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Kinetic Sculpture





My wonderful Grade 1 artists studied the work of Alexander Calder and made their own kinetic sculptures with fishing line, wire hangers and construction paper.

The guidelines were:
  • shapes had to be organic
  • three colors only
  • shapes on one line had to be the same (could vary in size and color, but they all had to be the same shape)
Shapes were cut two at a time (with paper folded in half) and then glued to a fishing line.  I explained it like we were making sandwiches-- paper was the bread, glue was the mayo/jam/mustard, and fishing line was the cheese. :)

Once they had one line of fishing wire on each corner of the hangers they could make a giant swirl for the middle if they wished.  They also could have made another line of shapes but they were pretty sick of it by then!

There are lots of great videos showing Calder's kinetic art online-- I showed one indoor and one outdoor and then we compared and contrasted them before setting out to create one of our own.

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Comments

  1. Mrs. PApril 16, 2012 at 2:06 PM

    I had planned to do these with my art students on Thursday--I'm so glad I saw your project, now I may tweak it a bit based on your lesson. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Mrs. CApril 18, 2012 at 3:54 PM

    These look very cool! The kids did a great job! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  3. Rina k6art.comApril 18, 2012 at 7:35 PM

    This is the best Calder mobile lesson plan I've see yet - it looks Calder-esque in terms of shape/color choice, but it doesn't require all the balancing adjustments. thanks so much for posting!

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    Replies
    1. KristinApril 21, 2012 at 2:50 AM

      thanks so much rina-- yeah this was my first time doing calder with kids and i think in a large group making the balance adjustments would have been a nightmare!

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  4. Mrs. PApril 20, 2012 at 6:03 AM

    I did this project with my after school Modern Art class--the children loved it! Check them out at: http://createartwithme.blogspot.com/2012/04/alexander-calder-kinetic-sculptures.html

    Thank you so much for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. KristinApril 21, 2012 at 2:49 AM

      Hey Ms P-- your kiddos did a great job! I might live on the edge and let mine do it with 4 colors next time...;)

      Delete
  5. AnonymousApril 29, 2012 at 7:35 AM

    This is fantastic! Calder is so kid-friendly and this seems like a great, age-appropriate way to give 1st graders a chance to explore the wonderful world of sculpture! Thanks so much for posting.

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  6. AnonymousJuly 12, 2013 at 6:41 AM

    This is very nice blogger,Alexander Calder and made their own kinetic sculptures with fishing line, wire hangers and construction paper.Thanks!!

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  7. LarryFebruary 27, 2015 at 1:59 PM

    Where did you get the colored coat hangers from or did you paint them?

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  8. SanDesignsMarch 28, 2016 at 9:24 PM

    Amazed this was done by small children!

    ReplyDelete
  9. SanDesignsMarch 28, 2016 at 9:25 PM

    Amazed this was done by small children!

    ReplyDelete

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