In middle school art, we finished off the 2011-2012 school year with what turned out to be one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done with my students. We learned about the whimsical and dynamic work of Frank Stella and created assemblages inspired by the actions, movements, and energy of a sporting event. It was wonderful to see the many different sports represented, and their artistic interpretations expressed.
Frank Stella has certainly become one of my favorite artists over the years. As an art teacher, his work is a great teaching point at any grade level when working with shapes and forms.
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The new art room was still under construction, and this project required a large amount of room for production. So, we moved our efforts down to the basement and took over the full space for the last month of school. We did our best to keep the mess under control… but it was near impossible to keep paint and glue off the floor and maintain an orderly pile of scraps under the stairwell.
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Certainly, this is the largest piece that any student has created in one my of classes. His depiction was of a golf swing, and it covers the area from floor to ceiling, which measures out to at least 12 feet. We actually had to modify his project because it was originally too big for the wall.
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Love the use of texture in this project… the picture here doesn’t do it any justice. The artist used broken pieces of cd’s and various methods of mark making with acrylic paint throughout for a dramatic feel. The scene looks like what Stella would have come up with if he had created a piece based on the city of Shanghai.
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All of these examples are a small percentage of the many great pieces the students created. Not only was it one of my favorite projects, but it was also one of the most successful. I can realistically expect to get about a 75% success rate with projects (as in, projects that meet or exceed expectations and objectives). This one easily reached about 95%. They are all now gracing the hallways of our campus, which has brought such a dynamic and expressive feel to the environment.
