This week the fifth graders continued work on their spectacular sport trophies. The wire and foil figures are now posed and wrapped with plaster wrap. Almost all have been stapled to wooden bases. Our fifth graders have experience working with plaster (see this post and this post) so almost all finished wrapping the figures during our 40 minute class.
Volleyball
Don’t you love the poses and accessories?
Skier with popsicle stick skis and bamboo skewer poles.
Here’s a ‘wrap up’ (get it?) of all the steps so far:
wire armature made from two pieces of 18 inch pre-cut floral wire
Wrap wire with foil, trim arms
UPDATE: see the finished Olympic trophies in this post!
NOTE: I used three basic supplies for these sport sculptures:
(similar product available at Michaels and Wal-Mart craft department)
(similar product available at Costco and Smart & Final)
Alexander Calder was an amazing, original, sculptor with a great sense of humor. Our 5th graders had a lot of fun making Calder-inspired wire portraits.
5th grade students made 3D wire portraits in the manner of Alexander Calder. Allow three 40-minute sessions.
Materials
Basic wire sculpture supplies. All wires and decorations can be cut with kindergarten scissors.
Day one:
Discuss Alexander Calder. I made a Calder wire portrait Powerpoint you may find helpful.
Put sketch in labeled storage bag.
Sketch: front
Flip sketch over. Draw profile view (note front view is barely visible)
Day two:
Pass out bags, markers, and two 4 ft. lengths of 14-gauge Sculpture Wire per student. Students should turn sketch to the front view. Bend one wire around oval sketch. Overlap ends and wrap to secure.
Trace front view with wire
Flip the sketch to the reverse. Place end of second wire at top of profile and bend wire to follow sketch. Overlap ends and wrap to secure. You may have excess wire – do not cut this off yet.
Trace profile in wire.
Put sketch + wires in labeled storage bag.
Day three:
Remove wire portrait pieces from bag and insert the front view through the profile. Secure at joints at top and bottom of face using pre-cut wire and any excess wire. Give students a short piece of wire for ‘glasses’. Add ‘C’ shaped wire ears if desired (or bend out ears from face wires).
Insert the profile into the front view and secure. Add a short wire for eyes.
Side view of assembled wire portrait. Ready to embellish with pipe cleaners, beads, pot scrubbers and sequins.
Colored wire (or pipe cleaners) make fun hair and eyes.
Display:
Suspend from ceiling with string or fishing line, or link faces together with paper clip ‘S’ hooks for a giant mobile.
Calder-inspired wire portraits hang in chains at school art show.
Helpful links:
Good all-purpose introductory video movie on Calder.
Here is a link to a past Calder portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
The wire sculpture method for this project was inspired by the armature in this Dick Blick video lesson plan.
I absolutely LOVE Calder’s art, and I think your students will too. Check out my other Calder posts:
Good luck! If you try this project and post it online, please link back to this post. 🙂
Enjoy!
Do you have a favorite Calder project?
NOTE: POST UPDATED: 11/25/13
Most of the 5th graders at our schools have at least one trophy – for soccer, baseball, basketball, dance, etc. Each year the fifth graders create their own sport trophy sculptures using wire, foil and plaster wrap.
2012 is an Olympic year. We begin by looking at photos of Olympic athletes in all sorts of sports. We talked about dynamic poses – athletes in motion – and how much more interesting they are than static poses.
Male gymnast in a dynamic pose
Gymnast pose captured in wire and foil.
Next I projected some sports photos and we practiced drawing the athletes as stick figures.
I passed out wire figures and the students wrapped them in foil. They had a great time posing them!
Wire figure.
Fifth grader uses reference photo to pose figure.
See the trophies progress in Part 2 (now online) and the finished Olympic trophies in this post.
Alexander Calder made this pin for his wife, Louisa
Calder’s earrings are miniature mobiles.
Did you know Calder designed wire jewelry? He made 1,800 pieces of jewelry during his long career. Learn more in this New York Times article and related New York Times slideshow of Calder’s jewelry. I was fortunate to see the Calder jewelry exhibit when it came to the San Diego Museum of Art in 2010.
The San Diego Museum of Art has a Calder inspired jewelry and wire sculpture lesson plan for upper elementary students.
Line drawing of Calder jewelry forms. Imagine your students making them in wire!
Calder jewelry-making techniques from SDMART lesson plan
Looking for a wire sculpture lesson plan? Check out my previous post: Calder wire sculpture lesson for 5th grade.
UPDATE: lots more Calder posts:
Two Calder books to read online for free
