth grade designed and sewed mascot plushies!

Then the Art Olympic events! I used these events as opportunities to assess/review what the kids knew about the Elements of Art. We spent more time in first and second grade with the various activities, but all students across the grade levels were part of a team and could earn points.

Texture Hunt/Colour Pull Activity

Portrait Gestures

Quick five minute portrait studies of classmates. I am proud, they all did great!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Giacometti Figures

This month in middle school we have been working on 3D figures, inspired by Alberto Giacometti’s surrealist sculptures. We began with gesture drawing and building a wire armature of a chosen pose. Next, we added meat onto the bones of the sculpture using strips of newspaper. This step definitely taught us patience with our material constraints. Lastly, we painted the figures. First a layer of black and then a metallic layer which we applied with a brush and then wiped to give the illusion of a patina.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.