For my ninth grade sculpture unit, I decided to use a lesson I found on the Incredible Art Department. It focused on linear sculpture and used toothpicks. I have been trying to focus each unit on a different artist/period, so I taught Donald Judd and minimalist in this unit.
After introducing the artist I had them begin by experimenting with taking away elements in paintings in our art texts, drawing them in their sketchbooks. We proceeded from there directly to the sculptures. I had them choose a shape to repeat, and tried to get them to understand and use rhythm as an element of art...
...although some students got this better than others did.
Since it is -20 - -30C most days here, I chose not to spray paint their sculptures, and instead had them paint them with acrylic paint. This was not as simple as I would have liked it to be - the moisture in the paint weakened the glue we used to attach the shapes to each other, and they were fragile enough as it was!
Cyndi Koppelman, the teacher who submitted the lesson plan, used styrofoam blocks for the base of the sculptures. Rather than try to get them here, I had the students use plasticine clay we had available already, and while this kind of detracted from the minimalist aspect of the sculptures, the kids really enjoyed seeing what they could come up with for a base.
In the end, I was pretty pleased with what most students came up with, but it was an arduous process because of how long the glue took to dry (and how much glue some of them used). I'm not sure if I would teach this unit again or not; in some ways I think my students were not quite ready for it. The younger kids sure think they look cool, though!
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