A core group of children continues to be stimulated by our Sheila Pepe inspired studio sculpture. As the weeks have continued many loops have been connected, ribbons attached and lace intertwined within its armature. However these additions seemed to remain strictly confined to the ‘tomato cage’ structure. Reminding the children of the scope of Sheila’s work we revisited the museum to look at the expansiveness of her piece. This time we brought a material – wire – to encourage the children to experiment.
As the children were working they discovered different properties of the wire compared to the strings they had been using previously.
Kyla – You can curl it.
Ursula – On your finger.
Like you do with string?
Ursula – String uncurls. This stays the same.
Tessa – Look a knot.
Alex – It makes a C.
Amelia – Lots of knots.
They also began to notice different aspects of Sheila’s work.
Alex – I see rope.
Amelia – And more rope.
Alex – That is connected. I wonder if it goes past that sculpture too.
The children were beginning to realize the size and length of the piece we were observing. It inspired them to connect all their different wire creations together.
After documenting the children’s enthusiasm around wire it became apparent that others may be intrigued by this new material. As a provocation we initially presented them with a blank canvas and varying lengths and colors of wire. During these interactions with the wire we heard similar vocabulary to that used while engaged with the fibrous materials.
Hook – Connecting – Straighten – Handle –
Tie – Attaches – Twisting – Wrapping –
Moving forward we are curious to see if this work shifts as this provocation is altered.
