Alexander Calder Inspired Wire Sculptured Portraits

In term 2 the year 5 students researched the American artist Alexander Calder to make these Alexander Calder Inspired Sculptures.

As part of the culmination of the unit of work Year 5 students from St Leonard’s College, Brighton East selected an abstract shape – found in part of their collagraph print design to make their Calder Inspired Sculptures. The shape they chose was intended to reflect the shapes seen in American artist Alexander Calder’s sculptures and paintings. Bold, simple and bright shapes were then manipulated using wire and laminated card to make these very lively and cheerful sculptural artworks.

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor who is best known for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic and his monumental public sculptures. Born into a family of artists, Calder’s work first gained attention in Paris in the 1920s and was soon championed by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Alexander Calder redefined sculpture by introducing into it the element of movement. He created sculptures and design objects that participated in the larger tendencies of European and American avant-garde, uniquely combining abstract art, modernist principles, machine and cosmic imagery in his works.
Year 5
St Leonard’s College, Brighton East