Think IT, Draw IT, Make IT: Cooperative Sculpture Making

Materials

• Butcher paper or cardboard for lining tables
• Drawing paper or newsprint and writing materials
• Lined paper
• Clay or play dough (10 lbs per class)
• Clay cutter
• Plastic modeling tools or any other materials for creating texture (e.g., paperclips, popsicle sticks, broken pens, cookie cutters, spoon, butter knife)
• Sponges
• Water in small Dixie cups
• Rulers

Images

Teachers Preparation

• Print the images listed above onto overhead transparencies.
• Arrange the tables in groups of three. Place butcher paper or cardboard on the tables to protect them from the clay.
• Cut clay into one pound pieces for each group.

Teaching Tips

Clay can be purchased at Freeform Clay Supply in National City, CA (1912 Cleveland Avenue; 619.477.1004). In addition to discounted rates for educators, they are extremely helpful in answering all your questions. You can get a 50-pound box of red clay for approximately seven dollars.

Affordable clay modeling tools can be found at Dickblick.com. Seven tools with 14 unique edges can be purchased for less than two dollars.

Procedures

1. Begin a discussion with the students about contemporary art: What does the word 'contemporary' mean? What do you think contemporary art looks like? What materials do you think artists use in contemporary art? How do you think contemporary art differs from art made a long time ago? Have the students look up the word 'contemporary' in the dictionary, if necessary.

2. Place the Untitled (superama) transparency on the overhead. Use the following questions to guide the discussion about the image:
• What's going on in this picture?
• What more can we find?
• What materials are used?
• How does this artwork make you feel?
• How do you think the artist felt (happy, sad, confused, etc.) when he/she made this?
• What does this artwork remind you of?
• What shapes do you see?
• Is this artwork representational or abstract? Provide evidence.

3. Explain to the students that there was a particular movement within contemporary art called minimalism. Show the students two transparencies demonstrating pieces of minimalist artwork. Use the following discussion questions to guide the discussion about these images:
• How is this piece of artwork different than the first one you saw?
• What shapes do you see?
• What materials are used?
• What colors do you see?
• How does this artwork make you feel?
• What does this artwork remind you of?
• What do you think 'minimalist' means?

4. As a class, have the students describe characteristics of minimalist art. How can you tell when a piece of art is in the minimalist style and why?

5. Place the students into groups of three and number each student in the group "one" to "three". Tell the students that they will be working with their group members to create a minimalist sculpture.

6. During the first round, all "ones" will be the craftsmen (the builders), "twos" will be the illustrators (in charge of drawing the sculpture), and "threes" will be the planners (in charge of writing down careful instructions for making the artwork). Explain that the students will rotate jobs every ten minutes.

7. Before the students begin creating their minimalist sculptures, they should be instructed to plan out their sculptures carefully. Emphasize the important role each member plays within his/her group.

8. Pass out all of the materials to each group (e.g., drawing paper, lined paper, pencils, clay, materials for texture, sponges, water, and rulers).

9. Have students begin to create and document their minimalist sculptures. Using the modeling tools, instruct the students to add unique texture to their sculpture.

10. When each part of the sculpture is completed, have the students work together to measure the form with the ruler. The measurements should be listed as the planner writes down the instructions for creating the piece.

11. Remind the students to keep the forms simple and geometric to mimic the works of the minimalists.

12. Repeat the process every 10 minutes so that each group member has a chance to try each job at least once.

13. Have the students present their completed sculptures to their classmates, including the details describing how it was created.

14. Discuss the following questions in a group discussion:
• What was your favorite job?
• What was the hardest job?
• Do you think someone could make your sculpture using only the directions?
• Is an artwork original if it can be reproduced anywhere by anyone?
• How do you feel about making an artwork that will be destroyed each time?
• List the characteristics that make your sculpture minimalist.

15. Have the students write a multi-paragraph narrative explaining the purpose and process of creating this piece of minimalist sculpture.

Extensions
English-Language Arts: Have the students write a final draft of the instructions and corresponding drawings for their group’s minimalist sculpture. Trade these instructions with another group or with another class to see how successfully this new group can create the same piece of artwork based on the instructions and measurements provided.

Mathematics: Based on each sculptures’ measurements, have each student calculate the perimeter, area, and volume of each sculpture. Students can also classify each geometric shape.

Standards

CA Content Standards

Fourth Grade Visual Arts:
1.5 Describe and analyze the elements of art (color, shape/form, line, texture, space and value), emphasizing form, as they are used in works of art and found in the environment.

2.3 Use additive and subtractive processes in making simple sculptural forms.

Fifth Grade Visual Arts:
1.2 Identify and describe characteristics of representational, abstract, and nonrepresentational works of art.

1.3 Use their knowledge of all the elements of art to describe similarities and differences in works of art and in the environment.

2.2 Create gesture and contour observational drawings.

4.1 Identify how selected principles of design are used in a work of art and how they affect personal responses to and evaluation of the work of art.

4.3 Develop and use specific criteria as individuals and in groups to assess works of art.

Sixth Grade Visual Arts:
1.1 Identify and describe all the elements of art found in selected works of art (color, shape/form, line, texture, space, and value).

1.2 Discuss works of art as to theme, genre, style, idea, and differences in media.

2.1 Use various observational drawing skills to depict a variety of subject matter.

2.5 Select specific media and processes to express moods, feelings, themes, or ideas.

4.1 Construct and describe plausible interpretations of what they perceive in works of art.

4.3 Develop specific criteria as individuals or in groups to assess and critique works of art.

Fourth Grade English-Language Arts:
2.7 Follow multiple-step instructions in a basic technical manual (e.g., how to use computer commands or video games).

2.1 Write narratives.

1.1 Ask thoughtful questions and respond to relevant questions with appropriate elaboration in oral settings.

1.2 Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken messages and formal presentations.

2.1 Make narrative presentations.

Fifth Grade English-Language Arts:
2.2 Analyze text that is organized in sequential or chronological order.

2.1 Write narratives.

1.5 Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence and examples.

2.2 Deliver informative presentations about an important idea, issue, or event.

Sixth Grade English-Language Arts:
2.2 Write expository compositions.

1.3 Restate and execute multiple-step oral instructions and directions.

2.2 Deliver informative presentations.

Fourth Grade Mathematics:
1.1 Measure the area of rectangular shapes by using appropriate units, such as square centimeter (cm2), square meter (m2), square kilometer (km2), square inch (in2), square yard (yd2), or square mile (mi2).

1.4 Understand and use formulas to solve problems involving perimeters and areas of rectangles and squares. Use those formulas to find the areas of more complex figures by dividing the figures into basic shapes.

3.5 Know the definitions of a right angle, an acute angle, and an obtuse angle. Understand that 90°, 180°, 270°, and 360° are associated, respectively, with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full turns.

3.7 Know the definitions of different triangles (e.g., equilateral, isosceles, scalene) and identify their attributes.

3.8 Know the definition of different quadrilaterals (e.g., rhombus, square, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid).

Fifth Grade Mathematics:
1.1 Derive and use the formula for the area of a triangle and of a parallelogram by comparing it with the formula for the area of a rectangle (i.e., two of the same triangles make a parallelogram with twice the area; a parallelogram is compared with a rectangle of the same area by cutting and pasting a right triangle on the parallelogram).

1.3 Understand the concept of volume and use the appropriate units in common measuring systems (i.e., cubic centimeter [cm3], cubic meter [m3], cubic inch [in3], cubic yard [yd3]) to compute the volume of rectangular solids.

1.4 Differentiate between, and use appropriate units of measures for, two-and three-dimensional objects (i.e., find the perimeter, area, volume).

2.1 Measure, identify, and draw angles, perpendicular and parallel lines, rectangles, and triangles by using appropriate tools (e.g., straightedge, ruler, compass, protractor, drawing software).

2.3 Visualize and draw two-dimensional views of three-dimensional objects made from rectangular solids.

Sixth Grade Mathematics:
1.3 Know and use the formulas for the volume of triangular prisms and cylinders [(area of base) x (height)]; compare these formulas and explain the similarity between them and the formula for the volume of a rectangular solid.

2.1 Identify angles as vertical, adjacent, complementary, or supplementary and provide descriptions of these terms.

2.2 Use the properties of complementary and supplementary angles and the sum of the angles of a triangle to solve problems involving an unknown angle.

2.3 Draw quadrilaterals and triangles from information given about them (e.g., a quadrilateral having equal sides but no right angles, a right isosceles triangle).

Bibliography/Webography

Teachers

Technique:
Frohardt, Darcie C. Teaching Art with Books Kids Love: Teaching Art Appreciation, Elements of Art and Principles of Design with Award-Winning Children’s Books. Golden, Co: Fulcrum, 1999.

Topal, Cathy Weisman. Children, Clay, and Sculpture. Worcester, Mass.: Davis Publications, 1983.

History:
Garrels, Gary. Sol LeWitt: a retrospective. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

Govan, Michael. Dan Flavin: a retrospective. New York: Dia Art Foundation; Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2004.
Meyer, James (Ed.) Minimalism. London: Phaidon, c2000.

Tate Gallery Online
Description of minimalism, its qualities, and influences. Includes a few images.

Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) Exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum
Highlights from the Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) Exhibit show excellent examples of minimalist art and include brief descriptions.

Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) Teacher Resource
This Teacher Resource supports the Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) exhibit, and includes discussion questions, extension activities and additional resources to use with five of the pieces from the exhibition.

Students

History:
Gaff, Jackie. 20th Century Art. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens Pub., 2001.

Mason, Antonym. In the Time of Warhol-Art Around the World. Brookfield, Conn.: Copper Beech Books, 2002.

Woolf, Felicity. Picture this century: an introduction to twentieth-century art. New York: Doubleday Book for Young Readers, c1992.

ArtKids
Brief description of minimalism in kid-friendly terms.

Destination Modern Art
An interactive Web site for elementary school-aged children to learn about modern art.