Chihuly Sculptures-Form

If we are getting technical, this was our first project of the school year-at least since I was hired! I LOVE the sculptural artist Dale Chihuly, and am inspired by the new and interesting twist he has taken on the art of glass sculpture. With our unit on the element of art, Form, we discussed Chihuly, and his art processes, successes, and challenges.

Below is a video some of our elementary classes watched that embodies the sheer skill and magnitude of his projects along with the mesmerizing process of glass blowing! 

Is glass blowing not THE coolest thing you've ever seen!? Talk about beautiful! If you have been to Las Vegas, you may have seen some of Chihuly's Persian series of sculptures on the ceiling in The Venetian Hotel! His studio is also based out of Seattle in case you ever find yourself in the area.

To duplicate Chihuly's style, we attempted to use a series of mediums. Our Kindergarten/1st grade students created coffee filter sculptures with washable markers, and spray starch. The colors melded together beautifully and our little artists did a wonderful job. 
                                     

The older classes (2-5) tried something a little more difficult. They chose warm and cool color schemes and painted patterns on plastic cups with porcelain paint. Upon finishing, they watched as their "sculptures" wiggled and warped under the high temperatures of a heat gun. I didn't get any videos of this, but did have some videos of past classrooms I've done this in with an oven (as shown below! Please try to ignore the 13 year old boy commentaries, haha.)

While painting our sculptures, the students were given the opportunity to see what it is like for Dale Chihuly to create artwork without depth perception, having lost one eye in a car accident. (Ignore the tissue under the eye patches, those were there for sanitation reasons-no eyes were gauged out in the process of this learning experience!)

Look at some of our awesome sculptors at work!

Such focus!

An important lesson we have learned from Dale Chihuly is that we can overcome any challenges with hard work and determination!

I know our students are itching to take their sculptures home, but they have just been so admired on the bulletin board outside the office... It's hard to take them down!

That being said, expect them to be adorning your homes in the near future!