Art 10

Sculpture Unit: Wire Self-Portraits

Art Vocabulary:
Positive space - refers to the subject or areas of interest in an artwork, such as a person's
face or figure in a portrait, the objects in a still life painting, or the trees in a landscape
painting.

Negative space - is the background or the area that surrounds the subject of the work.
A continuous line drawing - is one in which a single, unbroken line is used to develop the
image. Although mostly created as an exercise, many continuous line drawings can stand on their
own as finished works of art.

Sculpture Unit:
Students will learn about:
 Positive and negative space
 Continuous line drawing
 Safe wire use
 Wire sculpture

Positive and Negative Space:

Students will:
 Explore and discuss positive and negative space with your students.
 Discuss about where students might have noticed positive and negative space
in their own lives. For example, objects in their classroom, on company logos,
Tshirts, and other clothing, in advertising, food labels, and children’s books.
Ask them to look at the objects around them in their classroom, such as a desk
or chair, and identify the positive and negative spaces.
 Explore how Carmen Herrera has used shapes and color to create positive and
negative space in her paintings.
 Evaluate Herrera’s painting Iberic, 1949 and Green and Orange, 1958. What
shapes do they notice? Which shapes seems to pop out or recede in space?
Why?
 Experiment with positive and negative space by sketching the objects in their
classroom. If students make sketches, ask them to try drawing only the
negative spaces that surround an object such as a desk or chair. Students could
fill in the negative space by shading with a pencil or use color (e.g. red/green,
blue/orange, yellow/purple, black/white) to define the positive and negative
space in their sketch.
 Green and Orange,
1958
Acrylic on canvas
60 × 72 in
152.4 × 182.9 cm

Artist: Mathilde Roussel-Giraudy. Read more: Feeling Your Absence

Artist: Pejac. Read more: Birds in Flight Emerge from the Negative Space of Broken Windows

A Continuous Line Drawing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q9aTKCpKi0
A continuous line drawing - is one in which a single, unbroken line is used to develop the
image. Although mostly created as an exercise, many continuous line drawings can stand on their
own as finished works of art.

How to draw a continuous line:

1. Once you place your pen or pencil on the surface, do not remove it until the drawing is
complete. Your goal is to describe the subject with one, singular line. It can become
thicker and thinner in areas, but it should never break.
2. Try to move your hand at a similar speed in which you observe the subject with your
eyes. This will help to create more accurate proportions and shapes. But remember,
perfection is not attainable.
3. Do not erase. Leave the imperfections and let them be a human element in your work.
(As humans, we are attracted to artifacts that are clearly made by other humans.)
4. Repeat. Do several drawings in one sitting and try different tools. You may find that you
are more comfortable completing the exercise with a graphite pencil instead of an ink pen
or vice versa.

Things to remember:
 1) The first thing you should recognize is that no drawing will be perfect. With continuous
line drawing, the imperfections will be very clear. However, it is often these very same
imperfections that make the drawings so visually interesting. So, instead of avoiding the
imperfections of the mark, embrace them and allow them to add a bit of character to the
end result.

Suggested Exercise:
Students will be working with their hands has a subject matter.

One subject that is always great to work with is with you all the time - right at the end of your
arms. Your hands are perfect as subjects for drawing because they present an "attainable"
challenge. Plus, they can be configured in endless positions.
For the above exercise, draw your hand from three different positions, but keep the pencil on the
surface throughout the process. Try to draw all three hands with just one line, changing the
positions of your hand while you draw. Remember, it's okay if the proportions become a little
distorted.

Activity:
Wire is a very flexible and versatile art material. Artists often use this material to help support
clay structures, but it may also be used as the main material in an artwork itself. In this lesson we
will examine different wire artists and then use wire to create expressive self-portraits. 
Learning Objectives
Students will:
 learn and practice different shaping techniques for altering the appearance of wire 
 learn how to translate a 2D drawing into a 3D form
 learn about various types of lines as an element of art
 use wire to create a self-portrait that communicates something about themselves.  

Wire Warm Up Exercises

 Exercise 1: Abstract Wire Sculptures
Students will What can you do with a wire? What kind of shapes can you create?

Exercise 2: Playing with Wires

Now that you have gained experience with altering wire with just your hangs, you will practice
shaping wire with the help of a few tools. You will be given a few pieces of wire and some wire
tools. Use these and other materials and experiment with ways to alter the appearance of the
wire. Questions to think about:
1. •How can you make the wire curly, spiraled, curved, wavy or zig-zagged? 
2. •How can you connect the pieces of wire together? 
3. •How can you make sharp or rounded corners?

Here is a website that explains some of the tools used in wire

sculpture: http://www.wire2craft.com/resource.html

Final project:
Students will be constructing a self-portrait using wire that also explores the principle of design:
Pattern and Rhythm.
Here are the project requirements:
1. •The face and hair must be made solely of wire. 
2. •You do not need to use only one piece of wire. Several pieces of wire may be joined
together.
3. •A secondary material may be *judiciously* used on the other parts of the project.
4. •The sculpture should be no less than 17 inches tall.
5. •The sculpture should express something about you. For example, your interests, feelings,
hobbies, culture, experiences, etc.

Step 1: Learning About Wire Sculpture as an Art Form

In order to generate some ideas we will begin by views several examples of work by the
artist, Alexander Calder. We will then compare and contrast his work with portraits created by 
Lisa Fedon.

Step 2: Planning Your Project 

Every great piece of art begins with some sort of idea or concept that the artists wants to convey.
In your sketchbook write a list of things that describe your personality, hobbies, and/or interests.
Choose one of these ideas to serve as the inspiration for your project and begin sketching how
this idea can be visually translated into a wire portrait.

Here are some questions to get you started:

1. •How much of yourself will you show? Will you sculpt your whole body or just your
head and shoulders?
2. •What kind of pose or expression will you have and how does this reflect your idea?
3. •What other material(s) will you use and why are they essential for this project?
4. •How will your project stand?

Step 3: Creating Your Project

Now it’s time to start creating your portrait. Before you jump right in take a second to figure out
where and how will you begin. 

Step 4: Evaluating Your Project

Yay! Your first project is complete! Now it’s time to reflect on your artistic process and learning.
Use the following handout for this step.

Resources:
http://www.artismessy.org/Sculpture/Wire_Self_Portraits.html
https://artwitholiveri.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/wire-self-portrait/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6hatydGt0k
https://artprep.weebly.com/calder-wire-self-portrait.html
https://whitney.org/education/forteachers/activities/115

Required materials:
 Wire
 Pliers
 Tape
 Self-photo
 Sharpie

 Alexander Calder (1898-1976)

Left: George Herman “Babe” Ruth,

Galvanized iron wire, c. 1936, 23.2 x
22.5 x 19.4 cm, © 2010 Calder
Foundation New York / ARS, New York,
Photograph © Calder Foundation, New
York / Art Resource, NY
Right: Jimmy Durante, Wire, 1928,
30.5 x 24.1 x 29.2 cm, The Lipman
Family Foundation, © 2010 Calder
Foundation New York / ARS, New York
YouTube Video on how to create a portrait out of wire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=o6hatydGt0k
Ugo Mulas
Alexander Calder with “Edgar Varese” and “Untitled”, Saché, France, Gelatin silver print, 1963
Courtesy Ugo Mulas Archives