Year 7 Art project, Yinka Shonibare, Sculpture

1. You will use your imagination to create your own
alien sculpture and develop your skills in
construction by using found materials to build
with. You will develop a pattern based on your
cultural heritage to decorate your alien.
During this project you will explore the work of Yinka Shonibare and
discover how he represents how alien you can feel in a new
environment.
You will learn about the ideas, methods and
approaches used by other artists who have looked at similar
ideas in their work. You will also be introduced to artists who
attempt to express their cultural heritage in their work.
SoW: Aliens (Year 7)

2. Step1: ‘Consequences’
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
Understand the historical art context to the game ‘Consequences’’;
Be able to combine found images and your imagination to realise your ideas;
Work successfully within a team.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will:
Have played the game ‘Consequences’ and contributed to the creation of three
Alien designs
Surrealists believed that the parlour game,
‘Consequences’ was a pure creation of the mind. They
saw it as exploiting the ‘mystique of accident’.
The Chapman Brothers version of the Surrealist game feature
comic-horror imagery: skulls, eyeballs on stalks, grotesque
animal, writhing intestines, and claw-like hands and feet.

3. Inspiration:

4. Step 2: Understand the work of our key artist: Yinka Shonibare
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
Understand the issues behind the work of Yinka Shonibare’s piece, ‘Dysfunctional
Family’.
Be able to explain the cultural heritage and significance of the patterned fabrics
Shonibare uses.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will have:
Worked collaboratively to complete the research sheet about Shonibare.

6. ‘Dysfunctional Family’ by Yinka Shonibare
In pairs, answer the following questions:
Explain what you see in the picture?
Can you recognise the different
members of the family? If so, how do
you know?
How would you describe the
patterns?
Do you associate the patterns on the
fabric with a particular place?
What do you think the artist is trying
to say in this art work? Explain your
reasons.
This art work is part of a series of art
works called ‘Alien Nation’. How
would you define an ‘Alien’?
Does the title help you understand the
artwork?

8. The trail of Shonibare’s fabric….

12. Patterned Fabric

13. ‘Dysfunctional Family’ by Yinka Shonibare
In pairs, answer the following questions:
Explain what you see in the picture?
Can you recognise the different
members of the family? If so, how do
you know?
How would you describe the
patterns?
Do you associate the patterns on the
fabric with a particular place?
What do you think the artist is trying
to say in this art work? Explain your
reasons.
This art work is part of a series of art
works called ‘Alien Nation’. How
would you define an ‘Alien’?
Does the title help you understand the
artwork?
Now that you have heard a little more about the artist- add more information to your sheet
in a different colour.

14. Homework:
1. Write the title- ‘ Dysfunctional Family’ 1999 by Yinka Shonibare -in your
sketchbook.
2. Draw one or more of the figures in colour.
3. Write up your comments from the questions completed in class. Try to use
the specific vocab below.
Grade 2:
Write out each question and
answer each one in full
sentences. Try to include the
words below:
Pattern
Colourful
Batik
Sculpture
Foreign
Alien
Grade 3:
Use the answers from the
class task to help you write a
short paragraph about this
work. Use the level 4 words
and those below:
Issue based work
Installation
Race
Class
Identity
Alienation
Grade 4
Collect more information about other
themes Shonibare addresses in his
work. Write a short paragraph
covering the answers from the
lesson and introducing the
information you have discovered.
Use the level 4, 5 and 6 vocab
within your writing.
Colonialism
Globalisation
Status
Multiculturalism
Stereotype
Controversial
Think carefully about the overall presentation. You may wish to create a border featuring some of the
patterns Shonibare uses or include images of his other work.

15. Step 3: Alien Design
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
Be able to identify the ideas that have the most potential;
Understand construction techniques to a point.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will:
Adapt the consequence outcomes into a design that is far more personal to you;
Envisage how it will look from different angles by drawing your alien from different
viewpoints.

16. Inspiration:

17. Step 4: Create a Maquette
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
•Understand different ways to manipulate paper to create different shapes that have
a range of strengths.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will:
•Have created a maquette (rough model) of your alien;
•Attempted a technique by Jacquet Fritz Junior (if appropriate);
•Photographed your maquette and planned further developments in your sk/bk.
Success Criteria…. What qualities would a successful maquette have?
Make suggestions how your neighbour might have to adapt the design for the final alien on a
post it note. Are there any particular materials or techniques they should use?

18. Jacquet Fritz Junior
(You need two tubes.)

19. Step 5 : Making the Alien- armature
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
•Identify the most appropriate materials to make a sound base for your sculpture;
•Choose the best method of construction to achieve your ideas.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will have:
•Created the armature for your alien.

21. Step 6: Making the Alien- construction
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
•Identify the most appropriate materials to use for different parts of your sculpture;
•Choose the best method of construction to achieve your ideas;
•Plan further developments.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will have:
•Achieved the target set for you at the start of the lesson..
Grade 2:
•I develop my practical skills
and choose the most appropriate
materials and techniques to
make my alien.
•My sculpture is sturdy and has
no loose bits hanging off.
Grade 3:
•I have developed my practical
skills and construction
techniques and can choose the
most appropriate tools and
materials to make my alien.
Grade 4:
•I experiment with and explore the
potentials of materials to plan future
developments in my work.
•I collect useful images and
materials (without being asked by
my teacher) to develop my alien.
•I apply my practical skills and
technical knowledge to achieve my
alien design in 3D.
Set targets for your neighbour at the beginning of every construction lesson. Discuss what
should be completed and write all targets down on a post it note for the plenary at the end.

22. Construction techniques:
Cut and slot card.
Score card to help it bend and create geometric shapes.
Alternatively score all along the width of a length of card to help you create a
curved piece.
Wire- especially good for snake
like shapes.
Makes great hands / claws.
Stuffed tights or socks!
Tights stretched over a wire shape is
also good for creating skeletal shapes.
Paper is the most versatile! You
can:
•Scrunch it and secure it with tape;
•Roll it into strong lengths;
•Layer it, wrap it, crease it and pleat
it;
•You can roll many balls of paper
and tape them together to create a
muscular effect……

23. Safe use of the Stanley knives.
• Always be sure that blades are properly seated in knives and that knives are properly closed and/or
fastened together before use.
• Never leave a knife unattended with the blade exposed.
• Always use sharp blades. A dull blade requires more force and is more likely to slip than a sharp one.
Change the blade whenever it starts to tear instead of cut.
• Protect your eyes - wear safety goggles when working with knives if possible. Never hold a knife to
someone even as a joke.
• Always keep your free hand away from the line of cut.
• Always pull the knife toward you when making a cut on a flat surface. A pulling motion is stronger and
more positive than pushing the knife away from you, and the knife is less likely to slip.
• Use a ridged, metal ruler when cutting a straight edge. The straight edge needs to be thick enough to
prevent the knife from "riding up" over the edge and cutting you.
• When using a knife to cut through thick materials, be patient - make several passes, cutting a little deeper
into the material with each pass.
• USE A CUTTING MAT!

25. Dilomprizulike
• Born in 1960 in Enugu, Nigeria, as Dil Humphrey-Umezulike, Dilomprizulike is
now known as the self-styled 'Junkman From Africa‘.
• He takes materials from the piles of used surplus clothes found on the streets of
African cities, he makes installations and performances that look at what he
describes as 'the alienated situation of the African in his own society.'
• Dilom's descriptions of the life of the 'city-Nigerian' discusses of black alienation
that arises during colonialism and the legacy of the colonial encounter, as well as
the more contemporary phenomenon of globalisation.

26. Step 7: Papier Mache & Coloured Background
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
•Understand the difference between colours that have a harmonious relationship and
those that contrast with each other;
•Have a greater understanding of the techniques used by Wangechi Mutu.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will have:
•Covered your alien with 1 to 3 different coloured tissue paper. Some of you may
have also applied inks and (in a few occasions) bleach to alter the appearance of the
tissue paper.
Analogous or Harmonius colour relationships.
Complementary
(contrasting colours
sit opposite each
other on the colour
wheel).

27. Which of these pairs of colours are harmonius and which pairs are complementary
pairs (sit opposite each other on the colour wheel)?

28. opposite
opposite
harmonious harmonious opposite
harmoniousharmonious
opposite
opposite opposite
harmoniousharmonious

29. • Born in Nairobi, Kenya, educated in Britain and resident in New York since the mid-
nineties.
• Her paintings and collages often feature twisting female forms, their skin an eruption of
mutant appendices like gun shafts or machine gears sprouting from the sockets of joints,
their bodies half human, half hyena.
• Mutu commonly works on paper, manipulating ink and acrylic paint into pools of colour.
• Wangechi Mutu's work boldly explores the contradictions of female and cultural identity,
drawing the viewer into conversations about beauty, consumerism, colonialism, race,
and gender.
Wengechi Mutu
Wangechi Mutu (teachers, watch first!)

30. Grade 2:
•I have developed my practical
skills and chosen the most
appropriate materials and
techniques to make my alien.
•My sculpture is sturdy and has
no loose bits hanging off.
Grade 3:
•I have developed my practical
skills and construction
techniques and can choose the
most appropriate tools and
materials to make my alien.
Grade 4:
•I experiment with and explore the
potentials of materials to plan future
developments in my work.
•I collect useful images and
materials (without being asked by
my teacher) to develop my alien.
•I apply my practical skills and
technical knowledge to achieve my
alien design in 3D.
Construction
Grade 2:
•My sculpture is covered with
one layer of coloured tissue
paper- there are no loose
pieces.
•I use the examples of patterns
to help me design shapes to
cover my alien.
Grade 3:
•My sculpture is covered with
two different colours, I have
also created darker areas with
ink.
•I have experimented with
combinations.of shapes,
collage and drawing to design
my alien’s pattern.
Grade 4:
•I have used a combination of
coloured tissue paper and inks to
create an interesting surface on my
alien similar to Wengechi Mutu.
•I have combined my own patterns
with those by Shonibare to cover my
alien.The tissue shapes compliment
the drawn patterns.
Pattern

31. Step 8: Patterns
Learning objectives. By the end of the task you will:
•Have developed a sensitivity to pattern showing an ability to combine your own
imagery and patterns that already exist.
Learning outcomes. By the end of the task you will have:
•Cut smaller, tissue paper shapes to layer over the coloured background from the last
task;
•Drawn your personal pattern over both layers.

32. Fabric context

33. Abdoulaye Konate
• Abdoulaye Konaté (b. 1953) lives and works
in Bamako, Mali.
• He addresses social, political and economic
problems such as AIDS or the crises
between Israel and Palestine.
• He uses a combination of textiles, gris-gris,
bullets, used clothing or sand.
• His work reflects a Malian, African and
universal collective consciousness.