Sculpture can help students appreciate and understand the rich diversity of art, craft and design traditions. Not just limited to carving or casting techniques, sculpture also encompasses building, assemblage and modeling processes.
Integrating sculpture into drawing, foundations or general art classes can be fun and engaging, teaching students how to break down subject matter while reinforcing observational skills. Sculpture allows multiple perspectives that encourage deeper observation than drawing can do.
Observational Drawing
Observational drawing is one of the first artistic activities students are taught in art classes, requiring them to observe a subject matter before drawing its details onto paper with a pencil. Students must pay close attention while drawing to details like fabric texture, skin color or tree trunk shape as well as shades present within an object or person – this will provide the foundation of creating realistic drawings.
Drawing utilizes both sides of your brain; unlike writing which requires only left brain processing to interpret written words. Drawing can make accurate and detailed drawings easier with observational drawings using pieces of fruit, their favorite toy or any inanimate object as subjects for practice. Observational drawings provide students with an excellent opportunity to develop and strengthen their drawing abilities through observation. Observational drawings also help students build and strengthen their drawing skills faster by offering students opportunities to practice drawing.
Drawing is a skill that must be taught and learned with practice; art teachers often refer to it as the “hidden curriculum.” Research has also shown that visual artists outperform non-artists in terms of drawing ability as well as some aspects of visual-spatial ability.
An important skill of any artist is understanding the relationships between shapes and forms in order to compose pleasing compositions that are visually appealing. Sculpture offers similar opportunities as it can be constructed using various materials and construction techniques. Classroom settings offer students opportunities for exploring this aspect through creating thin gauge wire sculptures combined with observational drawing units or by modeling inanimate objects like blocks of wood before drawing their respective models from observation.
Teachers can encourage their students to look for art everywhere they go by taking them on a walking tour around their school or community, and comparing and contrasting observations in sketchbooks afterwards. By offering various art activities during lessons, students will remain engaged and motivated, and retain more of what they learn over time.
Building Blocks
The art of sculpture involves working with hard or soft materials to form three-dimensional forms, whether freestanding or placed as reliefs on surfaces or environments that engulf spectators. Designs may be carved, modeled, cast, welded or sewn – materials may include clay, wood, metal, glass stone plaster rubber as well as random found objects.
Sculpture has been practiced by humanity since prehistoric times, when early humans used bone, ivory and other materials to carve small animals and human figures made of bones or ivory for spiritual or religious reasons. Ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Mesopotamia created monumental sculptures while classical Greece artists reached new levels of naturalism when creating figures out of human figures fashioned out of clay or bronze.
In the 20th century, sculptors began exploring abstraction or simplification of form as well as dispensing with traditional pedestals to create installation art. Contemporary sculptures increasingly incorporate other media such as sound, light and two-dimensional images to provide complex sensory experiences for their viewers.
When teaching art, it is vital that students gain exposure to various experiences. This will allow them to gain a comprehensive understanding of what art entails and help make connections among various forms of artwork. Art educators should focus on integrating arts into other academic subjects such as math or history so as to encourage cross-curricular learning.
Art education is an integral component of any educational curriculum, and all children should have the chance to enjoy art classes. Studies have demonstrated that students who regularly engage with arts have higher grades across subject areas such as math and reading; additionally arts education is shown to boost motivation, concentration and confidence – factors for which the National Art Education Association (NAEA) advocates incorporating visual arts education into all school curricula; it publishes several journals, papers and flyers; holds an annual convention; conducts research; sponsors teacher awards; hosts workshops seminars institutes on art education education.
Sculpture in the Round
Sculpture differs from paintings in that it is three dimensional; you can view it from all sides, and in some instances even walk around it. Where drawings can be looked at from only one fixed perspective, sculpture requires its artist to consider how the piece will appear from different angles – which gives more of a sense of reality to their works than flat paintings do.
History has seen numerous methods for making sculpture. Carving was historically used, in which material from the surface of a piece is removed by carving away. Other techniques include casting where liquid material is poured into molds to cast pieces that then come off after they have hardened or assembly where pieces such as wood, stone or metal can be assembled by an assembler.
All of these forms can be considered sculpture, and allow for more of an expression of form than can be expressed with flatness of painting. Sculpture can communicate movement and dynamic shapes; even human figures. Furthermore, sculpture has tactile properties which appeal to sensory sensibilities – something both visually impaired individuals and sighted can appreciate and enjoy together across age ranges.
While sculpture doesn’t possess the capacity of painting to evoke space and atmosphere, its physical presence can nonetheless elicit emotion or provoke strong responses due to being an interactive three-dimensional object which can be touched. This form of expression makes an impactful statement.
Sculpture is an integral component of any art program and an invaluable way for students to express themselves creatively in any subject or course. Students can use sculpture to explore various concepts related to relationships between subject matter, creating multiple perspectives, and shadows – even considering its form from all sides can help students better grasp how realistic figures should look when drawn from memory.
Sculpture in Relief
Relief sculpture involves carving an object into a flat surface of solid material. When finished, this form stands out against its background and draws the viewer’s gaze. This technique can be used to depict various aspects of human life and events.
Relief sculpture has been practiced for millennia. Examples can be found in ancient Greek art as well as Chinese and Japanese decorative work, often employed to decorate buildings by grouping multiple relief panels together to form friezes that represent procession of figures.
Teaching your students about various forms of sculptures is essential, since they will encounter three-dimensional works throughout their lives. Even if they don’t end up as artists themselves, understanding sculpture as an art form will give them greater appreciation of buildings, cars and other items they use or own.
Relief sculpture is one of the great advantages of relief art: students can use any kind of clay or durable material. Furthermore, relief sculpture allows students to combine science and art techniques. They could take notes on a fish they observe either outdoors or from an aquarium and combine this knowledge of its anatomy with research about fish carving history and techniques to create an imaginary relief sculpture depicting this creature.
Students can explore their artistic skills while practicing relief sculpture on cardboard by creating relief sculptures on it. Students may use acrylic, tempera, or oil paints on their sculptures but it is essential that gesso be applied first so the paint won’t penetrate and start degrading the material.
Your students might benefit from being given a size limitation when creating cardboard sculptures so as not to clutter up your classroom walls. Debi has found that her students fared much better when required to build within certain limits as this requires them to think more critically about what they were creating, rather than simply throwing some mud down and calling it good.