Growing the Abstract – Part Two

If we think of abstraction as a practice, we open a way for students to build meaning with themselves in mind, negotiating moment by moment their inner and outer worlds. In an ongoing space of practice, they access and utitlize their own experience of story, viewing, memory and imagination. Their work then becomes a fusion of the old with the new embedded with creative and critical acts of knowing.

“The statue represents the balance between order and protection.”

IMG_8898

“As I lay thinking I wonder how to get to the top. There are so many obstacles. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to do it. Once I get to the top should I…what should I do? Life is an obstacle that is hard to get past.”

IMG_8931

“Life itself is very boring, but with a little twist and a little bit of personality, life can be something that is spectacular.”

Version 2

Each student response was unique.  The next day we had open sharing. Students read their work to the whole class or conversed one to one. Orderly chaos ensued: words and worlds, stillness and laughter filled the room.  As we debriefed on the exercise, discussing why we did the assignment and how we felt, everyone realized that ‘growing’ the abstract opens the door for a seeing and making of the “spectacular”.

The full period was nearly over and we began collecting our bags and journals.  Just before the bell rang– in that one quiet moment before we ended, one student asked with some interest, ‘What are we doing next?’

–James Shivers

Exploring Sculpture Through a Variety of Media by Hallie Cirino

We were learning the phoneme for “qu”, and thought that we could introduce the idea of “quadrangles” and do some shape exploration. After a search on the YCBA Collection website, we found Barbara Hepworth’s “Four Rectangles with Four Oblique Circles”, the perfect sculpture for our needs.

B1991.37

We viewed the sculpture “larger than life” on our SmartBoard screen. Here are some of the children’s comments:

“It looks like a family.” -Dutch

“It’s a metal pig.” -Jack

“The circles look like windows.” -Luke

“The rectangles are made out of rock.” -Esme

The children also had questions:

“Who made it?” -William

“What is it made out of?” -Harleaux

“How did she make the holes?” -Cassie

“What’s it called?” -Levi

So, we “asked Google” about it and we were VERY surprised to find a children’s book with the sculpture featured on the front cover! (Amazon Prime, thank you for your prompt delivery!)

Look! Look! Look! at Sculpture

When the book arrived two days later, we eagerly read it, and the children wanted to try the paper sculpture ideas that were inside:

paper sculptures

We decided to explore more media options for sculpture. My co-teacher, Maria, bought some fabulous natural clay. It was the children’s first experience using this material. As Jack was working with it, his finger accidentally poked through the middle of his clay lump. “Hey, that’s what she did,” remarked Jack, pointing at the Hepworth. In a few minutes, Jack had done this:

Jack's sculpture

Maria and I turned to each other and knew that we wanted the kids to sketch the Hepworth as well. We decided to introduce yet another new medium, charcoal. Most of the children started their sketches with pencil, and then added shading and coloring with the charcoal. What a happy mess!

class sketches Hepworth sculpture William sketches sculpture charcoal sketch Lukecharcoal renderings

Naturally, we couldn’t resist trying sculpting (and eating) with chocolate:

Harleaux and Levi sculpt chocolate chocolate sculptures

We also did sand sculpting and even pancake sculpting! The idea of learning about quadrangles organically lead us to so many new, enriching experiences.