Anthropomorphic Object 

Project Explanation:

For the fourth lesson, students will be introduced to the idea of anthropomorphization. After observing how contemporary artists (Annie Montgomerie, Nemo Gould) are using this concept in their work, students will create their own anthropomorphic object in the form of a clay sculpture. Students will begin their ideation by imagining what one of their favorite objects would do if it came to life. What would it look like? How would it move? What would it do? While working with clay, students will be introduced to several building techniques, including slab and coil building. After completing their sculptures, students will be introduced to artist statements and write a basic version for their piece. The lesson will conclude with a “gallery walk” so that students can observe the work of their peers.

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Enduring Understanding

- Artists make connections between their art and the world around them by observation.
- Artists use intent and purpose to create art

Skills

• Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the word anthropomorphic through sculpting an object out of clay.
• Students will be able to create a sculpture out of clay based on their drawings from last class 

Literary Focus

Vocabulary: Anthropomorphic, Slab-building, pinch-building, coil-building
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Literacy:  Ideation/brainstorming around characteristics of favorite object and creating an artist’s statement

Learning Targets

I can create an anthropomorphic sculpture out of clay based on my anthropomorphic drawing.

Art Focus

Place

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How Students went from 2D to 3D

Here we showed examples of anthropomorphic sculptures to access their prior knowledge and to begin ideation

Students began practicing techniques and skills for sculpting using clay. This student is practicing rolling a slab

Using clay and the picture they created, the student was able to recreate the object in clay the way she planned. Here we can see the final before and after.

This student would place her sculpture next to her image to compare the two. "My drawing is a little taller, and I still need to make another leg, but they are starting to look like each other!"

 From watching how the students transformed their drawing into sculptures, it was clear that they understood how to make something going anthropomorphic.  We asked a few students how they made their object come to life.  This student said, "I gave him some shoes, a mouth and eyes".  This student was very able to demonstrate her understanding of the concept. 

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These three images show the before and after of two different student projects.  What is great about these is that the students decided to collaborate and make two creatures that would be friends.  One student created and anthropomorphic MP3 player (named Emily because it sounds like MP3) and the other student created an anthropomorphic boom box.  The two created a story that connected them and talked about how much "they love dancing together and listening to music"