Wood
students, “Is this artist dead or alive?” It
occurred to me that
so many of the artists that we have
studied are dead.
To present a far
broader picture of the
arts, I found it necessary to include artists
who are living and
producing art.
When I introduce
Bates via a slide
presentation of his
sculptural work and
paintings, I include
the fact that Bates grew
up in Dallas and went
to college there. Much of the infor-
mation that I have found on Bates
has been in the two books listed
in the resources for this article, as
well as the North Texas Institute
for Educator’s
for the Visual
Arts Web site in
their Art Links
section, and the
DMA’s Web site.
I also tell the
students that
his work may be
seen at the DMA and the Modern
Art Museum of Fort Worth. I think
it is important for students to know
that it is possible for them to go see
his work because it is just a short
distance to these two museums. So
often, this is not the case!
We review terms such as shape,
form, symmetry, and asymmetry.
Terms such as additive and subtractive sculpture are defined and we
identify examples of each. I have
used a wooden figure carved by my
son at camp and a bronze figure I
made from a sculpture class in college. When we view Bates’ Seated
Man 4, the students identify
whether it is additive or subtractive
sculpture.
Alexi Salafia, grade three, unpainted sculpture.
Whenever possible, I
try to incorporate the
work of artists who are
included in the collection of nearby museums. Our school
is close to the Dallas area and visiting the Dallas Museum of Art is in
the realm of possibility. The DMA
has a sculpture in their collection
by artist David Bates called Seated
Man #4. The fact that Bates lives
and works in the Dallas area is relevant to this choice of focus for a
lesson in three-dimensional design
for my third-grade art classes.
I don’t know about you, but I
have noticed that throughout my
teaching career, I have frequently
been asked the question from my
Create
On the first production day, stu-
dents each choose a piece of wood
to serve as the face and wood scraps
for facial features, plan a design,
glue everything together, and lay
the work flat to dry. Faces may be
symmetrical or asymmetrical and
must stand up and not be too top
heavy. I encour-
age students to
have a backup
plan if their
pieces will not
stay glued, or
something is not
balanced.
On the second
production day, students paint the
faces first with the larger brush
and then add details with the tiny
brushes. Another day of painting
may be needed to finish.
To present a far broader
picture of the arts, I found
it necessary to include
artists who are living
and producing art.
