Calder Continuous Line
Supplies
How do lines make shapes?
• sketchbook • extra fine Sharpie • wire • wooden cube • scissors • glue
STEAM Concept
made a shape. Drawing a circle is a good example of starting at a point, drawing a line, and then turning that line into a shape by returning to where you started.
What exactly are dimensions? Scientists use different dimensions to measure the physical qualities of an object-whether that is time, space, mass, or something else. In math, dimensions are used mostly for measuring length. A line exists in one dimension; it may have length, but no height. Shapes exist in two dimensions; they have both length and height, but no width. Forms are objects that take up three dimensions; length, height, and width. They have a thickness or depth to them that pushes them into the third dimension.
Two artists who worked with the idea of how lines can form shapes and images were Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso. These artists were active from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Although there isn’t a single school of art that can contain all of their work, both artists would be considered part of the Modern Art period. Picasso used continuous line drawings to make illustrations on paper and light drawing in photographs. He would start with his marker at one point and try to draw an image without ever lifting the marker off the page. Calder liked this playful and loose approach to making art. He applied this to the medium of wire, twisting and bending one long wire into a sculpture. We’re going to try to do both!
In math, a line is the connection of any two points. Points don’t have any dimensions--they are just a marker of one place in space!! When you connect two points and make a line, you have a start point and an endpoint. As soon as your line closes in on itself or returns to its original shape you have
Standards
Learning Objective
NCAS: Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. SEL: Self Management and Responsible Decision-Making CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1-3.G.A.1-3: Reason with shapes and their attributes.
Distinguish the dimensions of a point and a line. Practice different types of line. Examine how Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso used line.
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