Wonderful Wire Figure: A Playful take on Alexander Calder’s Circus.

Alexander Calder’s playful wire circus and performance art is a fun introduction to a wire sculpture lesson.  I like to do this with 4th grade, but it can certainly be applied to any upper grade level. 

To begin this lesson:

I always read “Sandy’s Circus” by Tanya Lee Stone.  The illustrations are gorgeous and the kids are always captivated by the story.  I highly recommend this one! In addition to this book, I have a slideshow of Calder’s circus on hand to show to students his work, followed by a class discussion. Check out imagery of his work on the Whitney’s website.

After the story, I have the kids volunteer to practice poses to help them figure out which pose/gesture they would like to use for their Alexander Calder inspired wire sculpture.  I may throw out something like “I need a volunteer to strike a pose that shows a person hitting a baseball”.  Other times I have the kids volunteer their own pose.  From here, I’ll give them a simple worksheet with space to brainstorm and sketch.  When choosing their pose, I encourage them to make their choice based on a personal interest or talent. 

Second Session:

In the beginning of this class, we’ll do a quick recap on the art of Alexander Calder. I will also do a demonstration so that the students will see how to create their figure using wire.  I personally prefer to use Twisteez wire.  I’m not affiliated with them, but I have had great success using their wire in class. Their website has lots of great wire lessons. They have a lesson on how to create a figure on their website.  I show the kids something very similar, but have them thicken their figures with additional wire.  They also enjoy adding outfits and accessories that tie into their chosen theme.  An easy way to display the sculptures and to stand them up is to staple them to a piece of railroad board.

Potential third session:

If you would like, you can have the students create a 3D paper sculpture of a room for the figure to be placed in.  In addition, the students can either hand draw details or use cut paper features.  

For more sculpture inspiration, check out my 10 Engaging Elementary Clay Lessons that Your Art Students Will Love blog post.

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