Grade Level: 4th grade & up

 

Project Title: Calder’s Circus

 

Major Idea: Art can be made from anything

 

Resources: Calder’s Circus; by Alexander Calder

(1926-1931). Sandy’s Circus: A story about Alexander Calder, by: Tanya Lee Stone (2008)

The book is about the life of Alexander Calder and the process that lead to his wires sculptures and the circus he made. Alexander did not call himself an artist. This book teaches about confidence in yourself and in your art. Alexander would sit in the stadium of the circus and draw the acts. He would observe movement and draw as many parts of the circus as he could.

 

Medium: Mixed Media; Sculpture

Visual Art Standard: Investigate-Plan-Make

For this assignment, students will need to plan out their project before beginning. Once they have a plan then they should begin investigating the materials available. Play with the materials and mediums to create the final work of art.

4th Grade Investigate: (Anchor Standard 2) Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Explore and invent art-making techniques and approaches.

4th Grade Creating: Brainstorm multiple approaches to a creative art or design program.

4th Grade Plan: Collaboratively set goals and create artwork that is meaningful and has purpose to the makers.  

Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. Analyze the various considerations for presenting and protecting art in various locations, indoor or outdoor settings, in temporary or permanent forms, and in physical or digital formats.

 

Materials/Supplies: Students will need to decide what type of materials they want to include in their circus, whether that be found objects from home, from the classroom or from nature. For this assignment their imagination is the limit.

• Wire

• Paper Mache

• Scissors

• String

• Paint

• Straws

• Paper

• Found Objects

 

Goal of the assignment: Create a whimsical wire sculpture circus or circus act. The students may take creative liberty and design anything they imaginations will let them

 

Activity/Procedures:

Each Student would be making a part of the circus. For the final product, all of their parts will be put together on a display table to create a mini circus.

Ex: One student makes the tent to fit all of the circus acts inside it. One student may choose to make a tight rope act. One may make a lion and an elephant with a rider. Every student comes up with a circus act and then using wire and paper mache brings it to life. A circus PT Barnum himself would show off!

Safety Measures: 4th grade and up only due to tools involved

• Pliers for the wire. Bending and molding the materials. Discuss how to properly and safely mold the wire.

• Safety on hot glue guns: precautions on the heat, how to handle the glue gun properly and safely.

How do you find inspiration in the mundane?

Students will take ordinary objects, mundane things they see everyday and turn it into a circus form their imagination. Each student will decide how they want to install their work, and what size and scale it will be.

The point of creating these circus’s is not to just have a cookie cutter project, but for each student to create their own little world. The sky is the limit with this project. If the student can think it up, then they can add it to their circus. There can be moving parts, painted parts, wire parts, anything goes. They are meant to pull form their imagination and build something that feels as if it could come to life.