Art Masterpiece: the Thinker, 1881

Art Masterpiece: The Thinker, Auguste Rodin 1840-1917

______Keywords: Methods of creating sculpture-Carving, Casting, Molding and Constructive sculpture Pronunciation: Oh-goost Roe-dan Grade: 3rd - 4th Activity: Clay faces ______

Meet the Artist:  August Rodin was born in Paris France in 1840. He would be (____) years old if he were standing here today!  He loved to draw as a child and was very observant. He was known to sketch animals, people and places he had seen from memory.  He was very good at art and applied three times to a very famous art school in France. Unfortunately, they never let him in. (Their mistake as he is now regarded as one of the most famous sculptors in the world!)  Eventually Rodin discovered the art of sculpting and became an assistant to a popular sculptor in France.  In 1875 he took a trip to Italy and studied the art of Michelangelo. This trip made a huge impression upon him and inspired him to work more artistically.  Rodin’s focus was on the handling of the clay.  One of his most famous works is a bronze sculpture called The Thinker. Rodin created a small version of it in 1880 and then cast a large version in 1902. This artwork was based on a poem called The Divine Comedy, written by a famous poet named Dante (born in 1265). The Thinker was supposed to be part of a larger piece and was originally titled “Poet”. Rodin pictured Dante sitting and thinking about his poem before he put it on paper. This idea turned into how man will dream or think of an idea and how those dreams/thoughts can be made into reality. Man is the only creature on earth that can contemplate. After this inspiration, he re-titled the artwork “The Thinker”.  Rodin went on to create many more famous pieces around the world. He died in 1917 at 77 years old. Rodin is remembered for his famous works for art and for his trademark. He was known to represent inner- beauty in his artwork by distorting the anatomy of a piece or leaving an area unfinished.

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece

**Methods of creating Sculpture: Modeling - pliable/formable Clay, Play dough. Casting – Bronze – molds and heated metal (Like the Thinker and what we see at the Basha Art Gallery – 4th Grade CUSD Field trip) Carving – Stone or wood are examples -taking and extracting materials from a block of material to create a sculpture. Chisel/Mallet to take away big pieces Smaller files and chisels to add detail Sanding and polishing to finish Artists work the same today as they did a thousand of years ago. Only now we have the use of power tools.

Constructive - Sculpting with found objects like the artists Butterfield/Calder/ Nevelson/ Rodia. Gluing or welding together parts.

Discussion of Artwork: (10 min)  What is sculpture? (3 dimensional artwork)  What are the three dimensions? (length, width, height)  How is sculpture different from a painting or a photograph?  Have you ever seen a sculpture? Where? Downtown Chandler?  **Discuss the different ways to sculpt noted above. Modeling, casting, carving, relief and constructive.  Rodin cast in Bronze and carved in stone.

TODAY we are going to sculpt using the modeling technique.

Activity: 3-D Clay Face / Learning facial feature placement

Crayola White Air Dry Clay, 5 oz per student -about size of a racquet ball . (CUSD warehouse gray firing clay can be used but be mindful that once dry this type of clay, designed to be fired, will become dry and brittle.) Carving tools: Round toothpicks, Popsicle sticks, and plastic knife Heavy non-coated paper plate 1/child – to mount artwork onto White liquid glue Zip lock bags for cut pieces of clay Mirrors, if available 1 pc copy paper/child to use as placemat Wet-wipes to quickly clean hands and desks when finished. Handouts of the face w/ Grid-lines. These can be collected and re-used. See attached. Small sturdy paper-plates. 1/child. Use to mount the clay face after construction.

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece

In advance : Divide clay into 5 oz balls and put in the large ziploc bag and then place baggies back into original containers to prevent them from drying out. A wire can be used to quickly cut through the block of clay.

If clay dries out and small amount of water can be added to revive and make clay pliable.

PROJECT PROCESS: **Mini-Lesson prior to project: Explain and quickly demonstrate how to work with clay. Use classroom doc- camera.  Pinch a piece and roll between both hands in circular motion to create a ball.  Pinch a piece and roll on table with one hand, forward and backwards to create a long coil or “snake”.  Use tools, sticks, knives etc to cut and make marks/impressions in the clay to add features or texture.

Prior to starting:  Have students look in the mirror at their own face to examine shapes and placement as they work. Compare their face with the handout. Their sculpture does not need to be a self- portrait. It can be creative and imaginative character but encourage them to use the handout for proper placement of all facial features.  Inform students that today’s lesson is to experiment how to work with clay. The final project may be very fragile and not last a long time but with care and good technique their sculpture can be enjoyed and the clay medium experienced.

Project Process:

1. Instruct students to pinch off approximately one half of the clay and place it back into their snack size Ziploc baggie. This portion will be used for facial features (nose, lips, etc.) and must stay moist until ready to use. 2. Face Shape: Working on the white paper student should take remaining clay and flatten this out into an oval for the face shape. Smooth the surface of shape to prep the face for features.

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece 3. Hand-out the face template or display using doc-camera. The guide-lines on the handout teach how to properly place facial features on a face. With a toothpick students can gently sketch soft lines onto their clay face shape. First line should down the center vertically. The second line should go across the center horizontally. These guidelines will later be smoothed away. 4. Take the remaining clay from the ziplock bag to begin making the facial features. Explain that a small dab of glue added to the facial features prior to sticking onto the face shape will create a stronger bond.

a. Placement of the Eyes: Before adding eyes to the face shape mark two dots on the horizontal line to indicate where the eyes will go. Use index finger or thumbs to make a slight indent into the clay for the eye socket. Roll two small balls of clay into eyeballs. Add a dab of glue and add to face shape. Flatten slightly. b. Placement of Nose: Pinch a small piece of clay and shape into a triangular shape. Add a dab of glue and place. Flatten slightly at the bridge and along edges to make sure it adheres. With a tool add nostril holes. c. Lips: Roll a coil to make the lips. Demonstrate you can do a single smile or an open smile with two coils. Again, make sure they add a dab of glue and press the edges to seal to the face. d. Details: o Add eyebrows, hair, earrings, ears, etc. o Suggest tools to etch texture marks into the clay for hair freckles

5. Encourage students to do a final check that all pieces are pressed onto the face shape so that when dry the face remains intact. Smooth out any grid lines or unwanted marks on the face.

Students should add their name somewhere on the plate.

Lastly, use liquid glue to adhere the face sculpture to the plate.

CLEAN-UP: Please make sure that any left-over clay is put into a large Ziploc bag. Do not throw it away. With a bit of water dried out clay can be restored.

Please check lids on the clay buckets that they are tightly sealed.

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece Parent Letter

Brief info about the artist: August Rodin was born in Paris France in 1840. One of his most famous works is a bronze sculpture called The Thinker. This artwork was based on a poem called The Divine Comedy, written by a famous poet named Dante (born in 1265). The Thinker was supposed to be part of a larger piece and was originally titled “Poet”. Rodin pictured Dante sitting and thinking about his poem before he put it on paper. This idea turned into how man will dream or think of an idea and how those dreams/thoughts can be made into reality. Man is the only creature on earth that can contemplate. After this inspiration, he re-titled the artwork “The Thinker”. Brief info about the project: Students worked with clay techniques and created faces focusing on proper placement of eyes, nose and mouth.

Chandler Unified School District Art Masterpiece