If you've seen these plastic bodies in transport from New Buffalo High School to the K-12 Art show at the elementary, do not be alarmed! These figurative sculptures were created by the 3D Design class as part of their Humanoid project. Inspired by the work of artists like George Segal and Mark Jenkins, students split into groups to construct life-size figures made of clear duct tape.
A figurative sculpture is a 3D work of art that represents a human figure, however real or altered from the original source. These artists have experimented with figurative sculptures in different contexts and environments to tell stories in public spaces.
Step 1: Think Tank
My high school students collaborated in groups of 3-4 people to build a humanoid that would wear one of their paper hat sculptures made in a previous unit. They brainstormed ideas for their theme and how their sculpture would be freestanding either in a seated position or propped upright to support its own weight.
Below: Students settle on a pose for the humanoid group of " A Knight in Not So Shining Armor"
Step 2: Get Wrapping!
Students took turns being the model to create a humanoid sculpted of body parts from each person in their group put together. We started wrapping the hands and arms before moving onto the torso to get familiar with the process and build up their trust.
Each body part being molded was covered in plastic wrap as a protective layer. The plastic covered section was carefully overlapped in a single layer of clear packaging tape. Students had to make sure that they didn't wrap too tightly as they completely covered each section in tape.
Once fully wrapped in a single layer, I demonstrated how to cut the plastic section off by placing a finger into the end of the mold to give a little slack as you carefully cut along the outside until the person can wiggle their arm free. Once a plastic limb was cut from the model, students would switch out for a new person to take on the role of the humanoid model.
3. Parts of a Humanoid, Come Together
Once the humanoid's arms were formed, the person being taped could help with wrapping one section of their body at a time. This was especially important when wrapping personal areas. The model would wrap themselves in plastic wrap and tape with their group members acting as assistants helping to bring the roll of tape around for the tape person.
We always prioritized the comfort-level of the humanoid model, never wrapping more than we needed at one time to quickly tape and free them. For example, if the pose needed the model to be on one knee, they rested their leg on the table in a bent position while sitting in a chair instead of kneeling down on the floor for the whole taping process.
Below: The head and the neck area were taped separately using foam heads before reattaching to the body.
Each of these sections from different people were later combined into one humanoid sculpture.
4. Reattach the plastic sections
Students retaped over the cut sections, putting the pieces back together. Some groups stuffed their humanoid sculpture with recycled plastic bags or newspaper while others decided to maintain a hollow structure with clear tape. Since they only wrapped one layer of tape on their classmates, these sections needed to be strengthened with a couple layers of clear packaging tape once put together into the humanoid.
There were a lot of laughs throughout this process!
5. Problem Solving and Collaboration
As the excitement of putting the humanoid together started to take form, students had to work together to capture the original intent with the humanoid's pose and stability. They had to incorporate one of their group member's paper hats and create a prop made of recycled materials to connect with their theme.
They also had to find a way to make the sculpture freestanding. Sometimes, they found that a section needed to be cut and reattached or even taped differently to stand on its own. Each person was actively involved in the project working towards a common goal to achieve the end result with some students even helping other groups where they could.
6. Critique and Reflect
As students put the final touches on their group projects, they came up with a group name for their humanoid and wrote self-reflections about the process and theme in their artist statements. The humanoids brought a new perspective to the art galleries in the high school and even made a special appearance at the elementary school for the NBAS K-12 District Art Show!
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Humanoid: "Hermes"
This humanoid was inspired by Hermes known as the God of War in Greek mythology with cardboard wings on his helmet and sandals. Hermes was posed as if in a starting block on his knees, ready to sprint into action!
Group reflections:
10th Grade Student: My favorite part of this work are the wings on the feet and how they compliment the hat. The pose we intended was changed halfway through, so we had to use tension in the tape, on the inside and out, to properly pose and structure the sculpture. The lack of balance in this new pose was surprising to our group and we had to save the shape by adding newspaper and tape when reassembled.
12th Grade Student: I believe this project was very fun, but challenging. I love how we collaborated, and got things done. I loved how our humanoid turned out.
11th Grade Student: Hermes was created with plastic wrap, tape, newspaper, and cardboard for the wings on the shoes through a process of wrapping certain body parts in plastic, then covering them with tape. Creating the body parts was relatively simple, though attaching the different parts and getting the sculpture to stand on its own was difficult.
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Humanoid: "A Knight in Not So Shining Armor"
A medieval knight with a helmet and sword ready for anything!
Group reflections:
12th Grade Student: The inspiration for this artwork was medieval knights. While making this sculpture, we had to be careful when creating the right leg so that the knee was in a more structurally sound pose. We had to force the knee into place, which made it unstable and caused the freestanding sculpture to rely mostly on the sword as a counterbalance in order to hold itself up.
12th Grade Student: We were inspired by the knight's helmet to create this humanoid. There were some obstacles in the process with getting the legs in the right position and we had to bend and reshape them a bit. The decision to fill it with newspaper was very helpful as it would not have been sturdy without it.
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Humanoid: "Make Sense - Makin' Cents - Making Incense"
Inspired by incense farmers, this sculpture is a humanoid working in the field. The prop was made by rolling butcher paper, tied with yarn, and brushed with red paint on the tips.
Group reflections:
11th Grade Student: My favorite part is that it highlights movement and articulation in a unique way. It really looks like a snapshot of a farmer and can also show isolation and solidarity in remote areas. I am proud of the problem solving we used with the head, buffing it out with more newspaper, because it looks more proportional to the rest of the figure.
12th Grade Student: The inspiration for this project was Southeast Asian women who work in incense fields; while they are the subject of sightseeing and satisfying photos, they make little money and the labor is unyielding. My favorite part of this artwork was the modeling and sculpting process! It was satisfying to see the pieces come together and the articulations connect because of how our wrapping and sculpting techniques improved and became more efficient throughout. The process itself surprised me! I didn't know how it would go at first and was pleased by how quickly and safely it went.
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The humanoids made their debut at Parent Teacher Conferences last week for the K-12 Art Show with one final exhibition at the New Buffalo MS/HS Spring Band Concert. The students at the BASE after school program were excited to look at the lifelike sculptures and see all the artwork from the older students and their classmates. The 3D Design students took creative risks and collaborated as a team to create their humanoid sculptures.
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