Sculpture and the Art of Maccabees

Fifth graders spend all of their first trimester in Art creating figurative sculptures with wire armature and carved apple heads. They then costume their sculptures to represent the Maccabees, the heroes of the Hanukah story. For more details about the history of Hanukah, click here.

Like the second grade portraits, this is a project borrowed from my own elementary art  experience as a child. The unit begins with figure drawing, for which the students use manikins. We focus on angle, proportion, and negative space. Here is an example of one student's manikin drawing:

Following the practice drawings with the manikins, "real life" Maccabees hopped in a time capsule and visited the classroom (in other words, we were visited by very patient and willing faculty with costumes and props from our generous theater department). Here is a photo of "Sara" and "Judah" aka, our theater and music teachers...

And this is our head of school dressed as Judah!

The heads of the Maccabee sculptures are made from peeled, carved apples. Here's one after about a week:

Next, fifth graders will be sketching their Maccabees based on manikin drawings, creating the armature with wire, covering it with plaster, and creating costumes and accessories. Here's a finished product from last year.