Week 8- Forming our sculptures

This week we continued on our Giacometti inspired sculptures by wrapping them in foil.  Wrapping the wire in form is an important step in forming our figures.   We gave the bodies a bit more girth and depth and secured the legs to the base by forming feet.  This step gave the figures more life and character, as you can see from the photos...

Next week we'll wrap the figures in newspaper and a substance called Paverpol.  This step will make them hard and sturdy.  See you then!!

Week 7- Alberto Giacometti Inspired Sculptures

This week, we talked about the work of Alberto Giacometti and his bronze sculptures of the human figure. Alberto was categorized as a surrealist.  I put together a Power Point presentation which you can view here.

We talked about how abstract figures like Giacometti's can have elongated arms and legs.  It exaggerates the movement of the pieces.

Each student got on long piece of sculpture wire to twist and bend to form the shape of the head, torso, and legs.  Then, they hooked the legs (or in some cases, leg) to the styrofoam bases.  Then, we added a piece of wire for the arms.  It's really cool to see all the different gestures and positions the students sculpted their forms in!

Next week we'll use a substance called Paverpol to attach newspaper on to the wire and base.  See you then!

Week 6- Drawing Realistic Portraits

This week we did a 180 degree turn from our abstract masks and learned how to draw a realistic face using charcoal pencils.  We talked about the structure of the face, the shape of the face, how the eye line is half way down the face, then the nose line half way from the eye line to the chin, and then the mouth line half way from the nose line to the chin.  We talked about how human faces can vary and no two faces are alike, but normally the structure of the face is the same for everyone.

We also talked about shading, value, light and dark and how to show dimension in the structure of a portrait.  I think the kids did a great job with these!

Next week we'll start a long term abstract sculpture project.  See you then!

Week 5- Painting our Cubist Masks

I've gotten a bit behind on the blog again... I apologize for that.  This week we painted our cubist masks and found that they had cracked while drying in multiple places.  I actually contacted Columbus Clay, which is where we purchased the self hardening white clay.  They told me that the cracking was likely due to the thickness of the masks.  We'll still be able to salvage them... all is not lost!  Mrs. Luker and I have plans to mount them on some sort of hard board before the spring show in May.

The students did a great job of painting the masks in a cubist and abstract manner, emphasizing the different shapes in their masks.