MIDDLE SCHOOL

Lea.

Brigid Horgan

I have a hard time saying “no” when people ask to donate unused materials to my classroom. Finding myself overwhelmed by all of the extra paper, packaging material, and fabric scraps that I donʼt have the storage space for, I decided it was time to have my students create with it, which brought to mind the soft sculptures of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

Local Connections
Our school is located near San Francisco, so several of my middle schoolers have seen Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s Cupid’s Span on the Embarcadero, as well as Corridor Pin, Blue at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.

As an introduction to this unit, I created art cards with photos of a variety of these two artists’ large-scale sculptures of everyday objects with accompanying facts (title, location, media, date created, etc.) and had students investigate and discuss the sculptures of their choice. We also talked about how an ordinary object can embody the various principles of design and whether or not the objects themselves could be considered art.

Students faced spatial, proportional, and engineering challenges throughout the process, and they often stepped up to help one another.

Thematic Pursuit
At the beginning of the semester, I have my eighth-graders each select a theme to pursue for the entire course to help eliminate artistʼs block along the way and encourage them to think creatively within one topic/field of study. For this project, students had to think of an object that in some way relates to their theme. We reviewed the concept of “sculpture in the round” and how Oldenburg and van Bruggen made objects look visually interesting from all sides while also being self-supporting and in proportion.

Constructing Soft Sculptures
I showed students some of the artists’ soft sculptures, such as Floor Burger and Soft Fur Good Humors, and shared our supply of various donated paper, foam, cardboard, and fabric to further inspire them.