Heart and sole.

What kind of well-rounded sculpture program can you offer middle school students when you do not have a ceramic kiln in your artroom? For me, the answer involved using available resources. I have always liked using recycled materials and everyday objects in my artroom. I believe in teaching students the importance of using our resources responsibly and to explore all the possibilities of creating with recycled materials and found objects.

The Art Problem

This lesson involves using shoes and various other found objects to create self-portraits. The desired learning outcomes from this lesson are a clear expression of personality, and evidence that the principles of design have been applied. The artworks can easily be completed within one week.

Materials

old shoes, objects from home, glue guns, metallic spray paint, large cardboard boxes for spray booth.

Preparation

Ask students to bring in an old shoe they have outgrown that they think best represents them (tennis shoes, skateboard shoes, cowboy boots, cleats, dance shoes, etc.). Knowing that not all students will be able to bring in their own shoes, you might start collecting shoes from thrift stores and staff members. For the small found objects that will tell the personal story, remind students that whatever they bring in will be altered by spray paint. Tell them that the size of the objects in relation to the shoe is an important part of the design. Require students to bring objects from home for three days, and give bonus points toward the evaluation for each day students bring something in.

Guiding Artistry

Discuss symbolism and how objects can represent memory, a hobby, important events, or things we like. Review the principles of design and discuss how variation, balance, and repetition are important in the design of a sculpture. I recommend doing a teacher prototype and sharing your symbolism with students, as well as how the principles of design are used. Remind students that a sculpture should be viewed from all sides, and balanced with the application of objects.

Ask students to list ten of their objects and what the objects symbolize that is personally meaningful. Require students to turn in their lists and show their collection of at least twenty objects before they can begin to glue them to the shoe. Stress the importance of planning the layout of the design rather than random gluing.

When students have completed gluing on all of the objects with a glue gun, they spray the entire shoe with metallic paint.

Helpful Tips

* Spray paint outdoors.

* Place the shoe inside a large cardboard box.

* Use a long stick to rotate the shoe to get full paint coverage.

* Help students transport the sprayed shoed to a drying space.

* Wear rubber gloves and use a scrap piece of wood large enough to carry the shoe.

* Some rubber materials take a long time to dry, so count on waiting at least a week before handling again.

Assessment and Presentation

This is a perfect art problem for self-evaluation. Create a rubric with the principles of design and have students evaluate themselves on each area of design including how well their shoe and objects represent themselves. In calculating the grade, be sure to include the bonus points earned for bringing in objects.

Display the shoes on multilevel tiers of various-size boxes covered with a black cloth. The metallic color really stands out against the black.

WEB LINK

www.sculpture.org

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of their ideas.

Kari Stump is an art instructor at Bayfield Middle School in Durango, Colorado. [e-mail]