Sculpting with the body inspired by Ives Klein, WWF and the Mannequin Challenge

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This workshop was developed in response to discussions with pupils about the mannequin challenge and a surprising number of pupils who followed wrestling.

Working with the idea of inclusion I began to think about how to introduce sculpture and the body.

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Drawing each other whilst doing the mannequin challenge

The first half hour or so was spent drawing each other, pupils paired up and formed groups of 3 taking it in turns to capture the poses that their mannequin made. The drawings were stick figures in order to create quick drawings that didn't result in pupils worrying about likeness.

The idea was to explore the different shapes they could make with their bodies in order to act as inspiration for the next part of the day.

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Generating shapes to sculpt with

On large A0 paper pupils used their bodies as templates to draw around. Contorting into poses - some of which became quite abstract. Once each pairing or group had 10-15 shapes to work with they cut them out.

One side of the paper was then painted, their was two reasons for this; firstly so that when they begin to twist and sculpt the paper the difference between the two sides would help with definition, secondly each school I have worked with has used a different colour which will enable pupils to readily recognise their schools input when the work is displayed. I plan to combine the sculptures for the final exhibition at the Saatchi gallery, having my artistic input included in the project as I sculpt the work together to make one sculptural mass!

 

Sculpting

Whilst the paint dried on the paper, pupils were given wire to practice manipulating a material and thinking about it from a 3D perspective.

Once the paint was dry I introduced various joining and supporting techniques that the pupils could use in order to sculpt with the shapes they had made; staplers, alluminium rod, string, tape, cardboard..

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The pupils all created cohesive and exciting sculptures, including input from all involved. They found it very hard to consider how something looks from 360 degrees, but they stuck with it.