This week, the preschool artists got to explore their sense of SMELL and TASTE as part of our unit about perception. We learned about self-portraits through the discussion of Kara Walker's large sculpture in the Domino Sugar Factory. We created our own self-portraits by first drawing with marker, then sculpting our heads out of foam, fondant, sprinkles, licorice, and marshmallows. There were also a few centers set up around the room where artists could visit during downtime or if they finished early. In one center, they could paint with raspberries and blackberries and in another center, they could sculpt with aluminum foil. At the end of the class, some artists that finished early sat on the rug with me and we used Makey Makey to see if our sculptures conducted electricity. It turned out that both the fondant from our self-portrait sculptures and the aluminum foil sculptures conducted electricity!
Take the lesson home!
- What items around your house might conduct electricity? Why do you think that?
- What materials do you have at home that could be used to make sculptures? Do you think these materials can conduct electricity? If you make something and want to test it to see if it conducts electricity, bring it to Saturday School next week and we can try it out with the Makey Makey!
For a video about Kara Walker's sculptures in the Domino Sugar Factory, click here! (A word of caution: In class, we only talked about the head portion of the sculpture because it contains nudity, however this video provides an excellent visual about how this sculpture was created. I suggest watching the video yourself, first, to judge whether or not you would like to show it to your child.)
Below are photos of this week's class taken by the teacher!
