Manipulating Forms

Students will create a form using casting, carving, and texturing techniques.

This unit has six parts: research and design (designing a project, measuring for materials), mold making (creating the castable form negative), cast form (in foam or plaster), carving the sculpture, treating the surface, and documentation of the finished work (photos, email, reflection, and critique).

Overview Unit Goal

RESEARCH & DESIGN
  • Look at sculptures created by abstract expressionists, contemporary artists, and more to inspire your art making
  • Draw 10 ideas for your non-objective sculpture - be sure to include repetition, negative space, and asymmetry.
CREATE 
  • MOLD - Create a hollow vessel that will be used as a casting mold
  • CAST - Use either foam or plaster to create a positive from your mold
  • CARVE - Carve your sculpture in the round, so every side is interesting and there is no "front" that is more compelling than another side - include repetition, negative space, and asymmetry in your composition
  • TEXTURE - treat the surface with at least three textures (carved, smooth, drawn into wet compound, etc.)
  • SURFACE - consider how to accentuate the continuity around the sculpture by adding surface treatments (flocking, sand, glitter, and/or paint)
DOCUMENT, ANALYZE & REFLECT
  • Document your artwork using professional techniques, with solid colored background, lighting, and cropping
  • Analyze your own work
  • Reflect on the creation process
  • Identify other students' work that you appreciate and figure out why you like theirs more than others

Composition Concepts

  • Repetition
  • Negative Space
  • Asymmetry
  • Variety & Unity
  • In the Round

Technical Skills

  • Mold making
  • Carving
  • Texturing
  • Sanding
  • Painting

Tools & Supplies

  • Mold making materials (cardboard, scissors, Tape, Hot Glue
  • Plaster casting materials (plastic container, plastic bag, mixing stick)
  • Carving materials (whittling knife, rasps, rifflers, ceramic sandpaper, ceramic loops, etc.)
  • Texturing tools (carving tools, sanding handles)
  • Surfacing tools (flocking tube, flock, silicone glue brushes, glue, glitter/sand, paint)

Technical Skill Videos

MOLD
CARVING
TEXTURE

Order of Work

Determine Your Design
  • RESEARCH other artists who have made non-objective or abstract artworks from foam and plaster
  • NOTICE which works of art appeal to you over others and try to determine why you like some better than others
  • DRAW 10+ ideas for your sculpture - these ideas should combine negative space holes, repetition, and asymmetry.
  • Your drawings might guide you, but they aren't a final decision - sometimes carving takes you to new ideas and new decisions. 
Mold Making
  • Using cardboard, plasticized paper, plastic, or other materials you brought from home, create a hollow vessel to use as a casting mold. 
  • Your mold should hold a volume that is bigger than an apple and small enough to fit inside your locker.
Casting
  • Cast your mold with either spray foam or plaster
  • Consider using a plastic bag inside your mold (plaster is wet and will destroy untreated cardboard - foam is sticky and can stick to the cardboard surfaces)
Carving
  • Carve into your form to create a unique sculpture
  • You can use a whittling knife on foam or ceramic tools on plaster.
  • You can use a rasp to file away areas you don't want
  • You can sand parts you want to be smoother.
  • You can carve grooves and details 
  • Your sculpture needs to have at least one negative space hole, repeating visual elements that move your eye around the sculpture, and an asymmetric design 
  • Your sculpture should be interesting to look at from all sides - it should not have a "front" that is more interesting than the rest
  • Your sculpture should sit or stand on a table without falling over (consider adding a wooden base later)
Texture
  • Foam can be covered in joint compound, plaster fabric, or wet plaster prior to texturing to create a more uniform surface
  • Ceramic sandpaper (purple) can be used to create a smooth surface (use smaller numbers to remove a lot and progress to larger numbers to make a smoother and smoother surface - 100s, 200s, 300s, 400s, 600s, etc.)
  • Plaster can be added onto damp plaster without separating (use a water bottle mister to dampen the plaster before adding wet plaster for surface details) You can draw into wet plaster to create endless textured surface treatments
  • Optional: Use texture combs in wet plaster to add uniform raised texture lines
  • Optional: add a base or a stand
Surface
  • Paint your surface using acrylic paint (you can use color to add unity by using only one or two colors that bring everything together - you can use a small amount of a contrasting color to link areas of the composition together and control the eye movement over the piece)
  • Optional: Flock the surface of some parts (looks best on already painted areas since you see through the flock to the surface below) - apply a thin layer of glue using a silicone glue brush, use the flocking tube to float flock over the glue surface, catch unused flock on a piece of paper below your work and put it back with the rest of the flock - let dry for at least 30 mins before touching
  • Optional: Add sand by applying a thin layer of glue (use silicone glue brushes, not paint brushes) and then dust the glue with the sand. Use a piece of paper underneath your work to collect unused sand to put back into the container.
  • Optional: Add glitter by applying a thin layer of glue (use silicone glue brushes, not paint brushes) and then dust the glue with the glitter. Use a piece of paper underneath your work to collect unused glitter to put back into the container.
  • Optional: gloss some areas of your sculpture to add shine to some parts
Documenting
  • PHOTOGRAPH your project (3 photos: Front, Back, Together)
  • Fill out the REFLECTION
  • Present your work to the class during an in-class gallery presentation or Record a VIDEO of your presentation
  • EMAIL an important adult about your work

Research & Design

RESEARCH
  • Research sculptors who have made non-objective, non-representational, free-form sculptures that you like the look of
  • Some famous sculptors you might enjoy learning about are: Henry Moore, Liz Larner, Arlene Shechet, Jean Arp, Isamu Noguchi, Louise Bourgeois, Constantin Brancusi, Louise Nevelson, Barbara Hepworth

DESIGN: 10+ Ideas
  • Draw ten or more ideas for your sculpture
  • Each idea should include interesting negative space (holes), repetition (visual ideas that appear more than three times), and asymmetry (not the same on the left and right sides)
  • That drawings do not have to be amazing feats, they just need to be different and include the three visual criteria above.
Picture
Picture

Mold

  • Using cardboard, plasticized paper, plastic, or other materials you brought from home, create a hollow vessel to use as a casting mold. 
  • Your mold should hold a volume that is bigger than an apple and small enough to fit inside your locker.

Cast

  • Cast your mold with either spray foam or plaster
  • Consider using a plastic bag inside your mold (plaster is wet and will destroy untreated cardboard - foam is sticky and can stick to the cardboard surfaces)
  • Do not wash plaster tools in the sink - use the bucket system

Carve

  • Carve into your form to create a unique sculpture
  • You can use a whittling knife on foam or ceramic tools on plaster.
  • You can use a rasp to file away areas you don't want
  • You can sand parts you want to be smoother.
  • You can carve grooves and details 
  • Your sculpture needs to have at least one negative space hole, repeating visual elements that move your eye around the sculpture, and an asymmetric design 
  • Your sculpture should be interesting to look at from all sides - it should not have a "front" that is more interesting than the rest
  • Your sculpture should sit or stand on a table without falling over (consider adding a wooden base later)

Texture

  • Foam can be covered in joint compound, plaster fabric, or wet plaster prior to texturing to create a more uniform surface
  • Ceramic sandpaper (purple) can be used to create a smooth surface (use smaller numbers to remove a lot and progress to larger numbers to make a smoother and smoother surface - 100s, 200s, 300s, 400s, 600s, etc.)
  • Plaster can be added onto damp plaster without separating (use a water bottle mister to dampen the plaster before adding wet plaster for surface details) You can draw into wet plaster to create endless textured surface treatments
  • Optional: Use texture combs in wet plaster to add uniform raised texture lines
  • Optional: add a base or a stand

Surface

  • Paint your surface using acrylic paint (you can use color to add unity by using only one or two colors that bring everything together - you can use a small amount of a contrasting color to link areas of the composition together and control the eye movement over the piece)
  • Optional: Flock the surface of some parts (looks best on already painted areas since you see through the flock to the surface below) - apply a thin layer of glue using a silicone glue brush, use the flocking tube to float flock over the glue surface, catch unused flock on a piece of paper below your work and put it back with the rest of the flock - let dry for at least 30 mins before touching
  • Optional: Add sand by applying a thin layer of glue (use silicone glue brushes, not paint brushes) and then dust the glue with the sand. Use a piece of paper underneath your work to collect unused sand to put back into the container.
  • Optional: Add glitter by applying a thin layer of glue (use silicone glue brushes, not paint brushes) and then dust the glue with the glitter. Use a piece of paper underneath your work to collect unused glitter to put back into the container.
  • Optional: gloss some areas of your sculpture to add shine to some parts

Things to Consider

  • ​Your sculpture should be interesting from all views - consider continuing a carved line or surface around the sculpture to blur the distinction between sides or faces
  • Plaster carves best a bit damp, so you might want to keep it in a plastic bag until you are done carving. But, adding fine textures work best when it is fully dry
  • You can add plaster to damp or wet plaster but not to dry plaster - so add water to dry plaster to moisten it, if you are going to add a coat of plaster on top
  • If you used foam, consider joining different foam parts together using skewers prior to texture and surface treatments
  • Negatives spaces and repeated visual motifs will help connect areas of the sculpture together and make it feel more cohesive

Wood Animal Ideas

4 Photos of your Sculpture

  • Use a solid background (no distracting lines, shadows, table, or other stuff) like the photo cube
  • Use quality lighting (soft shadow from artwork only)
  • Photo should be in focus, with artwork centered
  • One photo from the front, side, back, and/or 3/4, plus best detail
  • Four photos in total
  • Crop each photo so there is a small amount of space around the sculpture, but no sides of the photo cube are visible

Email an Image of Your Project

Grading Criteria