Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Giraffe Wire Sculptures

Inspired by a lesson in My Art Book: Animals, and artist Andy Scott, students created these giraffe sculptures using Twisteez colored wire (one of my favorite products at the NAEA Convention this past March.) First they chose a color for their cardboard bases and painted them with acrylic paint. They then learned to make a basic armature, plotting out the anatomy of their giraffes. Starting with the legs, additional wires were added to flesh out and strengthen their sculptures. Photographs of giraffes were available for reference. 

I really enjoyed watching these sculptures come to life!  I also loved seeing how each student made their creation unique from others by choices in color, placement, and all of their hard work wrapping, attaching and bending the wires. It was also a great lesson for balance. The legs of the sculptures had to be strong enough to support the rest of the body. If someone started building the head, they would soon realize that they had to stop to focus on building up the lower areas. Then they could return to the top of the sculpture. Enjoy!





5 comments:

Shannah said...

These are so fun!
I love the color choices made by each artist.
I've never used twisteez before. How much did you need for a class project like this?

Miss said...

These are so whimsical and remind me of happier versions of Giacometti's work! Did you use a thicker wire for the armatures? I've never used Twisteez before- I bet the kids loved it.

Unknown said...

Did you poke holes for the feet or hot glue them to the cardboard?

Rina k6art.com said...

Fabulous! I love the idea of using a single animal and a painted base. I have taught wire sculpture for years - I use the Blick sculpture wire 14 gauge roll for the armature. Twisteez are a little pricey and a little too soft for the armature - but they are wonderfully colorful and we use them for accents. Kids can pick two or three pieces. Thanks for posting.

Rina

Renée Collins said...

For the feet, we poked holes through the cardboard base, folded them at a right angle, and used masking tape to hold them to the underside of the base.