Art History - Barbara Hepworth

Our Specials schedule this year is

Mon - Nature Study & Form Drawing

Tue - Farm Day

Wed - Handwork & Philosophy, Science Club

Thu - Art History & Structured Word Inquiry

Fri - Forest School

In my Art History 2022-2023 blog post, I decided October would be Barbara Hepworth. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Barbara Hepworth
1903 - 1975

also

Mudworks: Creative Clay, Dough, and Modeling Experiences
by MaryAnn Kohl
this book contains tons of modeling material ideas & recipes!

we could also use self-hardening clay, modeling beeswax, or plastilina

Lotus mentions that you can also do reductive sculpting with a bar of soap

and I do have several blocks of soapstone (from soapstone carving kits)

Soapstone Carving for Children
by Bonnie Gosse

"Paper Shape Sculpture" activity from Look! Look! Look! at Sculpture

where to find Barbara Hepworth's art worldwide

we could go to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis MO

they also have pieces by Calder, so that would be a good tie-in to last month

I decided to join Lotus Stewart's full Art History Kids website (The Studio) and get access to her past lesson plans. I think it will really help me this year to have so much already done for me. Barbara Hepworth is in the Archives.

MARCH 2021: THE ART OF THE VOID WITH BARBARA HEPWORTH

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week of Oct 3:

Meet Barbara Hepworth
by Laura Carlin


Week One PDF

p.5: Sculpture with Profiles, 1932

p.6: Mother and Child, 1934

p.7: Pelagos, 1946
ask students, what does this form remind you of? brainstorm ideas, and then look up the meaning of the word 'pelagos' (Greek for "sea");
we also wondered whether it was related to 'archipelago' and 'pelican'

p.8: Image II, 1960

p.9: Parent I, Parent II, and Young Girl
from The Family of Man series, 1970
tell students the title of the work without showing it to them; given what you know so far about Barbara Hepworth's work, what do you envision? form a picture in your mind and then look at the image

week of Oct 10:

Barbara Hepworth: Create a Necklace with a Twist (PDF)
with scraps of modeling beeswax

week of Oct 17:

Look! Look! Look! at Sculpture
by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Four Rectangles with Four Oblique Circles, 1966


Week Two PDF

p.1: quote

p.4: the process of making a sculpture

p.5: how to look at sculpture

p.7: Elements of Art - Color

p.8: Elements of Art - Texture

p.9: pierced sculptures

p.10: Art Insights - Mother and Child

p.11: Art Insights - Pelagos

p.12: Art Insights - Family of Man

Some great coincidences popped up during this lesson! In their Colonial America Activities earlier in the week, the children tried writing on a slate with a slate pencil, so they were excited that "Four Rectangles with Four Oblique Circles" was made of slate. They felt they were able to accurately envision its color and texture. They also tried polishing silver, so they had a very clear idea of what it meant that portions of the "Family of Man" sculptures were left to age in accordance with the elements. They were fascinated by the illustrations showing the patina on the bronze (and I also showed them some copper pieces I had here which had a patina on them).

week of Oct 24:

Mon - Is It Sculpture? day 1

Week Three PDF
p.5: Week Three project idea - Abstract nature

Soap Sculpture Exploration
with clay tools plus 2 bars of Ivory soap and 1 toothpick per child (toothpick is a discreet way to connect the sculpture with its base)


Wed - Is It Sculpture? day 2


Thu - field trip to Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and Olin Library to see

Vertical Form, 1955–56
Mahogany, 35 7/8" x 12 15/16" x 7 9/16"

Involute II, 1956
Bronze, 14" x 12" x 12"

Archaeon, 1960
Bronze, approx. 89 1/2" x 52" x 22"

Olympus, from The Aegean Suite, 1971
Lithograph, 32" x 22 7/8"

week of Oct 31:

Mon - Is It Sculpture? day 3

use leftover scraps from Soap Sculptures to make Ghost Mud for sensory play


Tue - look at some photographs of Barbara Hepworth working

Week One PDF
p.4: quote, picture of Barbara Hepworth

Week Two PDF
pp.2-3: biography

Week Three PDF
p.1: quote, picture of Barbara Hepworth

Week Four PDF
p.1: quote, picture of Barbara Hepworth

recall visit to art museum and share our sketches

read post about Family of Man and look at a picture of Ultimate Form (something we were very curious about)

watch video

We actually did not end up doing many of Lotus's project ideas, but I really appreciated having them in reserve! They were

p.15: Week One project idea - It starts with a sketch (or a maquette)


Alexander Calder and His Magical Mobiles
by Jean Lipman
for an example of a maquette


p.13: Week Two project idea - Abstract people


p.5: Week Three project idea - Abstract nature


p.2: Week Four project idea - An abstract grouping

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