Collaborative Sand Sculptures

Continuing the over-arching theme of collaboration through Visual Art, my Grade 8 class tackled a smaller sculptural project based upon the theme of ‘cultural structures’. They investigated architecture and building structures that are identified with various cultures. With a range of collected visuals in hand, each student set about creating a simplified shape that could be repeated and adapted into an interesting sculptural form. As a class group we began to study the early ‘pigment works’ of Anish Kapoor and used these particular floor sculptures as inspiration for the pieces we would eventually create.

The first task was for each student to further develop their initial idea into a small ‘mock-up’ style sculptural model built from coloured cardboard and composed with each shaped piece rotating around a centre axis. The class was then divided into groups of four, with each student bringing their mock up idea to the table and discussing collectively the merits of each design in order to determine which one could be developed further into a larger scale presentation. Once a final decision was made, the group set about creating a template of their chosen shape and each member took responsibility for building one quarter of the final piece.

The groups used ‘foam core’ boards to cut their shapes. This is quite a rigid material that would allow the piece to stand reasonably tall but was also easy to cut with a knife. Once the shapes were cut, coloured sand was applied with PVA glue. While this technique wouldn’t totally replicate the finish of Anish Kapoors works, it would provide a distinctive presentation and identify each group by its own specific colour. The students enjoyed the process of construction and worked well in delegating tasks to each other.

We initially displayed the mock up models of the design, which were quite effective in themselves. However the final sand sculptures were much more successful in capturing the scale, goals and inspiration behind the work. The end result looked equality strong individually and as a collective whole. Once again the learning in this particular piece was not only from the research and idea development, but also from what was gained through working in a collaborative way to produce a creative artwork.