Masterpiece: Sky Cathedral
Artist: Louise Nevelson
________________________________________________
Concept: A three dimensional collage with found items
Lesson: Scrap Box Art
_____________________________________________
Objectives:
• To create individual boxes that will be assembled into a wall sculpture in the style
of Louse Nevelson.
Vocabulary: Abstract, Shape, Collage, Three Dimensional, Found Item, Sculpture.
Materials: (one per student unless otherwise noted)
• Medium size shoebox
• Various lightweight items of all different shapes, sizes, and textures. Some
examples: cardboard toilet paper or paper towel tubes. cardboard egg cartons,
wood scraps, other wood items such as: beads, drawer pulls, buttons, jigsaw
puzzle pieces, plastic forks and spoons, plastic combs, lego bricks, small toy
soldiers, etc. the sky is the limit!
• A sheet of white copy paper (if student wants to make 3 D shapes)
• Tacky or elmer’s glue
• Optional: hot glue guns for adult volunteers to help attach heavier items
• 2 cans metallic or black/white spray paint per class: black, white, gold, silver,
bronze, copper.
** Please Note **
Styrofoam is not suitable as it melts when spray-painted. Please, no glass or other
objects with sharp edges.
** Helpful Hints**
Boxes can be spray painted as individual collage boxes or assembled into a large
classroom group sculpture. Be aware that assembling the individual collage boxes into a
large group sculpture requires 1-2 hours and at least 2 volunteers per sculpture. A
team of AM volunteers may agree to come in and assemble all of the class sculptures.
See assembly instructions after the project details.
** 3 weeks before project start, email teachers the Project Request for 5th Grade
letter below requesting children bring a shoebox and 10 various “junk” items. The GLC
may also request extra shoeboxes from Payless Shoes for the project meeting demo and
extras for the 2-3 kids who “forget” to bring a box.
Process:
1. Study some of the works by Louise Nevelson.
2. Use a shoebox as a background. Assemble a collection of items on your
background. Think about their form and how they look next to each other. Think
about the shadows and the shapes cast and the lights and the darks of your
composition.
3. Give students time to arrange and rearrange their personal objects inside their
boxes. They can temporarily attach items with tape.
4. If students do not like the placement of an object, encourage them to pull off
the tape and try again.
5. Show how an object will look different if turned upside-down, sideways, or even
inside-out. Suggest that students hide a special object under or behind something
else.
6. Students can also follow the directions below to make three-dimensional shapes
out of white copy paper. These shapes create positive and negative space inside
the boxes, adding variety and interest.
Spiral: Cut out a circle. Beginning at the perimeter, cut round and round, making
smaller and smaller circles.
Cylinder: Cut out a rectangle. Roll it up and fasten the edges with tape.
Cone: Cut out a circle. Make another cut from the edge to the center of the
circle. Overlap the two straight edges you have created. Fasten with tape.
Accordion Fold: Cut out a rectangle, and fold it into narrow strips by bending
the paper back and forth on itself.
7. Fill the box in any way desired. Any design or assemblage is acceptable.
8. Once you are satisfied with your assemblage, glue the pieces in place. Some items
will be easy to paste with white glue. Others will require masking tape or even hot
glue. Get help from an adult with the hot glue.
9. When the box is filled as desired, let dry overnight. Once dry, take the boxes
outside and spray the entire box and all its contents with a single color of paint.
10. (Optional). When dry, touch bits of gold paint here and there to highlight the
shapes and textures in the assemblage, if desired.
11. For a stunning display, assemble the boxes into one large wall sculpture.
12. When you are finished, decide with students on a good title for your sculptured
wall. Take time to shake hands all around and to congratulate yourselves on a
wonderful team effort.
Group Sculpture Assembly:
Here is one way to assemble the sculpture that worked well for us:
Use hot glue to connect the boxes together into a rectangular sculpture. Begin by lining
up 5-6 of the sturdiest boxes on their sides on a flat surface (such as the workroom
table) and glue end to end. These boxes will form the base of the sculpture. Next lie
the line of connected boxes open side up and begin hot gluing more boxes in rows until
you have a large rectangle of boxes. It makes it more interesting if you turn the boxes
lengthwise and widthwise when you glue them but try to fit them as a puzzle to minimize
open spaces. Use 1 or 2 dabs of hot glue on each connected side to hold the boxes
securely together. When completed, two people can carefully lift the box to a standing
position and carefully carry outdoors to be spraypainted. Lie the sculpture down on
butcher paper on the grass outside Use one color of spray paint to thoroughly cover
all exposed areas including the insides and outsides of the boxes and all the items glued
inside. Each sculpture will probably require 2 cans of paint for complete coverage. *Put
bandaids on your fingers in advance as holding down the spray button for so long can
cause a nasty blister! You can add spots of a contrasting color to highlight individual
items. For example, paint the entire sculpture white and then spray shots of gold on
individual items.
Let dry for an hour or so before lifting and carrying to the
classroom, library, or hallway to be displayed. The sculpture can be propped up on a
box, shelf or counter top to bring closer to eye level. Against drywall, use pushpins to
secure several of the top row boxes to the drywall behind it. On cement block walls,
carefully use a dab of hot glue on the back corners of the top boxes (do NOT use hot
glue on drywall).
The final displays look very cool and are great to have up during the Arwalk!
Art Masterpiece Project Request for 5th Grade
This month, the 5th grade classes will be doing a special three-dimensional
sculpture project. Each student will need to bring in a shoebox (kid or
adult size but no toddler or boot boxes) along with 10 or more lightweight
throwaway items or “junque”. These should be sent in at least 2 days prior
to your class’s project date (see below).
Here are some sample items: Paper towel or toilet paper tubes, tiny
boxes like those used for jewelry, cardboard egg cartons, lightweight wood
items with interesting shapes and angles such as: beads, drawer pulls, large
buttons, jigsaw puzzle pieces, paper plates or cups, bits and pieces of
cardboard, packing materials, metal bolts and washers.
*PLEASE NO STYROFOAM, it melts when glued and/or painted. ALSO,
NO GLASS OR METAL ITEMS WITH JAGGED EDGES OR SHARP
POINTS.
Note: We’d like 1 or 2 parent helpers per class to help with a glue
gun for objects that wont hold with regular glue. Please contact your
child’s teacher if you would like to come in for an hour during your
project date/time. Thank you!
PROJECT DATE/TIME:
5th GRADE--PROJECT #5
Artist: Louise Nevelson
Masterpiece: Sky Cathedral
Lesson: Scrap Box Art/A three dimensional collage with found items
Project Samples:
Art Masterpiece: Sky Cathedral
Louise Nevelson 1899-1988
Louise Nevelson was born in Russia around 1900, but grew up in Maine.
When she was a child, her father owned a lumberyard and she had access
to wonderful scraps of wood. She used to nail or glue woodscraps onto
other wood pieces and make “assemblages”, or art created from odds, ends,
scraps, and junk. While she wanted to become an artist from an early age,
Nevelson became famous later in life for her unique assemblages. Your
young artist created “art-in-a-box” with cardboard and found items, which
was painted and glued together to form a class wall-sculpture.
Art Masterpiece: Sky Cathedral
Louise Nevelson 1899-1988
Louise Nevelson was born in Russia around 1900, but grew up in Maine.
When she was a child, her father owned a lumberyard and she had access
to wonderful scraps of wood. She used to nail or glue woodscraps onto
other wood pieces and make “assemblages”, or art created from odds, ends,
scraps, and junk. While she wanted to become an artist from an early age,
Nevelson became famous later in life for her unique assemblages. Your
young artist created “art-in-a-box” with cardboard and found items, which
was painted and glued together to form a class wall-sculpture.
Art Masterpiece: Sky Cathedral
Louise Nevelson 1899-1988
Louise Nevelson was born in Russia around 1900, but grew up in Maine.
When she was a child, her father owned a lumberyard and she had access
to wonderful scraps of wood. She used to nail or glue woodscraps onto
other wood pieces and make “assemblages”, or art created from odds, ends,
scraps, and junk. While she wanted to become an artist from an early age,
Nevelson became famous later in life for her unique assemblages. Your
young artist created “art-in-a-box” with cardboard and found items, which
was painted and glued together to form a class wall-sculpture.
Louise Nevelson
(1899-1988)
Louise Nevelson is known for her abstract expressionist “boxes” grouped together to form a
new creation. She used found objects or everyday discarded things in her “assemblages” or
assemblies, one of which was three stories high. Says Nevelson:”When you put together
things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life
that surpasses the life for which they were originally created."
Born of a Jewish timber merchant in the Ukraine, Leah (as she was originally known) migrated
to the United States around 1905 due to her father's business taking her to Rockland, Maine.
Reports suggest the young girl played with timber almost from the time she arrived in Maine,
and set her sights on becoming a sculptor by age ten, creating some sculptures from wooden
scraps. She later said, "From earliest childhood, I knew I was going to be an artist. I felt like
an artist."
She only began studying art seriously, however, when in 1920 she married Charles Nevelson, a
wealthy ship owner, and later enrolled at the Arts Students League to study painting, voice
and dance. She had one child, Myron (later renamed Mike), but because Charles was opposed
to her studying arts, she separated from him in 1931 (though formal divorce did not occur
until 1941). With Hans Hoffmann, Nevelson studied in Munich until the Nazis took over in
1933, after which she exhibited small-scale works for the first time.
In 1937 she worked with renowned Mexican painter and political activist Diego Rivera on the
Rockefeller murals, and during this period she worked in teaching with the New Deal's WPA.
During the 1940s she showed five major exhibitions exhibiting the influences of surrealism
and collage. She was prodigiously productive during the next fifteen years, as she evolved the
sophisticated collage made of wood scraps (some meters high!) that became her specialty.
During the following two decades, Nevelson, aided by a forceful public personality and a
flamboyant style of clothing, exhibited widely throughout the major art centers of the world
and received many public commissions. To commemorate her work, the Louise Nevelson Plaza,
an entire outdoor garden of her wood and metal collages, was established in Lower Manhattan
during 1979.
Louise Nevelson died in her home in 1988, but has retained her reputation as one of the most
significant artists of the twentieth century since. She has been commemorated on a number
of postage stamps since her death.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Special Request for Help with our 5th Grade Art Masterpiece Project
This month, our class will be doing a very special three-dimensional sculpture project,
and we are very excited about it. In order for this to be a success, we are asking for
some help from you, the parents. Our sculpture will be a group classroom collage made
out of found objects and cardboard boxes. We are asking that you save some small
throwaway items and “junque” for the next two weeks, and send them in with your child
on or before the day of their project.
Here is a list of materials we can use: Shallow cardboard cartons or shoeboxes,
paper tubes from paper towels, toilet rolls, etc, small cardboard boxes, cardboard egg
cartons, wood scraps, other wood items such as: beads, drawer pulls, buttons, jigsaw
puzzle pieces, paper plates or cups, bits and pieces of cardboard, packing materials.
*PLEASE NO STYROFOAM, it melts when glued and/or painted. ALSO, PLEASE,
NO GLASS ITEMS, OR METAL ITEMS WITH JAGGED EDGES.
As we will be gluing some items with hot glue, we could use some volunteers during class
time, for about an hour, on the day noted below. If you would be available to come in and
use a hot glue gun for an hour, please write in your name and telephone number below,
and send it back with your child.
Thanks for helping us with this fun project!
M ______________’s class will be making a collage on the following date:
Day_______________________ Month _________________________
Date______________________ Time _________________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yes! I would like to come in and help with gluing stuff for about an hour.
Name: ___________________________________________
Child’s Name: ______________________________________
Telephone number: ___________________________________
Sky Cathedral, 1958
wood, painted black, 115 x 135 x 20"
George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 1970
"From earliest childhood, I knew I was going to be an artist. I felt like an artist." By age
nine Louise Nevelson knew that she wanted specifically to be a sculptor. She achieved
her goal, eventually becoming an international figure in contemporary art. She is best
known for works such as Sky Cathedral, a wall piece made up of boxes filled with various
wood fragments. This type of work began in the 1940s, when Nevelson began collecting
wood objects of all types and putting them together in unusual and innovative ways. In
1957, a box of liquor she received for Christmas, with its interior partitions, gave her
the idea to put her assemblages into boxes. When her studio became too crowded, and
she ran out of room to work, she stacked the boxes on top of one another. She soon
noticed that this space-saving technique had created a new form of sculpture.
Sky Cathedral is made up of thirty-eight boxes, each filled with a different array of
wood fragments. Not all of the wood fragments were found, however; once she achieved
prominence as an artist, she had a number of them made to order. Her creation process
is primarily intuitive and rarely involves drawing plans in advance. Choosing from various
stockpiles of wood fragments, she puts them together with relative spontaneity,
adjusting as she progresses.
The previous contexts of the wood fragments are hidden by the fact that everything is
painted one color. This takes away their individuality and stresses their new function as
part of a larger whole. Nevelson chose black for several reasons. First, she feels that it
does not bring up the kinds of associations or moods that other colors can evoke—
except for mystery, a quality that she values in her sculpture. Also, she believes it is
the "most aristocratic color," lending the works a certain elegance. Black also refers to
shadows, and Nevelson said "I really deal with shadow and space….I identify with the
shadow." To make shadow and mystery even stronger elements in her work, Sky
Cathedral is placed against a black wall and lit with diffuse light from the side. This
makes the shadows even more dramatic, and creates a sense of sometimes cavernous
depth within the boxes.
The composition is asymmetrical, yet balanced. Each of the boxes functions well as part
of the whole, but could also exist as a complete work of art. There are many different
moods within in the various boxes, which add to the mystery of Sky Cathedral: some are
open, with their contents clearly visible; others are closed to view; still others offer
only a partial glimpse of what is inside. These varying amounts of access could find
parallels in human behavior, in which some people are very open about themselves while
others are more reticent about their lives and feelings.
Nevelson herself was outgoing, independent, and self-assured. Although admired by
feminists, she said, "The creative concept has no sex or is perhaps feminine in nature."
She feels that her works are "feminine" and "delicate: it may look strong, but it is
delicate. True strength is delicate. My whole life is in it, and my whole life is feminine."
— Mariann Smith