Olympic Sport Sculptures

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Rina Vinetz

Olympic volleyball trophies made by fifth graders

Olympic archery

Sumo wrestling is NOT an Olympic event, but it makes for a cool sculpture.

: Women’s gymnastics

Student designed the water polo sculpture so it is different on each side: reverse shows player with torso above water.

Want the full lesson plan? All the details are on my earlier posts: part 1, and part 2.

I just love the Olympics!!!! My favorite summer events are men’s and women’s gymnastics.

Have you ever made an Olympic or sport project with your students?

Plaster Mask Finale 2012

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Rina Vinetz

Wow! We had a fantastic group of plaster masks this year. Here is the entire 2012 collection, fresh from the art show.

Way to go fifth graders!!!! You are all so creative.

Want to make a mask? Check out this post and this post for all the details. Messy but so much fun.

Sport Trophies for Fifth Grade: Update

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Rina Vinetz

This week the fifth graders continued work on their spectacular sport trophies. The wire and foil figures are now posed and wrapped with plaster wrap. Almost all have been stapled to wooden bases. Our fifth graders have experience working with plaster (see this post and this post) so almost all finished wrapping the figures during our 40 minute class.

Volleyball

Don’t you love the poses and accessories?

Skier with popsicle stick skis and bamboo skewer poles.

Here’s a ‘wrap up’ (get it?) of all the steps so far:

wire armature made from two pieces of 18 inch pre-cut floral wire

Wrap wire with foil, trim arms

: Wrap with plaster wrap and mount

UPDATE: see the finished Olympic trophies in this post!

NOTE: I used three basic supplies for these sport sculptures:

Plaster wrap
Pre-cut floral wire (aka stem wire)
Pre-cut aluminum foil

Pacon 52720 Plast’r Craft Plaster Impregnated Gauze Strips, 20 lbs.

18″ Pre-Cut Stem (Floral) wire 20 Gauge Bright Silver

(similar product available at Michaels and Wal-Mart craft department)

Pre-cut Aluminum Foil Popup Sheets

(similar product available at Costco and Smart & Final)

Sport Trophy Sculptures for Fifth Grade: Part 1

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Rina Vinetz

Most of the 5th graders at our schools have at least one trophy – for soccer, baseball, basketball, dance, etc. Each year the fifth graders create their own sport trophy sculptures using wire, foil and plaster wrap.

2012 is an Olympic year. We begin by looking at photos of Olympic athletes in all sorts of sports. We talked about dynamic poses – athletes in motion – and how much more interesting they are than static poses.