Tint Wire Sculptures with Elizabeth Murray

Day One: 

Prep: Create a 24” in wire circle for each student in class: Easier to work with, prevents eye pokes. 

DISCUSSION: 

Form: What is form? 

What is sculpture? 

How is sculpture different from a painting? 

3d vs 2d

Show Elizabeth Murray’s work again

How is it like s sculpture?

How is it like a painting? 

ARTIST: Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007):

Inspired by Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock’s work, as well as Pablo Picasso’s Cubist works, American painter Elizabeth Murray’s oeuvre span styles from a Minimalist use form and color to bold, cartoonish Surrealism. 

Her works push the boundaries of a two-dimensional medium;

The irregular triangles in the “Giant Maiden” series (1972) strain against the edges of canvases painted in high relief, 

While the explosive colors on an intricate collage-like canvas in Do the Dance (2005) lend the Painting a kinetic, almost optical quality.

Project: 

Step1: Using your wire circle, create an organic shape

Step2: Using plaster strips, cover wire with plaster

Step3: To Identify: put your name on the paper plate your wire sculpture is sitting on to dry. 

Materials: 

Bowl for water

Plaster wrap http://www.dickblick.com/products/plastr-craft/?clickTracking=true

Paper plates

Wire 

Day two

 Discussion: impressionism

Value

Making colors lighter

White

Light

Art Movement: impressionism

Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement 

originated with a group of Paris-based artists. 

Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s, 

Harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. 

The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise)

Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), common, ordinary subject matter, 

inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. 

The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that became known as impressionist music and impressionist literature.

For additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism 

PROJECT

Step1: students  receive one pure color and white

Step2: mix their color with as much or little white as they like

Step3: paint the wire sculpture with their new color

Step4: add movement lines in black around the edges

Materials: 

Paint in many colors and white

Black paint

Paint brushes

Water containers

Paper plates for palettes. 

Post Project Week one and two: create the large sculpture by glueing the smaller works all together. I used Loctite All purpose Adhesive Caulk in Clear.