Keith Haring Inspired Wire Figures

With brain-numbing PARCC testing coming up, I wanted to do a unit that we could display around the school to add a little whimsy and levity to the building. Keith Haring's work is certainly joyful, colorful, and often fun, so that became my starting point. 

This is a short video from CBS that gives a short overview of Keith Haring.

We explored the concept that the human figure is about 8 heads high on average. Then created sketches that were 16 inches tall (note that 16 divides into 8 nicely). This way students would have a template to base their wire figures on for approximate size.

We used annealed (soft) wire that I got from Nasco.  18 to 20 gauge works well, though 20 is easier to bend. We used pliers and did a demo like the video below. We blunted the cut ends of the wire by making a tiny curl since cut wire is pretty sharp. Each person took 2 full "wingspan" arm pulls of wire, about 10 to 12 feet each. The first step was to fold the entire length in half and twist the head to a 2 inch loop with several twists to make a neck. The body is made from head down, in a symmetrical manner. As we twist the wire, we held it over the drawn figure.

Wire Twisting Steps Below:

In the past I have just let the figures stay in wire and we have fun posing them. But the black wire is so thin and dark it is hard to see it when it's displayed. Here are two samples below.

This year I happened to have a lot of unused duct tape. A large box of it actually, so I wrapped one figure up and experimented a bit and found 2 techniques that were fairly easy. The easiest is folding the tape over the wire which gives it a ribbon-like look. I think this would be best for younger students. The second, and a bit harder, is ripping the tape into thirds, and then wrapping the wire. I let my students choose. If wrapping didn't go well, I just had them switch. Wrapping a little ribbon of tape around the paddles of the hands, feet, and head, helped give the figures a cleaner edge. Some did it, others didn't quite have the dexterity to do it.

After figures were wrapped I placed them on a template and partially graded a rubric that included scale and symmetry. They had to keep the rubric until the project was complete. 

Next we had a class challenge, make them stand. Most were able to, but if they made their feet too small they had a problem. We made 3 figures in all, so they learned from the first how to make the next one better. When I graded their figure's scale, they could chose which of their three I should grade.

Then they had to determine their poses, and where they wanted the figures to be displayed. I gave a heads-up to administration that the school was about to be taken over by little sculptures and sent them a photo of my sample. Once students had decided where they wanted their figures to go, they had to seek out the person in charge of that area to seek permission. (If they wanted it in a hallway or public area, they had to talk to a custodian) They took a photo with their phones to better explain their ideas to the adults. I encouraged them to seek out the classes they enjoyed most, the places they liked to hang out, etc.,  so that their work would be personally expressive and be incorporated into the environment. 

I gave them a little warning to not do anything that might interfere with school security systems, alarms, etc, nor could they do anything inappropriate to their figures, (like showing one smoking.) I reminded them that each figure needed their full name and period on the foot, and I checked that off on their rubric as well while I graded scale. Without the name, it could not be displayed.

On the day for displaying work I handed out index cards with QR codes on them. They added their names, title of the artwork, media, and noted this was a sculpture class project. There are plenty of free QR code generators online, so it wasn't hard to do. Adding these tags did 3 things.

• It let other students visually know "don't mess with it."
• The QR Code would take viewers to more information
• It let teachers know it's legit and not some student prank.

The last thing was that each piece had to be photographed after the student set it up for 2 reasons.

• Proof they did what I asked
• If stolen, I could still grade it.

All understood that theft was a potential issue in a school, but I let them know to look out for each other. If a figure was moved or fell, they could walk it back to my room at ANY TIME and I would write them a pass. The display will be up for just one week during testing, so my hope is not too much will go wrong. The up-side to theft is that your work was so awesome, someone wanted to keep it.