Growing Day by Day at the MFA - the details!

A little delayed- but as promised I am posting the details of and final product photos of my

  Growing Day By Day workshop at the MFA, Boston from two weeks ago 

based on Ellsworth Kelly and Louise Nevelson.

Visitors at the MFA had the opportunity to come in for a session to create a sculpture out of monochromatic materials to be added to the large rainbow collaborative-installation. Many people came to the museum because they had seen the progress on Facebook & Instagram and wanted to be a part of it!

This project literally worked for ALL ages. 

Because the parents/adults were there with the kids age 3-adult was engaged. 

The set up:

Notice in this above picture the platform that facilities made for us. 

We covered it in construction paper (we didn't have time to paint it) to signify where the colored sculptures would go. This was a huge help for both the first groups of artists so they could envision the plan

and for us who were installing them.

The 6 inch raise off the floor gave the installation a lifted feel and allowed us to attached fishing line to the edges of the platform- and slide tape, etc. underneath as we were installing.

There was a copper wire strung across from the two big beams. 

Then fishing line hung vertically and diagonally to the platform for attaching sculptures.

Each child got a "goody bag" with monochromatic materials. 

We also got a hold of these awesome bags in each color from U-line. 

The artists could use the bags as a material too!

Examples of what was in the bags:

6 x 8" posterboard

tissue paper

pipe cleaners

bottle caps

felt

fabric

raffia

strings/yarn

buttons

foam pieces

popsicle sticks

random recycle center objects

I hosted 5 sessions a day for 5 days. Each session had a color assigned so everyone was working with the same color. This really helped artists focus on the variations in color, tone, and hue as well as focus on the materials. It also helped clean up!! 

We only got ONE complaint about having no color choice the entire week!

In addition to focusing on texture and materials I heavily emphasized how a sculpture can be viewed

from different angles in my introduction so participants would take that into consideration rather than just working 2-dimensionally.

To accommodate the most people we surpassed tables and taped long paper to the floor. 

Each paper had scissors as well as elmers glue, glue sticks, and colored masking tape (also available through U-line or Dick Blick- U-line was cheaper!) for adhesives. There was a hot glue station to the side for adults. 

By the end of the week each color had 3 sessions of artists that had added to it.

On the last day we encouraged people to make standing sculptures for the floor in front of the wall or really long pieces we could weave through and dangle from the installation.

The sculptures were attached by masking tape and wire to the fishing lines or to each other. 

We hung them up at the end of each session. 

One challenge with using the plastic bags as a material was that most people wanted to blow them up and then make either a hot air balloon or a face out of it. The balloon-like sculptures were great for the first day and created a continuous rhythm through out the sculpture but then we really really emphasized other ways you could use it:

5 days, 25 sessions, 850 kids (plus about 1000 adults) later!

Major props to Nora, the family programs manager who advocated for us to do ticketed sessions instead of a constant free-for-all and who was amazingly organized and thorough in planning this with me!

And gigantic shout-outs to Cortney (Nora's intern) who sorted massive amounts of materials by color

and my awesome awesome assistant Lauren who really put her all in the entire week with me!

I also had fantastic help from the teen arts council interns and some of my sixth grade students. 

Thank you guys!

I couldn't be prouder of this!

paper sculpture & artist inspiration resources

I will preface this with that I did this lesson with both FIRST and FIFTH grade. 

The same artist inspirations and slide show were used. 

I added one advanced step for the fifth grade. 

Other than that it works well with any age. 

Part 1:

Paul Klee inspired oil pastel shapes 

painted with tempera

**5th grade used this as an opportunity for practicing color mixing- they learned to mix all 16 color wheel colors as they filled in the shapes. 

Part 2: Intro to Sculpture

**See my slide show that prefaced this step below.

Students cut out a "base" by cutting up their painting. 

Then they cut strips from the scraps and I had other paper strips

that they folded and curled to create an abstract sculpture. 

I tell tales of many artists, show slide shows, and lead inquiry based discussions based on works of art. I I know some teachers are more trained or more inclined to do this and for some teachers it causes anxiety. I am often asked how I lead a discussion based on an artwork. 

Many of my strategies are based on VTS and Project Zero's Artful Thinking teachings. 

Here is an example. Hope it is helpful!

(Plus if you are not familiar with Ryan McGinness's work definitely take a look!)

Intro to Sculpture Slideshow:

This was the image I started with. I know it is a public art sculpture in Florida but unfortunately I have no more information about it. 

However, it is a great image to begin with.

Questions to prompt discussion:

How big do you think this sculpture is and why? 

What does the sculpture remind you of?

What do you notice or what stands out about the sculpture?

Where do you think the artist got his/her ideas?

 

 General questions to be answered before continuing:

What is a sculpture?

What materials can be used to make a sculpture?

As you look at the images of art works consider different ways a sculpture can take up space.

Artist 1: Dale Chihuly

Material: Glass 

 What does the artwork remind you of? 

How does the material and/or color affect you as a viewer?

  

Artist 2:  Liz Miller

Material: Paper

What is similar and different about this artist's work compared with the last? 

 

Notice the details and repetition when you look at her paper cutting up close: 

 Artist 3: Ryan McGinness

Materials: Acrylic on acrylic

A great example of a 2-dimensional artist transforming into 3-dimensional work. 

What do you see?

What does it make you wonder?

(2-D example above and 3-D examples below)