Sculpture Stories
The weather outside today is a sloppy mix of rain and snow, a perfect day for a wet winter discovery walk. But if you’re not in the mood to go puddle jumping, why not stop by The Carle and experiment with an array of found materials the Studio’s collection!
For a few weeks now visitors young and old have been whipping up sculptures and finding creative solutions to various construction challenges. Sometimes visitors have a vision of how they want their finished sculptures to look but find it challenging finding the right parts to put together or the best way to attach them with the glue or wire.
Our studio staff is here to help find solutions when visitors need help with the materials. Below is an interaction I had recently with a young boy (age 6?) who was very enthusiastic about the telescope he was making using a long, skinny tube:
Boy:”I’m trying to make a telescope and I want to use this (round, red reflector) on the end so that when you look through it everything is red. But when you look through you can’t see anything.
Diana: (I look into the telescope) Well it looks like the red reflector is too thick to see through. Is there something else we could find in the baskets that is more transparent? I see the basket full of bottle caps and the basket with ribbons. Maybe there is something that you could attach to the end that is thin enough to see through.
B: That just may work!
He eagerly sifted through the basket of caps and found a clear bottle cap that was almost the same diameter as his tube. He also found some shimmery ribbon and looked through the tube as it was wrapped around the other end. He ended up using the bottle cap because he liked how it was removable. To accompany his telescope he made a small cardboard dish to hold small objects to observe through the tube. I’m always amazed at the variety of visitors’ imaginative ideas applied to the same arrangement of materials! Stop by before February 1st to make your own Sculpture Story.
