Mrs. Abbas’ Art Room
The blog of a teaching artist.
11/5/2017 0 Comments Giacometti & Maggio (part 2)This week in workshops, we taught the same lessons we started last week. Since we had our students divided into two groups, we flipped flopped them, so each student could see each lesson. I took on the teaching of the Alberto Giacometti inspired sculptures this time. This setup seemed to work well with our particular group of students. Some of our students feed off each other, especially two brothers. It is nice to be teaching in teams to allow this kind of flexibility. The students worked more productively in smaller groups. While teaching the Giacometti sculptures, I noticed that most of our students prefer to work on their own. They prefer to struggle through a process before asking for help. As I circled around, the students were eagerly responsive to instruction. However, we also have a few students who appear a little less motivated. They need the step-by-step hand-holding to complete a project. From my observations, I think these students, in particular, do not like being told what to do. Therefore, if a project doesn’t spark an interest they don’t care to do it. They are great kids but challenging to keep on task. As the students progressed through the lesson, I think they had the hardest time with the wire armature. They could come up a gesture to portray quickly, but executing it was a bit tougher. The wire that they used seemed to work well; it bent easily and held its structure well. Though, if I were to teach this again I would emphasize the importance of working with one piece of wire, because it was when the students tried to twist two pieces of wire together that they had difficulties. Though, some were able to work through this by reinforcing the joints with tape, which is a perfect solution because once the next step is to cover the wire armatures with tape. The students were able to tape up their wire structures with ease. As the students were taping, I introduced mass and showed them how to accomplish it with their sculptures. They could choose to add visual weight and create form to their work by adding newspaper. This was an easy concept to understand, but thinking it through was tough. This reminded me the value of 3D work. There are essential skills to be learned and practiced through projects that require dimensional thinking, and our workshops had lacked that up until this lesson. I enjoyed this lesson, and I could see myself teaching it again. The students were engaged, and each came up with original ideas. The students end up making a project that look visually similar to one another, but there are many other valuable lessons to be learned through 3D work that I don’t think that matters as much. Plus, there is enough flexibility in the lesson for students to plan and create a unique gesture for their sculpture.
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AuthorI am a teaching artist learning as I go. I am passionate about art and people, and I am excited to be on this educational journey. The purpose of this blog is to share my struggles, successes, and everything in between as I learn to navigate writing curriculum, managing a classroom, and building relationships. Archives
October 2019
CategoriesAll Bosch Cavener Collage Display Exquisite Corpse Giacometti Goldsworthy Grab Land Art Landscape Lasansky Maggio Monet Painting Pareidolia Pattern Perception Portrait Printmaking Sculpture Self-Portrait Show Tempera |