Calder inspired Pipe Cleaner Sculptures

We've moved to sculpture in our coop art class.  It's always my favorite part since that's my background.  We looked at the sculptures of Alexander Calder, primarily the stabiles.

I provided three slides of very different works in class as samples.

Flamingo, image source:  Wikipedia

Fish mobile, image source:  Hirshhorn Museum

57th Stabile, image source:  Pace Gallery

The materials the students were provided were florists foam, pipe cleaners, and colored paper.  We talked about each of these sculptures and then focused on what style of working that would translate to with the materials on hand.  So the Flamingo has a lot of mass on one side with sections that reach out and touch the ground (foam with pipe cleaners dominating one side).  The Fish doesn't even have a base and could inspire other hanging work (all pipe cleaners and colored paper). The 57th stabile has a prominent base with elements almost floating above it (using all the materials provided).

The students were provided regular table knives for carving their florist foam if they wanted.  Scissors were provided for cutting the pipe cleaners as well as colored paper.  The colored paper was provided for adding sections of mass to the pipe cleaners.  If you cut out two mirror image pieces, and glue them together with the pipe cleaner in the middle, it expands the possibilities.

The students had fun with this project and came up with a great diversity of sculptural forms.

For more information on Alexander Calder and his stabiles check out these sources:

Artsology, L'Homme Sculpture

The Calder Foundation

National Gallery of Art, Vertical Constellation with Bomb virtual tour or kids publication, Inside Scoop

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