5/6 Contour Wire Self-portraits - 2018/19

Artist Alexander Calder, known as Sandy, was born into a long line of sculptors on July 22, 1898. He constructed objects from a very young age, his first art tool was a pair of pliers. At the age of 8, he was creating jewelry for his sister’s dolls from beads and copper wire. Calder was the first artist to use wire to create three-dimensional line “drawings” of people, animals and objects in an Expressionist style. The Expressionist movement in art took place from 1900-1925. It was a style in which artists, poets and musicians conveyed emotion and meaning rather than reality. Each artist had their own unique way of expressing their emotions in their art. In order to express emotion, the subjects are often distorted or exaggerated. created from emotion and distorted reality. Calder also was the first artist to create mobiles after his work with his Expressionist style. reality. He died on Nov. 11, 1976.

5/6 students created their own contour line self-portraits by working with wire over a photograph of themselves. Like blind contour drawing, these wire sculptures have an abstract look due to the characteristics of the wire.