Collaborative Site Sculpture

Have you ever considered bringing in a community artist to help your students design and build a site sculpture? I did, and it was a huge success! Here are a few tips to help get you started.

Finding an Artist
First, consider the local artists in your community who can help you pull something like this off. A few years ago, a colleague told me about an Atlanta-based site sculptor, Jeff Mather, who works with schools. I reached out to Jeff early on to get the specifics on how to make this event a reality. A few important questions were: How much? How long? and How many students could participate?

Jeff was part of our Georgia Teaching Artist Registry, so that might be a great place to begin your search in your state, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, Jeff can travel.

Collecting Funds
Next, I talked with my school administration about the funds and the location of the final sculpture. Then I searched for ways to fund this project. I was fortunate in that I won a Woodruff Arts Teacher award; I used that money to get us started and our amazing PTA paid for the rest of it. Next, I gathered my National Art Honor Society students and asked them if they wanted to be the “design team,” and they were beyond excited to get started.

Selecting a Theme
I tend to be a theme-based kind of teacher, so I wanted this sculpture to have a theme. We chose to dedicate the sculpture to my son, Croy, who had passed away due to medical error. Croy was an avid surfer and a lover of all things having to do with the ocean, so that inspired my students to get started on thinking about the design.
Jeff arrived and worked with students, helping them with the necessary steps to design a sustainable outdoor sculpture and to consider the space where the sculpture would be built.

Choosing a Location
My forty participating students walked with Jeff around campus and decided on the space. They took photos from every possible angle, and these photos were copied so students could draw their designs right on the photographs. Students had a few days to create a variety of designs before they voted on the final piece. We ended up combining two designs and building them next to each another.

Materials and Production
Next, we had to consider the best materials to use. We decided to use several high-end wood pieces (such as walnut, mahogany, cedar, and cypress) and metal for adornment. And then the building of the sculpture began!

Students were bubbling with excitement as they worked together and under Jeff’s guidance to find the materials. It’s amazing how much the community came out to help us with this project by donating the wood, metal, and hardware when my students went out and explained what they were doing.

From the creations of the paper templates, to measuring, cutting, sawing, sanding, hammering, and bringing this sculpture to life, students were fully engaged in learning how to make a vision become a reality. They began to consider every aspect of being an artist, a sculptor, a designer, an engineer, and an environmentalist.

Presentation
We finished the piece in two weeks and held a large ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate my students and my son’s memory through this collaboration. We had a plaque created that explained the work. The music department came out to play music, and the community came together through the power of the visual arts once again!

I can’t recommend this experience enough. Today, this beautiful sculpture remains standing and continues to remind us to follow through with our vision no matter how impossible it can often seem.