Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB) - 3D Wire Sculpture

During this week’s Vision of the Artist’s Soul workshop at Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB), students created a 3d wire sculpture based on the raised line drawings completed in the previous art class. Through this lesson, they explored the relationship between 2d and 3d representation, learned new sculpting techniques, experimented with geometry and other mathematical concepts, and ultimately, developed their artistic process. This was surprisingly one of the students’ favorite workshops. Many students (including myself!) had never made art with floral wire before, and it was fascinating to see what different designs students came up with. I also enjoyed this workshop because student work ranged from representational to abstract, meaning that no two pieces looked the same and, in many cases, no two people had the same interpretation of a piece of artwork. Some of the students also had an innovative idea to decorate their sculptures with pipe cleaners, adding beautiful pops of color to their work. In the future, I look forward to creating lessons with more unconventional materials and continuing to build 3d design and modelling skills in our group!

Please find attached a few photos of the 3d wire sculptures that students created:

"Roller coaster" sculpture: front view

This sculpture emulates the twists and turns of a rollercoaster using wavy loops. Each arc is decorated with pipe cleaners spiraling around the wire in rainbow colors.

"Roller coaster" sculpture: 3/4 view

Expressive line sculpture

This sculpture emulates tangled, scribbled patterns to make expressive designs. It is wide, and the styrofoam is etched at the front. Behind the sculpture, the student has placed bunched pastel pipe cleaners into a loop lying on the side.

Expressive line sculpture: top view and 3/4 view

Freestanding wire assembly

This is a miniature sculpture that loosely resembles a chair with circles around its base. Orange, yellow, and white pipe cleaners are wrapped around the back.

Circular maze sculpture

This wire sculpture is a series of overlapping circles and arches, In the center, two beads decorate the sides of the central circle. On the left, the student has placed a free-standing square bracket made of blue pipe cleaner.

Minimalist sculpture with expressive line sculpture

The expressive line sculpture is pictured in 3/4 view on the right. On the left, the student has used very few linear wires, creating polygons with negative space. The shapes are accented with small amounts of yellow and green pipecleaner.

Grid pattern sculpture with pipe cleaner figure

This sculpture uses intersecting arches and angles to create a grid-like pattern from all angles. 2 circles made of wrapped wire are placed on the base on the right. On the left, a white, red, yellow, and green figure appears to be suspended in action.

Grid pattern sculpture with figure: Side view

In this view, the figure becomes more abstract and the viewer is able to discern it as a series of loops, lines, and shapes rather than something representational.

Grid pattern sculpture with pipe cleaner figure: top view

Wire architectural sculpture

This student successfully created a freestanding house using intersecting square brackets that are perpendicular to the base. A piece of red pipe cleaner holds up the corner, adding contrast and stability. Black string is tied horizontally at the back.

Wire architectural sculpture: top and 3/4 view

The top view is pictured on the left and the 3/4 view is on the right.

For those interested in creating the 3D wire sculptures themselves, here is a transcript of instructions:

Materials:
Piece of dry foam for base
Floral wire
Scissors
Pipe Cleaners

Steps to make 3D wire sculptures:

Step 1: Armature (base to build the sculpture and give structural support) 

• Trace your raised line drawing with the wire / pipe cleaner

• Place structural supports on the bottom and stick it into your clay base

• Add more wire to create illusions of mass and 3d effects 

  • Shadows = more wire 

  • Convex + concave shapes 

  • Managing weight (armature must be heaviest and sturdy) 

    • Multiple layers

    • Note: triangles are the most sturdy base shapes!

      • Connection: stability and symmetry in architecture

  • Twist together to combine wire and create hold 

  • Twist repeatedly to create straight lines
    

Step 2: 

• Create a “base” for your armature. Do so by extending wire and sticking it into the foam block. Continue to add supports until the wire sculpture is sturdy

Step 3: Build mass

• Make a 2d or 3d wire sculpture

  • For 3d, loop wire around the armature using different sizes to create the illusion of depth

    • Ex: if you want to make a sphere, start with a circle armature and then loop wire around it until you have a spherical shape

Step 4: After (options only for wire) : 

• Paint wire

• Cover with paper mache

Tags:
#tactilceart, #Artfortheblind, #touchart, #visuallyimpaired, #blindartist,, #accessibleart, #artforall, #sensoryart, #BlindandVI, #accessibility, #inclusion, #artmuseums, #artforeveryone, #accessiblemuseum
Art for the visually impaired, Art for the Blind