Our last Family Day, in September, celebrated the opening of the exhibition “Mind the Gap: Selections from the Permanent Collection.” This show highlights modern and contemporary artists who experimented with different techniques and materials to create abstract art, or art that doesn’t look realistic. The exhibition includes several sculptures. Sculpture (skuhlp-choor) is a type of three-dimensional (3-D) art. 3-D art is artwork that takes up space and has height, width and depth.
Check out this sculpture by Nathan Mabry. It’s called “The Nostalgia of the Infinite (Le Taureau).” This large, abstract sculpture was inspired by an animal. What are three words that describe the overall shape of it? What animals match your three words? Tell someone you’re with which animal you think inspired this sculpture. Keep scrolling to find the answer!
“Taureau” (tore-OH) is the French word for “bull.” Mabry looked at prints by Pablo Picasso, an artist known for using fragmented shapes in his artwork, to mold his own abstract vision of a bull.
Now it’s your turn to create an abstract animal sculpture. Choose your favorite animal or pet to inspire
your work.
You will need the following supplies:
- cardstock
- construction paper
- scissors
- glue
directions:
- Use scissors to cut the construction paper into strips that are ½ inch to 1 inch thick. You can use one color or many different colors of paper.
- Now you’ll use the paper strips to create the shapes of your animal. What simple lines or shapes can you use to create a basic animal form? Roll the strips into coils, fold them into accordions or create arches.
- Once you’ve shaped your strips, fold the end(s) of each strip to create feet.
- Glue the folded feet to the cardstock paper.
- Continue to add different sizes and shapes of paper strips to your cardstock.
- When you’re done, ask a friend or family member to guess which animal you’ve created.