Friday, November 22, 2013

Middle School Name Sculptures





These are pretty self-explanatory.  Students, who had practiced expressive lettering styles in a previous lesson, wrote their name on a long piece of paper.  They filled their letters with color and pattern and cut each letter out then flipped the letters over to decorate the other side.  The criteria was to create a sculpture of at least 8 letters, so some students wrote their names 2 times.  Others got creative and added symbols to meet the 8 character criteria.  They were required to use the tape discretely.  The sculptures had to look good from all sides and pass the "shake test"...nothing should come loose when turned over and given a firm shake.  That's it...name sculpture.  Simple yet interesting results building and bending the flat forms into a construction.  Remind me of George Sugarman.

All art is metaphor, if one wants it that way, but then so is any object. To escape from metaphor, artists have often chosen other ways: sheer physical stimulation or the insistence on a system of formal relationships that has meaning in and for itself. Metaphor, stimulation, formal relationships, three ways to meaning. Is it necessary to choose? 
George Sugarman, 1974






  

4 comments:

  1. Love the idea of the shake test. I will have to remember that one!!!

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  2. These are cool- what type/weight of paper did you use in order for the pieces not to 'flop'? They're all so colorful and expressive. Thnx for sharing!

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  3. We used a medium weight watercolor paper that was left over from another project, but you could use any drawing paper, too. It won't flop if attached in two places.

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  4. Really cool! Will definitely try this lesson at some point, thanks!

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