Creating in the style of Andy Goldsworthy (Part I)

We dedicate this post to those who lost their lives and those who are affected by the recent events in Newtown, Connecticut. Our prayers are with them.

The inspiration for this project came from looking and examining the "Land Art" by Andy Goldsworthy. His art was influenced by the American movement of the 1960s. Goldsworthy was aware of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jelly in the Great Salt Lake of Utah and Michael Heizer's Double Negative in Nevada. Goldsworthy's art, however, has an ephemeral character. His works don't last long, and this is the central focus in his art.

We are fortunate that our school is surrounded by beautiful trees. Our nature trail often becomes a site where ideas for projects are born. After learning how nature plays a big part in Goldsworthy's art, we decided to take a walk in our "little forest," and see if we could get an idea for a project by just collecting dead branches. Every student collected dead branches in zip lock bags.  One of the students had an idea of  using the branches to create trees. We all loved the tree idea and proceeded in creating our Goldsworthy trees.

Andy Goldsworthy

Working in separating the branches according to size and thickness  

Students used water colors for

the background paper

Our bodies participated in this project

Some of the thick branches had to be broken using our legs.

Students helping each other in placing and gluing the branches 

 The students who finished first were happy to assist  their fellow artists

(G1,G3) Lines and Shapes in the work of Paul Klee

The students look at the work of the early modernist Paul Klee.

We examined his method of using lines and shapes in his compositions.

I advised the students to follow Paul Klee's statement: "A line is a point taken for a walk".

The students interpreted his work  by creating trees and self-portraits. 

Paul Klee Small Rhythmic Landscape

The artist Paul Klee

(G3) We used rulers to draw the lines inside the tree.

The background lines were based on Paul Klee's statement: "A line is a point taken for a walk".

This student used  rectangular pieces of paper to create the trunk.

I love the way he took his line for a walk. 

Using scarps of paper to create the trunk. 

Paul Klee often used burlap, gauze, cardboard, and metal foils to embellish his work.

This student used scraps of clay for her trunk 

Paul Klee Head of Man

Paul Klee Castle and Sun

(G1) We examined the rendering of lines and shapes in Paul Klee's work.

(G1) Creating in the style of Nancy Azara Part II (The Tree Project)

The students loved the work of the sculptor Nancy Azara and in this project

they created compositions based on her work

Nancy Azara

Nancy Azara

(KG) My Tree (The Tree Project)

For this part of The Tree Project, the students were free to design their own tree.

We reviewed how to use a variety of lines, and we were advised to think of the letter Y when designing the branches.
We used a variety of materials to create these original compositions.