Figure Sculpture Project

Lucia designed and delivered a figure sculpture project for 63 children aged 7-9 at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School in Plumstead, London.

The project ran for seven weeks, during which the children were introduced to many aspects of sculpture as a discipline, including:

• the possibilities of sculpture, especially in terms of materials and scale

• the figure as a subject

• Abstract art in relation to the figure

• types of sculptural display

The groups explored these themes through discussing examples of figure sculpture, from Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ to the hyper-realistic sculptures of Ron Muek. They were taught about proportion through drawing and measuring, and encouraged to expand their knowledge of material possibilities by experimenting with paper in unconventional ways.

The children were then taken through the process of constructing a sculpture over a number of weeks: first drawing, then building a wire armature - using the x-ray of Degas’ sculpture ‘Little Dancer’ to understand that sculptures need structure. Once their armatures were made, they added volume to the skeleton with paper and tape, then paper maché, and finally painted their figures with dark and metallic paints to give a metal effect.

The classes were also introduced to the idea of Abstract art, with particular focus on the work of Henry Moore, and made ‘Mini-Moore’ abstract sculptures with salt dough.

The project also addressed the display of artwork, considering that sculpture can be presented within a landscape in a rural or urban environment, indoors, with or without a plinth and information card. Each child was asked to imagine how they would like their sculpture to be displayed and drew a picture to show the imagined context for their work.