Day 292

Silvery morning.

Molly and I ran 2.34 km before school in the cool meadow, my calves aching a bit from the mountain hike on Sunday. 

My 8th grade classes are concentrating on the figure this trimester, and looking at how artists portray the human body.  So today, in preparation for making wire sculptures, I showed them two short You-tube clips on Alexander Calder, who is one of my favourite artists. 

I like him because he was an amazing artist, and also because he was a lovely man, who remained married to the same woman until he died, who had a playful sense of humour and enjoyed his life, who stood up for causes he believed in, and who loved the colour red so much that he wore a red shirt almost every day. 

Then I demonstrated a wire portrait, and after watching attentively (this is an amazing class) off they went, weaving wire, making careful joins with the pliers, bending and stretching and setting an ear straight here and an eyebrow bushing out there, until, when we were finished clearing up, there was a table full of half-finished beautiful wire busts.  All different, all wonderful. 

I have been encouraging one kid who is not particularly skilled, who struggles with drawing, and who can act out because of this.  If I give him step-by-step instructions he is much better.  And he is really enjoying art now, because he knows that he gets praised for his endeavour, and this year he has been trying, listening to my advice.  Making art is so individualistic that his work can be completely different and possibly less developed than that of the other students, but because the artworks are all so divergent, it is still wonderful, and he is beginning to understand this about art.  And instead of making silly remarks he is really striving and succeeding. 

I have noticed that his entire demeanor changes, his face becomes younger, his eyes sparkle, it is an actual physical thing, this affliction of having a poor opinion of yourself. 

He loved the wire sculpture and made a very good face profile without any help at all, just asking, "Is this alright?"  "Does this look good?"  "How do you think I should do the mouth, like this?"  I love days like this!

So tonight I am too tired to do something new, so here is a little sculpture I made a few years ago, "Water".  Made with a wire armature and covered with papier-maché.