This week we look to the artist Elizabeth Catlett. Her sculpture is reductive, meaning to take away. In our project we will plan and experiment with Ivory soap. Plan to keep your designs simple and close to the shape of the soap, Practice thinking about what you may want to carve by drawing in your sketchbook. Materials Sketchbook Pencil Ivory Soap Plastic Butter Knife or other tools for carving and making marks Inspiration Elizabeth Catlett (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) Catlett was an American and Mexican graphic artist and sculptor best known for her images of the African-American experience in the 20th century, which often focused on the female experience. She was born and raised in Washington, D.C. to parents working in education, and was the grandchild of freed slaves. It was difficult for a black woman in this time to pursue a career as a working artist. Catlett devoted much of her career to teaching. However, a fellowship awarded to her in 1946 allowed her to travel to Mexico City, where she worked with the Taller de Gráfica Popular for twenty years and became head of the sculpture department for the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. In the 1950s, her main means of artistic expression shifted from print to sculpture, though she never gave up printing. Video Link to the Lesson by Mrs.Buss
youtu.be/40xUqNeGb7M
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Probably one of my favorite switch-em-up projects. I collect all the broken bits, discarded trinkets, junk drawer items. I also send a call out to have such items donated. I also ask for boxes, wooden, cigar, jewelry... We look to the artist, another favorite, Joseph Cornell. Students will glean from a collection of "junk" or are encouraged to bring their own. The narratives that the students may come up with might be as simple as similar shapes or colors, or the items they choose can tell a story. Students use glue to make these box sculptures. Issac Nielsen, 5th Grade Materials Boxes, wooden, cigar, jewelry Trinkets, game pieces, broken items, etc Glue, Hot/Tacky Joseph Cornell 1903-1972
was an American artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmmaker. He was largely self-taught in his artistic efforts, and improvised his own original style incorporating cast-off and discarded artifacts. He lived most of his life in relative physical isolation, caring for his mother and his disabled brother at home, but remained aware of and in contact with other contemporary artists. I created this project after researching the renaissance artist Donatello. During the time period in which Donatello worked he used a new, very shallow, sculptural technique called Bas Relief. This is the basis of coin design. The students were told to think of a symbol/animal. An addition to the original project, students could include a creative writing exercise. Students would create a country, listing the demographics of their coin of origin. Design of the coin should include one number and one symbol. When making their projects students should understand that the the bas relief process is reductive not additive. When using air dry clay, students may need to work when it is on the dryer side. Materials Sketchbook Pencil Clay Clay tools Newspaper ![]() Inspiration Donatello 1386-1466 He worked with stone, bronze, wood, clay, stucco and wax, and had several assistants, with four perhaps being a typical number. Though his best-known works were mostly statues in the round, he developed a new, very shallow, type of bas-relief or small works, and a good deal of his output was larger architectural reliefs. The students were introduced to Pablo Picasso and looked at his constructions and collages. In the lesson students were instructed on the basic anatomy of a guitar, neck, sound hole, head stock, body, strings. Students were given a template and cardboard shapes, to construct a guitar form and special papers to decorate the constructed cardboard guitar. String added for strings. Materials Sketchbook Pencil Cardboard Scissors Tape Glue String Inspiration
Sometime between October and December 1912, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) made a guitar. Cobbled together from cardboard, paper, string, and wire, materials that he cut, folded, threaded, and glued, Picasso’s silent instrument resembled no sculpture ever seen before. In 1914 the artist reiterated his fragile papery construction in a more fixed and durable sheet metal form. These two Guitars, both gifts from the artist to MoMA, bracket an incandescent period of material and structural experimentation in Picasso’s work. Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914 explores this breakthrough moment in 20th-century art, and the Guitars’ place within it. Bringing together some 70 closely connected collages, constructions, drawings, mixed-media paintings, and photographs assembled from over 30 public and private collections worldwide, this exhibition offers fresh insight into Picasso’s cross-disciplinary process in the years immediately preceding World War I. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1088 In this unit, students create a mythical creature by researching, writing, and drawing, and choosing at least three characteristics of three living creatures. The students then transform their ideas into a 3D version. Materials Visual Aids of Living creatures Sketchbook Pencil Colored Pencils Paper Newspaper Paper tubes Masking tape Glue Tissue paper Inspiration
Roberto Benavidez 1973 “The greatest influence on my recent work is the piñata,” explains multidisciplinary artist Roberto Benavidez. His papier-mâché and crêpe paper versions of beasts and demons plucked from Hieronymus Bosch ’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1450) have become something of a viral sensation. Piñatas are usually considered a throw-away amusement, designed to be hung from a tree and smashed up by kids at a birthday party, but Benavidez treats the form seriously. His Bosch-inspired sculptures—faithful 3-D reproductions of the painting’s strange characters—are elegant, funny, and a little frightening. The larger piñatas in the series are the size of small children, with delicate layers of crêpe paper covering their bodies like fur or feathers. Benavidez, who identifies as mixed-race, feels a cultural connection to piñatas as a sculptural form that has been a part of Mexican Catholic traditions since the 16th century. “By drawing from Western art imagery and incorporating Italian crêpe paper in my work, I’m touching upon the craft’s history, as well as highlighting its parallel to my own identity,” he explains. As spring was just starting to begin this year, a clay unit was rolling around too. I currently have access to air dry clay and no kiln. I want my students to be able to experience clay even if it cannot be fired. Since most of the students never worked with clay we began with a pinch pot. In the spring one of the first birds we see in Wisconsin is the robin, so students were told to include a bird and eggs in their pinch pot. The nests they created could come for nature, or their imaginations. Students learned about scoring and how to connect clay to itself. Once dry, students painted with acrylic, and the kindergarteners use tempera paints. A coat of clear acrylic seal was sprayed over the paint and clay, that helped the tempera become more vibrant. Materials Pictures of birds and nests Air dry clay Clay tools Water dish Newspaper Paint acrylic/tempera Brushes Acrylic sealant Tacky glue for repairs Inspiration
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AuthorI have a passion for the visual arts and love sharing it with others. I have enjoyed teaching all ages and love to incorporate art history and traditional disciplines as well as innovative ideas. Art is vital to who I am as a creator and educator. Archives
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