Manipulating paper to create small sculptures
Figure 4: Gentenaar, P. Ethereal paper sculpture, from Abbey church of Saint-Riquier in northern France. Retrieved from: http://inhabitat.com/peter-gentenaars-stunning-paper-sculptures-soar-through-the-air-like-flying-jellyfish/peter_gentenaar_paper_sculpture_9/
Making Peter Gentenaar- style paper in the grade six classroom...
Australian Curriculum for Assessment and Reporting Authority strand:
MAKING:
In making, students draw ideas from other artists, artworks, symbols systems, and visual art practises in other cultures, societies and times, to assist them in the creation of their art works. Students present their artworks in a variety of ways to engage an audience. They learn that audiences have different viewpoints about artworks and that many artists design their artworks in ways that determine how an audience responds. They can reflect on their artworks and adjust them to enhance meaning.
Students use visual arts language to explain processes and aesthetic choices in their artworks. They make connections between their own art making and that of other artists and develop awareness of the role of visual arts professions in society.
General capabilities:
- Critical and creative thinking
- Personal and social capability
Cross- curriculum priorities:
Sustainability: exploring the qualities of materials that impact on the environment by selecting resources, considering their potential for recycling. (Paper focus)
In The Arts, the sustainability priority provides engaging and thought-provoking contexts in which to explore the nature of art making and responding.
Learning Outcome(s)/Standard(s):
Achievement standard: By the end of Year 6, students use skills, processes, materials and technologies to create and display visual arts works. They plan, reflect upon, refine and document their visual arts
ideas and processes. Students identify practices and viewpoints and their inter-relationship in visual arts works they view. They make connections between their own and others’ artworks using visual arts terminology.
Students create and explain a range of visual arts works, considering and respecting cultural practices, ethical
responsibilities and the sustainable use of resources
Students focus on the properties of natural and man-made materials to explore how they can be manipulated or
changed for visual effect.
Outcomes:
Students make judgments about their own visual arts practice and the representations of other's (peers and professionals).
Students will make their own paper, mirroring the method and material use of Peter Gentenaar in creating his sculptures. Students will develop an understanding of how paper can be manipulated into 3-D form.
Indicators
Students follow the process used by Gentenaar in creating paper
Students use the same materials as Gentenaar (the colour of the paper produced may be different)
Students are able to manipulate the paper making process to create an overall 3-D effect. Students can describe/ comment on what makes the produced sculptures 3 dimensional.
Assessment: Criteria
Photo story- students take a picture of each stage of the process involved in making Gentenaar’s paper structures. Students comment on their success/ feelings in meeting the outcomes directly beneath each photo as it is taken. These will be displayed on coloured card and draped over string in the classroom.
Paper sculpture produced shares features similar to those of Peter Gentenaar as a result of using the same tools- paper is thin and has shrunk appropriately in creation.
The paper produced has an overall curled effect, making it 3 dimensional. Paper is not too thick, not too thin.
Background to the learning:
Students have briefly looked at what techniques can be used in order to create something that is 3 dimensional. By this stage, they have a good understanding of the work undertaken by Peter Gentenaar and the paper making process. Students have looked at Peter Gentenaar’s life and the importance of artistic intention in analyzing works.
Lesson Resources:
Wooden frames (paper mould)
A large stack of recycled paper
Blender
Warm water
A tub
White felt or fabric
Dye
Vacuum or suctioning tool
Content of Lesson:
A. Introduction _5_ mins
Handmade paper video. Retrieved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJp8-SHqIZs
B. Development _10_ mins
Students gather the materials needed to begin the paper- making.
Students wear smock/ protective clothing to eliminate chance of mess/ damage to clothing.
Tables are cleared for student working space.
Teacher prepares the pulp by using the blender and warm water.
C. Consolidation and Practice _20_ mins
Students make the paper.
- Fill a blender or food processor with recycled paper ripped into bits.
- Fill with warm water and blend until the mixture looks smooth.
- Fill half-full of water, the large tub
- Add enough pulp to fill the paper mould
- Stir the pulp, put the mould into the tub, screen-side-up, and move it around until an even amount of pulp settles on the screen.
- Lift the mould out of the water, wait for it to stop dripping, and put it onto a piece of white felt/ fabric so the new paper is on the fabric and the mould can be lifted off later.
- Sponge away excess liquid.
- Lift off the mould, allowing the wet paper to stay on the fabric. If the paper sticks to the mould, keep sponging water off.
- Remove bubbles and keep pressing out water.
- Hang out to dry.
- To create paper sculpture, keep paper drying for longer than necessary, suctioning the water out of the pulp mix with a drying device, giving the fibres a chance to shrink and create a 3D effect for the paper
D. Closure __5__ mins
“What did you notice about the paper as you waited for it to dry?”
“Why do you think this happened?” (why did it shrink like this?)
Produced by: Kasey Edema. 2013. Copyright.