GROW at the Nasher

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Metal Magic Tour, Part Three

We began our next stop by sketching this sculpture:

What does this sculpture look like to you? Does it remind you of anything? Students considered these questions, and altered their drawings to enhance and demonstrate what the sculpture looked like to them. Some examples include a volcano, a melting elephant, and different kinds of food.

2nd grade

3rd grade

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5th grade

The artist Lynda Benglis began her career as a painter, but she wasn't interested in creating paintings on canvas that hung on the wall. So she began to experiment with pouring latex paint directly on the floor.

Lynda Benglis pouring paint

She allowed the corner to shape the painting below, titled Corner.

Corner Piece by Lynda Benglis

Benglis also created sculptures with polyurethane foam. First she mixed pigment with resin, then added another ingredient that causes it to foam. Much like the artwork above, she pours the polyurethane directly into the corner, where the foam swells and hardens.

Untitled by Lynda Benglis

Quartered Meteor, currently on view at the Nasher, was cast in bronze from a foam sculpture like the one above.

4th grade

5th grade

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Metal Magic Tour, Part Two

We visited this really big sculpture at our next stop. How would you describe this sculpture? How is it similar to and different from Rush Hour?

2nd grade

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Can you recognize what kind of materials the artist used to make this sculpture? Mark di Suvero used circular steel pieces and steel I-beams, which are usually used as construction materials. The long I-beams stretch out from the circles in cantilevers, kind of like an extended overhanging roof on a house or other building.

We used our bodies again to recreate the long lines and circles of this sculpture!

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Metal Magic Tour, Part One

During our final tour of the year, we explored sculptures made of metal.

Vocabulary:

cast / molde

cantilever / la viga

pigment / el pigmento

assemblage / el montaje de arte

homage / homenaje

So many things are made of metal - big things, small things, smooth things, sharp things. Each student thought of something cool or important made of metal. What comes to mind for you? Students named items such as a fork, spoon, knife, car, robot, refrigerator, earrings, necklace, and a rocket ship.

2nd grade

4th grade

A lot of artists make sculptures out of metal, using different kinds and different methods. We studied the sculpture below at our first stop. What are these people doing? How would you describe their expressions?

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To help bring the sculpture to life, students took the pose and facial expression of one of the figures.

3rd grade

4th grade

Next, everyone received a drawing of the sculpture. We imagined how these people might be feeling or what they could be thinking. After adding thought bubbles for a person or two, we shared our ideas with a partner.

2nd grade

3rd grade

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5th grade

Grayson - 2nd grade

Zoey - 2nd grade

Oliver - 2nd grade

Alessandra - 3rd grade

Sidney - 3rd grade

Ingrid - 4th grade

Mia - 4th grade

Willa - 5th grade

The artist, George Segal, named this sculpture Rush Hour. He did not say whether this is morning or evening rush hour. Do you think it's morning or evening? Why do you say that?

George Segal made these sculpture by first making impressions of his friends and family using plaster bandages - the same kind that doctors use to make casts for broken bones. He dipped the bandages into water, which mixed with the powdered plaster. Next he wrapped his models' legs, then their torsos, and finally their faces with the bandages. After it hardened, Segal carefully removed the dried plaster, which retained a detailed impression of the person (imagine Playdoh and the way it retains the shape of an object that is pressed into it). These plaster molds were then used to cast the sculpture out of bronze, as we see in Rush Hour.