B. Drama / D. Visual Arts · Drama and Visual Arts

Visual Arts: Forms, Sculpture and Texture

D1.1 D1.4 D2.2About 50 minutes

Learning goals

I can tell the difference between a sculpture in the round and a relief.
I can add texture to clay or dough by pinching, pressing, scoring, piercing and scraping.
I can describe a surface as matte or shiny (with a sheen).
I can make a collagraph print from a low-relief plate.
I can solve a design challenge and explain my choices.

Words to know

form
A three-dimensional (3D) shape that has height, width and depth, like a sphere, a cube or a sculpture.

sculpture in the round
A free-standing sculpture you can walk all the way around and see from every side.

relief
A sculpture that sticks out from a flat background, so you see it mostly from the front. Low relief (bas-relief) sticks out only a little, like the picture on a coin.

texture elaboration
Adding texture to a surface by embossing, piercing, pinching, pressing, scoring or scraping.

matte
A dull surface that doesn't shine, like chalk or paper.

sheen
A soft shine on a surface, like a polished stone or satin ribbon.

collagraph
A print made from a plate built up with glued-on textured materials ("colla" comes from a Greek word for glue).

design challenge
A problem to solve with art materials, with rules, like "make a figure that stands up on its own."

Remember from Grade 3

You learned the difference between real texture (you can feel it) and illusory texture (it only looks bumpy), and made a foam-tray print. In Grade 4 you will build forms, create texture with your hands and tools, and make a new kind of print: a collagraph.

Look at a loonie

Take a $1 coin (a loonie). Run your finger over the loon. It's raised, but only a little, from the flat background around it. That's a low relief sculpture, right in your pocket!

Now think of a statue in a park. You can walk all the way around it. That's a sculpture in the round.

Left: a small figure sculpture standing on a base, with a dashed loop around it to show you can walk all the way around (in the round). Right: a flat plaque with a raised leaf, seen from the front, and below it a side view showing the leaf bumping up from the flat background (relief).

Two kinds of sculpture

Sculpture in the round: free-standing, seen from every side. The artist must think about the front, back, sides and top. Example: Henry Moore, a British sculptor, made huge, smooth, rounded figures, often with holes through them, so the negative space becomes part of the sculpture. His large bronze sculpture The Archer stands in Nathan Phillips Square, in front of Toronto City Hall.
Relief: sticks out from a flat background. Low relief (bas-relief) sticks out only a little. Examples: coins, medals, carved designs on old buildings, and many masks.

Inuit artists in the North are well known for sculptures in the round carved from stone, such as serpentine, as well as bone and antler. Many show animals, people and life on the land. Haida artist Bill Reid made a large bronze sculpture of a canoe full of creatures from Haida stories, called The Spirit of Haida Gwaii. One version, The Jade Canoe, is at the Vancouver International Airport.

A large smooth bronze sculpture with a big hole through its middle, standing on a stone base in a park. — This is a sculpture in the round: you can walk all the way around it. The hole lets negative space become part of the artwork. AI-generated image

Just for fun

Canada's $1 coin shows a loon, so people nicknamed it the loonie. When the $2 coin arrived, it became the toonie: two + loonie. Low relief in your pocket, with a silly name!

Making texture: six techniques

On clay, salt dough or playdough, try these six texture elaboration techniques:

Technique	How to do it	Texture it makes
pinching	squeeze bits between your thumb and finger	points, ridges, spikes (like a porcupine)
pressing	push in a button, a fork, a leaf, a bottle cap	dents and printed patterns
scoring	scratch lines with a craft stick or fork	grooves, fur, bark, grass
piercing	poke holes with a pencil or toothpick	holes, dots, lace-like patterns
scraping	drag a comb or the edge of a plastic card	rows of fine lines, like waves or wood grain
embossing	press from behind on foil or thin card	raised shapes that pop out on the front

Six ways to elaborate texture

Matte or sheen?

Texture quality is about how a surface looks in the light:

Matte: dull, no shine. Chalk, paper, unglazed clay, a cotton T-shirt.
Sheen: a soft shine. A polished stone, satin, a spoon, a glazed mug.

Sculptors choose on purpose. Many stone carvers polish parts of a carving so they have a sheen and leave other parts rough and matte, so the two textures contrast.

Collagraphs: printing a low relief

A collagraph plate is a low relief made by gluing flat, textured things onto cardboard: string, corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap, leaves, lace, sandpaper, mesh from a fruit bag.

When you paint the plate and press paper on it, the raised parts print and the low parts stay pale. Each material prints its own texture!

How a collagraph works. Only the raised materials on the plate pick up paint, so they print dark, and each material leaves its own texture. Low parts stay pale.

Worked example

Example: Solving a design challenge

Design challenge: "Make a figure in the round, about the height of your hand, that stands up on its own and shows a person doing something you love."

Plan: I love tobogganing, so my figure will be pulling a toboggan. I sketch it from the front and the side.
Choose materials: aluminum foil for the body (it bends and holds a pose), a small piece of cardboard for the toboggan.
Try it: I squeeze foil into a head, body, arms and legs. It falls over! Problem.
Solve it: I make the feet wider and bend the figure forward so its weight is over its feet. I attach it to a cardboard base with tape. Now it stands.
Check from all sides: I turn it around. From the back, the arms look flat, so I pinch them to make them rounder.
Explain: "I widened the feet and added a base so it would balance. Because it's in the round, I checked every side."

A design challenge means plan, try, find a problem, solve it, check, and then explain your choices.

Worked example

Example: Analyzing a sculpture

Let's describe a stone carving of a polar bear, carved in the round, with art words.

Form: a big, rounded body; you can walk all the way around it, so it's in the round.
Texture: the body is polished with a soft sheen; the paws are scored with small lines for claws, and the base is left rough and matte.
Meaning: the smooth, heavy rounded form makes the bear seem strong and calm. The contrast between shiny body and rough base makes the bear seem to rise out of the rock.
Say it: "The artist used rounded forms and a contrast of sheen and matte texture to show a strong, calm bear."

Name the form, the texture techniques and qualities, and the effect they create.

Hands-on activity

Texture tiles and a collagraph print

You need: playdough or modelling clay (or homemade salt dough), texture tools (a fork, buttons, a comb, a craft stick, a pencil, bottle caps, leaves), a piece of cardboard (cereal box), white glue, flat textured materials (string, bubble wrap, lace, corrugated cardboard, leaves), washable paint, a paintbrush or sponge, paper, and a spoon.

Part 1: Texture tiles

Flatten six small pieces of dough into tiles, each about the size of a cracker.
On each tile, use one technique: pinching, pressing, scoring, piercing, scraping, and on foil, embossing (press a shape from the back of a piece of foil laid over a soft towel).
Close your eyes and let a family member hand you tiles. Can you name the technique by touch?

Part 2: Collagraph print (two sessions, because the glue must dry)

Draw a simple design on the cardboard, about something you love: a pet, a leaf, a hockey net, a fish.
Glue flat textured materials onto different parts. Keep everything low and flat. Let it dry overnight.
Brush or dab a thin layer of paint over the plate.
Lay paper on top. Rub firmly with the back of a spoon, everywhere.
Peel it off slowly. Each material prints its own texture! Try a second print in a new colour.

Safety: a grown-up should help with pencil or toothpick piercing. If you make salt dough and bake it, a grown-up handles the oven. Wash hands after using clay and paint.

Your turn

What is the difference between a sculpture in the round and a relief?

Is the picture on a coin in the round or relief?

Name three ways to add texture to clay.

Which texture quality is dull: matte or sheen?

What is a collagraph?

What texture would scoring with a fork make on clay? What could it show?

Why does a sculptor making a piece in the round have to check every side?

More practice: warm-up

Name an object at home with a sheen.

Name an object at home with a matte surface.

Which technique uses a pencil or toothpick to poke holes?

True or false: In a collagraph print, the raised parts print the most paint.

Is a statue you can walk around in the round or relief?

More practice: on your own

You want clay fur on a bear sculpture. Which technique would you use, and why?

Why did Henry Moore put holes through many of his sculptures?

Your foil figure keeps falling over. Give two ways to solve the design challenge.

Why should materials on a collagraph plate be low and flat?

Describe the texture of a pine cone and say which clay technique could show it.

Challenge

Plan a relief tile about your community. Describe what is raised, the textures you'd use and why.

A carver polishes a seal's body until it shines, but leaves the rock under it rough. Explain the effect.

Compare a sculpture in the round and a relief of the same moose. What can each one show that the other can't easily show?

Check your understanding

Quiz

A sculpture you can walk all the way around is ___.

The raised picture on a coin is a ___.

Scratching lines into clay with a fork is called ___.

A polished stone with a soft shine has a ___.

A collagraph plate is made by ___.

Your sculpture falls over. Which is the best next step in a design challenge?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 4 shape and form includes free-standing forms "in the round" (the curriculum mentions Henry Moore's figurative work) and bas-relief sculpture (e.g., masks). Texture includes texture elaboration (embossing, piercing, pinching, pressing, scoring, scraping), texture quality (matte, sheen) and low relief in collagraphs. Students create work from their own interests (D1.1), solve design challenges with a variety of tools and materials (D1.4), and analyze how artists use the elements (D2.2).

How to help:

Salt dough: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, about 3/4 cup water. It air-dries in a few days, or a grown-up can bake it at a low temperature.
Collect "texture treasures" in a box: string, bubble wrap, lace, sandpaper, fruit-bag mesh, leaves.
When you see public sculptures or carvings in a museum, ask: "In the round or relief? What textures do you see?"

Safety: supervise piercing with pencils or toothpicks, keep small items away from younger siblings (choking hazard), and a grown-up handles any oven use. Use washable, non-toxic paint and wash hands afterward.

Common difficulties:

Collagraph plates that are too bumpy. Choose flat materials; thick objects stop the paper from touching the rest of the plate.
Prints that are blotchy. Use a thin layer of paint and rub everywhere with the spoon.
Frustration when sculptures fall. That's the design challenge! Celebrate problem-solving, not just the final piece.