5th Grade Sculptures ala Alberto Giacometti

This is yet another very cool project that my student teacher came up with and taught. As she was first exploring my room and seeing what kind of supplies I had, she saw that I had quite a bit of something called Sculptamold. It is a mix of paper pulp and plaster that is mixed with water into a paste to be added to an armature. Honestly, it has been sitting around since before the time I started teaching here at Thomas. I've looked at it curiously many times, but I've never come up with something to do with it. After doing a little bit of brainstorming for a sculpture project, Mrs. Heimlich decided to do a project based on the work of the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Giacometti is most widely known for his sculptures of very elongated, thin figures like the picture to the right.


After several attempts at a demonstration piece, Mrs. Heimlich noticed that the weight of the figure made it really difficult to get it to stand up. Giacometti also did sculptures of dogs and cats, so she decided that is what the students should make. They stand up on their own and don't require a base. Score! After the sculptures were dry, they were painted black to match Giacometti's work.


This project turned out really well and I'm considering doing it again next year. It is one of those projects that nearly every student does really well with. 


Download Mrs. Heimlich's very long lesson plan here!