First Grade Giacometti

We started this project by doing practice drawings, using the maneqins. The students posed the mannequin and then practiced drawing the basic shapes of the body (lots of ovals) and working on basic proportion. We talked about how the head is smaller than the torso, the leg is larger than the arm, etc.

For this project, we had 2 choices.

The first choice that the students had was making a sculpture. I gave each child a piece of aluminum foil. They cut the foil (Foil armature) and then wadded the foil up to create a basic human figure. They covered the figure with tape and then attached it to a cardboard base.

They used plaster strips to completely cover the figure. Once it was dry, they painted it with tempera paint and then used a contrasting color to add patterns.

The second choice for this project was a collage. The students created a background paper by dripping liquid watercolors onto the page. They used a straw to blow the paint around the paper, filling the page from top to bottom and side to side.

Then they cut out the basic shapes of the human body and glued them on, using either warm or cool colors.

The figures were decorated by using hole punches and scissors to cut out a variety of lines.

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