Friday, August 1, 2014

Preschool art inspired by Giacometti's elongated figures

August 1st happens to be the National Swiss Day . So I will take this chance to introduce you to one of the most famous Swiss sculptor and painter : Alberto Giacometti.

Grade Level:  I intended this art lesson for preschoolers and / or kindergartners . It is designed for children with a low attention span .

Material needed : For this project , you will only need :
                                        * Some chenilles or pipe cleaners (whatever you call them)
                                        *  A piece of white paper for each student
                                        * Some glue

Resources: You can find some informations on this Swiss artist and his work online . However let me summarize it a little bit for you .
             Biography : Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor and painter . He was born on October 10 1901 , in a town called Borgonovo , in the Southern part of Switzerland . He was the son of the post-impressionist painter Giovanni Giacometti . He was the oldest of four children . Two of his brothers (Diego and Bruno) will also become artist themselves .
                                  Alberto Giacometti , first studied art at the Fine Art School (Ecole des Beaux-Arts) in Geneva , Switzerland . He then moved to Paris , where he attended the sculpting class of Antoine Bourdelle (an associate of Auguste Rodin ).
                                   Alberto Giacometti is known for his paintings and drawings of slim subjects and his elongated sculptures such as "The three men walking II" (1949)  .
                                   He died in 1966 , in Chur , Switzerland , of heart disease .
                                   He is the face on the bill of 100 Swiss francs .

               Art: Among his work , are the following (that you can show your students) :
                       (1) "L'homme qui marche" ("The walking man" ) which is a life size bronze sculpture . (You can see an image of it on the back of the bill of 100 Swiss francs ).

                       (2) "Les 3 hommes qui marchent " ("The 3 walking men II" ) ,1949 . Another sculpture .

                       Some drawing of his elongated scultpures are :
                       (3) "Sculptures" , 1950
                       (4) "Homme debout" ("Man standing") , 1957 .

Activity : The goal of this activity will be to have the students create a stick-like figure with pipe cleaners and glue it on a piece of white paper.The figure should be "moving" , for example walking , dancing , running , etc.

(1) Each student will be given 2 and a half pipe cleaners , as well as a white paper .
(2) With the first pipe cleaner , the student will make the head by twisting a circle . Like this :


 .
(3) The student will then fold the end of the pipe cleaner to make a foot .
(4) He/she will take the half pipe cleaner to make the second leg . Fold the end of it to create the foot and attach it to the main pipe cleaner by twisting it around the body . Just like this :


(5) He/she will twist the last pipe cleaner around the upper body to make the arms . The student should give it the desired shape so the figure will look like they are dancing , running etc. This one looks like he is trying to catch someone or something :


(6) Once this is done the only thing left to do is to glue the pipe cleaner on the white paper and let it dry .


Tada ! It is finished . It is a very simple project to do with your students . Have fun :)