Lincoln High School

Year 10

Sculpture – Tool subversion: Transformation of the everyday

View student artwork

Context

This unit required students to sculpturally manipulate an everyday object, retaining its essential quality yet transforming it sufficiently to subvert its function.

Students studied simple sculptural interventions in order to work through a logical step-by-step process that would lead to inventive resolutions to the sculptural problem. It was important they had no preconception of what their sculpture would look like until they had investigated different sculptural principles.

Depending on a student’s chosen tool, particular sculptural conventions would be suited to particular objects.

Learning sequence

Students were asked to define what constitutes a ‘tool’. This led to an interesting discussion and allowed for a wider interpretation of everyday objects and their context, which broadened the sculptural possibilities.

Students were introduced to a range of sculptural principles. Visual examples were from artist models like Claes Oldenburg and The Art Guys. These introduced the four selected sculptural principles: scale shift, material shift, rearranged parts, and repetition of form or parts of a form.

Drawing was used as a three-stage thinking process:

• Observational drawings were made that analysed the object’s form from three viewpoints (A3 workbook).
• Ideas were developed that related to the selected four sculptural principles. Students were encouraged to try more than one idea for each principle, at least three per A3 workbook page.
• Students selected their most successful idea and presented sculptural proposals with drawings in charcoal and white conté on A2 grey or brown paper. The drawings followed the construction method, using a box or boxes to set up the structure of the object in basic two-point perspective, and then tonal modelling according to an identified light source.

Each student then made a small-scale sculpture. Most students used a combination of cardboard construction and papier-mâché. Others, especially those who chose ‘materials shift’ as their intervention used a range of materials appropriate to the form or characteristics of the intended sculpture.

Documentation was the final critical component to this project.

It is important that the students have a good photographic record of their work to set them up for more complex future investigations into 3D and 4D working methods. It also provides evidence of learning for future reference as a teaching and learning tool.

The images show one student’s observational drawing and four drawings exploring the sculptural interventions. (This student’s presentation drawing and final work are not shown.) Other images show a selection of drawings and final works.

Curriculum strands and objectives

For curriculum strand relationships and student learning objectives go to Curriculum strands and objectives.