Art History - John Chamberlain

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 February would be John Chamberlain. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

John Chamberlain
1927 - 2011

also

John Chamberlain: The Artist video
Guggenheim Museum

John Chamberlain: Choices Family Activity Guide (PDF)
Guggenheim Museum

John Chamberlain
Gagosian -- really nice collection of thumbnails!

Foil Adventures
Gagosian

John Chamberlain: The Craft of Mess
Muse Magazine

A Good Fit
Art & Antiques Magazine

Willem de Kooning and John Chamberlain: Influence and Transformation
The Brooklyn Rail

An Interview with John Chamberlain
Art Forum

John Chamberlain activity (PDF)

Build a Reflective Sculpture (PDF)

John Chamberlain-inspired Foil Sculptures

John Chamberlain: Barges activity
Mana Contemporary

John Chamberlain: Photographs activity
Mana Contemporary

lesson plans from Guggenheim.org -- the best!
John Chamberlain: Choices (PDF)

Collage
Color
Gesture
Other Materials
Scale

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga
p.97 - "BIG Junk" activity
available online as a FREE PDF from Bright Ring Publishing

John Chamberlain in St. Louis:

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
Untitled, from the portfolio The New York Collection for Stockholm (1973)
Hanging Herm (1974)

Saint Louis Art Museum
Box Candy (1974)

This month would be a wonderful time to begin working on my long-dreamed-of project of bringing a Junk Playground to our town!

'Junk' playground The Land, Wrexham inspires US guests
BBC - Oct 30, 2013

Is this the perfect playground, full of junk?
The Guardian - May 10, 2014

The Value Of Wild, Risky Play: Fire, Mud, Hammers And Nails
NPR - Apr 3, 2015

Stay Away From the Junkyard!
by Tricia Tusa

I couldn't find a single children's book on John Chamberlain. Hopefully Fausto Gilberti will write one! "John Chamberlain Crushed Cars and Wasn't Sorry"?

---

week of Feb 13:

Wed - look at Penthouse #50 (1969) and share initial observations and questions

do "View + Discuss" activities from p.11 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Other Materials)

Quote of the Day
"The paper bag sculptures developed out of an idea I was trying to do. You know when you blow up a paper bag and you pop it? I was trying to catch the pop."




Thu - watch John Chamberlain: The Artist video
Guggenheim Museum

do Further Explorations #1 from p.7 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Color)

do Further Explorations #3 from p.7 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Color) using paint chips from Paint Chip Poetry

Quote of the Day
"You can find 1800 variations of white that are listed and there's more, the Pepsi Cola 'white' or the postal service 'white' they are all different whites. It's amazing. So it goes from 'hot white' to 'cold white.'"

week of Feb 20:

Mon - watch John Chamberlain's Steel Vision video
Sotheby's

pass out images of sculptures from A Good Fit article and do contour drawing activity from p.5 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Collage)

Hillbilly Gallot (1960)
Papalote Goliad (1974-75)
The Hot Lady from Bristol (1979)
Divine Riccochet (1991)
PEAUDESOIEMUSIC (2011)

look at Mannabend Ra (1966) and share initial observations and questions

do "View + Discuss" activities from p.11 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Other Materials)

Note: Because the sponges are shipped compressed, we soaked them in a large tub of water yesterday afternoon and then set them on top of the dryer and ran a few loads of laundry yesterday evening. This meant that some of the sponges had dry parts and still-damp parts, which made for interesting explorations of resistance. Students were allowed free exploration with the sponges (10 each) and cord (4 ft each), and were also given scissors and large blunt-tipped needles.

Quote of the Day
"I sort of advise anybody who takes one of my pieces [to] clean it at least once.... Whoever does it is fortunate in one sense. They go slowly through everything so it’s like they are actually going in and finding out little places and all of that, and they find out about how the sculpture is constructed.”




Tue - revisit Mannabend Ra (1966) and ask the children if there are any clues in the photograph to help us know what size it is (nope)

do "View + Discuss" activities from p.13 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Scale)

Untitled (Tiny Piece) (1961) - shown here
C’ESTZESTY (2011) - shown here

here are the measurements of Untitled (Tiny Piece)

look up the measurements of Mannabend Ra and use a yardstick to imagine it (27 1/2 x 52 x 48 inches)

do Further Explorations #1 from p.13 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Scale)

They worked in teams of two. They did soap carving, Plastilina, or Goobi for their sculptures, and used my phone to take the pictures.

Quote of the Day
"I've wanted to take pictures of pieces that I've done, I’ve always wondered if you could make it so that you wouldn’t know what size it was. I figured that it was the best way that I could ever define what scale was: when you can’t tell the size of it.”




Wed - look at SPHINXGRIN TWO (1986/2010) and share initial observations and questions (here is the full-size image)

read page 8 and do "View + Discuss" activities from p.9 of John Chamberlain: Choices (Gesture)

do Build a Reflective Sculpture activity (early finishers got to tweak these instructions to make a second creation of their own design)

Quote of the Day
"It just can't be a blob sitting there. It should be doing something."




Thu - look at photos from Foil Adventures article
Gagosian

do John Chamberlain: Barges activity (here is the full-size image)
Mana Contemporary

watch John Chamberlain: Choices video and look at book
Guggenheim Museum



Quote of the Day
"I think of my art materials not as junk but as -- garbage. Manure, actually; it goes from being the waste material of one being to the life-source of another.”

Because we started John Chamberlain so late, and then the month was cut short for Spring Break, we did something for Art History six days in a row. Ending with exploring the Barges activity on Pajama Day was just perfect!!!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!