Wired In!
For Grades 9–12
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“When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”
– Sol LeWitt
Table of Contents
Objectives
Materials
Discussion
Activity: Conceptual Sculptures
New York State Learning Standards
OBJECTIVES
- Students will learn about Sol LeWitt
- Students will learn how to make a work of Conceptual art
- Students will synthesize learning in a presentation to the class describing what they did and why it is Conceptual art
Materials
- Sol LeWitt PowerPoint
- Paper, drawing materials, wire, and wire cutters
TIP: Landline phone companies often donate colorful phone wire for class projects!
DISCUSSION
Show the Sol LeWitt PowerPoint.
Activity: Conceptual Sculptures
- Ask students to use separate slips of paper to write down:
- Any color
- Any number
- Type of line (horizontal, squiggly, curving, etc.)
- Any shape
- Any direction (north, south, up, down, etc.)
- Collect the words from each category and pick words to complete the following instructions: 1. Color Shape with Number Type of line(s) Connected to Shape
- Ask students to choose one of the above as the title for a sculpture, and keep it to themselves.
- Have students create a wire sculpture with their chosen title.
- Demonstrate how to use the wire and wire cutters (to avoid injury), and a few wire sculpture techniques such as bending, looping, twisting, braiding, etc. Use Wall Structure: Five Modules with One Cube, Black, 1965, on PowerPoint slide 7 as inspiration.
- Display all the sculptures without their titles. Can students guess the title of each sculpture?
- Display all sculptures of each title in a group. How are these sculptures like the Conceptual art that Sol LeWitt made? How are they different?
- Discuss which is more important: the titles or the sculptures?
2. Color Shape Next to Number Module(s) with Type of line Lines
3. Color Shape with Number Shape(s) Going Direction
NEW YORK STATE LEARNING STANDARDS
- English Language Arts Standard 1
- Math, Science, and Technology Standards 1 and 7
- Visual Arts Standards 1–4
