Doodle Sculptures Based on Jean Dubuffet

Students in Art 1 and Art Appreciation created sculptures without using tape or glue.  Instead, they learned about other forms of attachment- slotting or notching, and slicing and tabing.

First, students looked at the work of Alexander Calder and Jean Dubuffet, who both use shapes to create non-representational sculptures. We discussed how doodling is a very original form of art and expression, since it comes from the subconscious. It is also somewhat universal as an expression, since many of us doodle when bored or listening to a phone call or a lecture.

Alexander Calder and Jean Dubuffet

Next, students learned about the difference between organic and geometric shapes, and drew both kinds, of all sizes on a piece of cardstock.   
 

Then, students spent several class periods doodling whatever came to mind on all of their shapes, while listening to music. 

Once we had our shapes cut out and were ready to create a 3-D "sketch" of what a larger public sculpture with doodled shapes might look like, students first spent time practicing notching two shapes together, and slicing and tabing shapes together using X-Acto blades.  

Some students played with making recognizable imagery

practicing our technique and exploring possibilities without fear of failure or commitment

By creating a small practice sculpture with plain white cardstock first, students were able to stretch and explore and develop the craft of attaching paper without using glue.  They were able to do so without worrying about what their sculpture would look like, or whether they would be ruining their well-crafted doodles. 

Finally, students moved on to creating a finished sculpture using the shapes that had designs on them. They played with how to create a sense of balance between the shapes that was both literal and visual.  In order to be successful, their sculpture had to stand on its own without tape or glue, and also had to be strong enough to withstand a drop from several feet up. 

Students were able to express themselves by how they applied their designs and what they doodled on their shapes.  They also arranged their shapes in a way that was expressive and unique.

The resulting sculptures were quite beautiful, and many students expressed how lovely they would be as large sculptures in a park or downtown plaza.  Imagine yourself shrunk down to the size of a lizard or ant, and enjoy their playful whimsy from that point of view.   I believe creating this piece helped students to understand that artists who sculpt also sketch 3-dimensionially, and they play with shapes and forms in their studios before arriving at a solid idea.

I like it when students title their sculptures, especially when they are abstract.

Once all was said and done, students solidified their attachments with a bit of glue so they would make it home safe.

Study in Time Magazine: Doodling Helps You Pay Attention

TED talk by Sunni Brown on the power of doodling

Charcoal Drawings of Still Life Objects

Students in Art 1 worked for 2-3 weeks on a charcoal drawing based on observing still life objects.  We studied the tradition of Vanitas till life, dating back to the 16th century.  Objects in the still life symbolize the spoils of life, the five senses, and the brevity of human experience.  

Students also learned the traditional chiaroscuro technique where you tone your paper to create a middle value and then add darks and lights from there. In the case of using charcoal, we erased out all the highlights. 

To Begin, students drew thumbnail sketches in their sketchbook, in order to find a good composition. To do this they used their prior knowledge from the small pencil compositions project. They looked through a viewfinder and drew 3 different compositions.

 I had the students fill in the negative space shapes in their small compositions, so they would be able to see the structure of the drawing a bit better. 
Next, my students selected the composition they felt was the strongest, toned their paper with vine charcoal, and enlarged the small composition onto large paper using a simple grid and observation.  



They then took their time to create a contour line drawing of each object.

  
Students then observed the still life carefully in order to find the lighter values and use their eraser to pull them out.  They then added darker values using both vine and compressed charcoal. 

 

The final drawings are very beautiful, and in many of them you can see the struggle evident in the process of making this type of work.  Students spent several days re-hashing and reflecting on their their process and experience.  I will post about that next.