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Teacher Education in Art for Primary Schools - draft

- 1 - TTNTC - Kirsten Fugl

What I hear, I forget

What I see, I remember

What I do, I understand

Sculpture

A thematically based arts process modelled in clay



Modelling in CLAY

From simple letters to images

The words OBULU and PEPITI are written on the blackboard and you will have to answer the

following questions:

What shape does an OBULU have?

What shape does a PEPITI have? Try to make or draw them.

What sound do they have? Try to make the sound of an OBOLU and then of a PEPITI.

Try to get up and move like an OBOLU and then like a PEPITI.

What colour do they each have?

What temperament do an OBULU and a PEPITI have?

What temperature do an OBOLU and a PEPITI have?

If an OBOLU was an instrument what instrument would it be? What would a PEPITI be?

Make up more questions as you go along.

Let the OBOLU meet the PEPITI and see what happens…

Tip!

It is important that the teacher activate and stimulate the children/students very much in this

process.

What is the connection between words and images?

Why do we get more or less the same images when hearing these words?

Aims/ objectives

The teacher will:

Outcomes

At the end of this element the students will be

able to:

Stimulate the curiosity, imagination and

creativity of the students

Generate enthusiasm and an aesthetic

feeling of art before practicing

Stimulate the students’ memory of

visual, tactile and kinaesthetic

perceptions.

Create imagination related to abstract

concepts

Relate concrete experiences to abstract

words

Use well-known experiences in a new

context



From fantasy to modelling in clay

Exercise

This three-dimensional exercise will train the students’ perception through working with clay.

You need a piece of cardboard, a piece of paper to put on the cardboard and two lumps of clay, each

by the size of an orange.

One of you will model for the rest of the class and pretend to be an OBULU.

All of you will sit in a circle and look at your “model”. Please note that it is very hard to stand still

for more than five minutes, so work very fast.

You have 5 minutes to model a piece of clay in the shape of the OBULU you are looking at.

Then another child/student “is” a PEPITI and the rest of the class models their second piece.

Each student - except the two “models” - has 2 figures.

The “models” have a new chance as another student goes into the middle of the circle and moves

into the position of an OBOLU. In this way everyone can keep working on and improving their

little OBOLU sculpture.

After 5 minutes another student assumes the position of a PEPITI. Everyone works on their PEPIPI

sculpture until both figures are as good and nuanced as you want them.

Aims/ objectives

The teacher will:

Outcomes

At the end of this element the student/child will

be able to:

Foster the ability of the students to

observe body positions and expressions

of the body.

Develop the capacity of sensing masses.

Understand the beauty of the modelled

figures.

Generate enthusiasm and high spirits

among the students.

Understand the ways of modelling

postures and body shapes related to

different movements.

Express their knowledge in the language

of masses.

Model and shape simple figures.



From modelled figures to a tableau

After finishing your two figures you bring them into interaction while they are drying.

Key Questions might help the child/student to develop a story with the figures and support

the story with items.

Who are they?

Are they adults or children?

What are they doing?

What is your story?

You go outside and spend 5-10 minutes finding at least five objects/items they can use to tell your

story about your figures. You may use anything you find in the nearby surroundings.

Now you pair up and arrange your 4 figures along with the objects you have found on a table in a

tableau, - a scenic storytelling – that illustrates what happens between the figures.

What are their roles?

What is their relationship?

Aims/ objectives

The teacher will:

Outcomes

At the end of this element the student will be

able to:

Stimulate the students to add

personification to their figures.

Stimulate the students to arrange the

figures into a chosen content/story.

Promote the creativity of the students.

Create a story within the frame work of

a tableau.

Use and combine found items with

available figures into an communicative

and creative story.



From a tableau to a presentation

The students have 15 minutes to come up with a story and arrange it. In the end each pair of

students has 3 minutes to present their tableau and story to the others.

This part is very important because it will train the child/student in talking in front of larger crowds

and teach him/her to communicate verbally about the products he/she has made.

Aims/ objectives

The teacher will:

Outcomes

At the end of this element the student/child will

be able to:

Stimulate the students to turn from

verbal language to the language of

masses and visa versa.

Challenge the students to understand and

perceive the variety in constructions and

compositions.

Stimulate the students to understand and

to interpret the content of the stories.

Challenge the students to communicate

and share their experiences.

Arrange for an optimal environment for

the students to present their work at an

exhibition.

Combine the items and the figures into a

clear communicative expression by

means of various items, materials and

text.

Reflect and interpret the content of the

story of the tableau.

Use a verbal interpretation of the

language of sculpture to describe their

tableau

Understand the language of sculpture



Tip! You might use this four side model for reflection on the outcome.

Media

Material/Technique

What material is relevant?

Content

Idea/Topic

What is the story about?

Function

How do others understand

your message?

Formal Aspects

How is the expression

composed?

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