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Unit: 20th Century Sculptors

Project: Wire Sculptures

Featured Artist: Alexander Calder

Objectives:
1. Demonstrate drawings with contour and gesture lines to create the human figure.
2. Recognize and describe the style of Alexander Calder.
3. Manipulate wire to create a sculpture.

Materials Provided:
• Paper
• Wooden Drawing Mannequins
• Twisteez wire
• Scissors

Materials Needed:
• Pencils

Vocabulary:
1. Contour Line: line that defines and describes the edges and surface ridges of a shape.
2. Gesture Line: Quick, rough line that captures shape, form and movement.
3. Kinetic Art: From the Greek kinetos for “moving,” the term used to describe machine-driven works as well as these driven by air currents.

Motivation:
1. Show and discuss examples of prints from Alexander Calder that use wire to create sculptures.
2. Tell students that his wire sculptures completed earlier in his career were considered drawings in space and showed the first signs of movement in his work.
3. Also note that his work is Kinetic Art or art that moves. He was the first artist to create moving art. His wire sculpture circus was his first experiments with kinetic art.
4. Tell students that they will be making contour and gesture line drawings of the wooden mannequins first, then, they will make wire sculptures from their drawings.

Instruction:
1. Pass out two sheets of paper and a pencil to each student. Explain to the group that a contour line drawing is a drawing of the outside edges of an object. For example, if you place your hand down on a sheet of paper and trace around it you have created a contour line drawing of your hand. Also explain that a gesture line drawing is a drawing that captures the pose or movement of the object usually done with loopy or scribble lines.



2. Pass out the wooden mannequins to the group. You will need to put them in pairs and have them take turns posing the mannequins. Once one pose is created have the students make a contour line drawing or gesture line drawing of that pose. Tell students to continue creating poses and to make drawings of those poses until they have drawn at least five. Tell them that each drawing should be done quickly so that they can capture the pose.


3. Once most of the group has finished their drawings, start to collect the wooden mannequins. Go around to each student and ask him or her to select two pieces of wire. They may be the same color or they may be different.

4. Tell students to select one of the wires for the top part of the body. Hold the wire at one end and bend it backwards. Twist it together making a circle or a hoop at the end of the wire.





5. Pinch your fingers together holding the twisted part of the wire under the loop. With your other hand bend the wire out and bend it back to make the arm. Twist the end of the loop around several times so that it makes a smaller loop for the hand. Repeat the same process for the other arm.

6. Take the remaining wire and wrap it around the arm close to the neck two times. Then make a U-shape under the head to form the body. Come back up to the other arm and wrap it around two times to create the other shoulder. Cut off the extra wire or wrap it around the arm or body.




7. Take the second piece of wire and at one end wrap it around the neck of the sculpture. Then lightly wrap it around the body and stop at the bottom and pinch the wire against the body. Take the end of that wire and thread it through the body two times to make the wire stay in place.

8. Do the same technique that you did for the arms to make the legs. Bend the wire down to the length you want for the leg and bend it back up to the body and twist the loop together until you make a foot.







9. Take the remaining wire and thread it through the body again and repeat the same process to make the other leg. The remaining wire can be cut off or wrapped around the leg until it is gone.








10. Ask the students if they can make their sculpture resemble the same poses that are in their drawings.
 
 




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