Monday, February 18, 2013

7th grade 3D- Romero Britto Animal Sculpture

7th grade 3-D students finished up their clay cupcakes and were eager to begin their next project. We looked at the artwork of pop artist, Romero Britto. Britto is a painter and sculptor from Brazil who creates light-hearted, happy artwork using simple shapes, bright colors and lots of patterns. He took inspiration from Matisse and Picasso.




 Students looked at his artwork of animals and decided to create their own animal sculpture. Using Styrofoam, they created large shapes for the body. They had the option to create flat sculptures or make some parts of it rounded.





 After they created their form, it was time to plaster! We used PlastrCraft strips to completely cover the sculpture, making sure to smooth out all of the holes as best as we could. This would make painting easier.








 
After the plaster was dry, students went in and added thick, black outlines around their sculpture using sharpie or black paint.



Finally, it was time to paint! I really gave them a lot of freedom with the paint. As long as they had areas of solid color and patterns, they could do what they pleased. I reminded them to paint crisp edges and smoothly.
Here are some of them so far













36 comments:

  1. These are Awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing!

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    1. You can also use das air dying clay by cutting the shape on greaseproof paper then using pva glue to attach. It can be moulded further from there

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  2. These are fantastic! I may borrow this idea if I can find styrofoam within my budget.

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  3. Yes, where did you get the styrofoam?!?!?! Awesome lesson! Starting Junior High next year after teaching (K)1st-6th the past 10 years!!!

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  4. we order our styrofoam from school specialty

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  5. Yikes! How much does that cost?

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  6. And what is it specifically called... I am looking at "carving foam" and it is a different product, more for relief. I just want something inexpensive that, like this, will hold up to being shaped around the outside & layered to create dimension.

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  7. What is the styrofoam called exactly? I could only find blocks.

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    1. https://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10206&item=495270

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Did you hot glue the pieces together? Did you give them a 12 x 18 piece of paper for the template/design and say sort of stick to this size for the initial body. Then traced it on pre-cut foam piece. Love these! I do a similar project but with Keith Haring Sculptures. Might try this one to mix it up!

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    1. We hot glued sparingly (hot glue melts the styrofoam), We also used elmers glue and toothpicks. Once the elmers glue dries, it holds pretty strong. I didn't give them paper for the template but that would have been a good idea. We just drew directly onto the styrofoam with sharpie.

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  10. What did you use to cut them out? Are your students allowed to use exactos?

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    1. My students are allowed to use xacto knives but we used Styrofoam saws

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  11. Hi, I guess one of your artwork is stolen and selling on Amazon right now, Check it out here.

    http://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Watkins-Pillowcase-Standard-Present/dp/B012FSNJN4/ref=sr_1_78?m=A1EJ5QYGNCH28S&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1450887054&sr=1-78&refinements=p_4%3APillowcase

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  12. Way COOL!!!
    I was wondering if you could use paper mache in lieu of plaster casting strips? I am going to crunch my budget number to see if I can make this work w/ my kids. Thanks you & any other tips would be graciously accepted.

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    1. You could totally use paper mache. I have used it before. I tend to like how the plaster looks a little better but paper mache works well, too.

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    2. You could totally use paper mache. I have used it before. I tend to like how the plaster looks a little better but paper mache works well, too.

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    3. Hello Kaitlyn,
      I was wondering what size styrofoam you gave each student? What size did you limit the base to?
      Would you recommend using gesso as a primer before getting the kids to paint?

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    4. I tried to limit the kids to one piece of Styrofoam for the base. If their sculpture was too large for that, I let them use a second piece.
      We did not gesso before painting because our sculptures were already white from the plaster but you could.

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  13. YOU ROCK! I love this idea and am using it! I have taught art for a long time and have all the material to do it! I just love these! Such an inspiration!!!! Thank you!
    Lisa

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  14. HOw many weeks did this project take??

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    1. From designing to building to plastering and painting, probably about 2.5-3

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  15. This project is amazing! Question about amount of foam you ordered...About how much did you average each student to use? I have 90 students total.

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    1. I would plan for about 4 pieces per kid. Not every kid will use that much and some might use a little more. Teach the kids to draw their shapes on the edges of the styrofoam so that you don't end up with a lot of waste and I had a bin of scrap for kids who needed smaller pieces.

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    2. Wow, great project! When you said to plan for about "4 pieces per kid." Do you mean you gave each student 4 pieces of the 1 x 12 x 36 styrofoam sheet at $7.80 a sheet? I'm hoping you cut down each one of those sheets and then gave it to the students? Please advise. Thank you!

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    3. The pieces they got were more like 1x6x12. They are a few dollars per piece. You could use cardboard and newspaper if you needed a cheaper solution.

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    4. 9r give them less foam and have them work smaller

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  16. I was wondering where you ordered your styrofoam from and plaster trips? I have about 120 students. Any suggestions or guidance for this project would be greatly appreciated. You can always email me at curcioartroom@gmail.com Thank you in advance looking forward to talking with you more about this!!!

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  17. HI there,I am about to try out this lesson. I thought I would share that I am using pink insulation foam sheets from Home Depot. The kids will draw out the shapes they want cut out and then I have a foam cutting tool that is essentially a long metal needle that heats up. I will using this tool but it slices through the foam very easily. The one I bought was $13 on amazon. And the foam insulation sheets are huge. They cost $14 but you can get a ton of students on one sheet.

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  18. Hey do you have any video of when these were being made?

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  19. Suzan Ibrahim /Dubai
    It is an amazing idea for big unit.thank you for sharing

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