Exploring Sculpture Using Clay

Students in grades K-1 are being introduced to sculpture as a new form of art that is different from painting and drawing.  We talked about how sculpture is meant to be looked at from many sides, and it has many sides, including height, width and depth.  This means the artist needs to think about all sides of their work.  

Next, students looked at several images of sculptures that can be found in Chicago, both downtown and inside the Art Institute.  We used these images to discuss the fact that sculpture can be made out of almost anything!

Next, students used clay to experiment with creating three-dimensional forms.  They made observations about the clay and its qualities as they worked.  Students made both representational and non-representational sculptures, as they squeezed, rolled and smacked their clay.   Unfortunately, we do not have a kiln at Coonley, so these sculptures were ephemeral and students knew them as "clay experiments". We don't need to keep everything we make! 

The finished Autobiographical Comic Strips

I thought I would post some images of some of the completed comic strips created by the 6-8th grade students.  Many of the students worked very hard on these, and they did a fabulous job telling their true story using pictures and words in tandem.  

Throughout this project, the students learned about thumbnail sketches, planning out a work of art, comic book conventions such as including panels and gutters, zooming in to the action, communicating through facial expressions, and varying your line weight. Students also learned how to use lines to create value.  Finally, I hope they learned that even if they can't draw perfectly or realistically, they can still use simple images to communicate a whole lot of (true) story and (hilarious) information to a viewer. 

Finishing Our Shadow Puppets

Students in the 3rd and 4th grades have now added color and details to their shadow puppets, making them enticing art objects as well as fabulous shadow play.  They chose either colored pencils, markers or both to bring their characters to life.  

A completed donkey puppet created by Alexander in 4th grade,  next to his original drawing and design.

Next, they joined each of their separately drawn and cut pieces together, using paper fasteners.  Next week, students will add the dowel rods to their puppets and begin rehearsing movements that tell the story of their folktale. 

A completed bird puppet by Alicia in 4th grade. 

Many of the puppets came out absolutely superb from the standpoint of successful engineering and design, as well as beauty and characterization. 
I will be posting more pictures of both the puppets and performances soon.

Here are links to some of the performances:  More to come!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jx7NAOYcwk&feature=youtu.be 

http://youtu.be/6Nm5qkKbqMQ