Design a Shoe Sculpture

Submitted by: Justin Kramer
Unit: Sculpture - mixed media - ceramic - paper mache
Lesson: "Cinderella's' Revenge" - Design a Shoe
Grade Level: High School (adaptable to middle school)
See Ceramis Shoes Lesson Plan | See Lesson sheet by Sara Gant

 

Procedure:

This is a good unit for problem solving skills. Students should already be familiar with sculpture techniques and hand building techniques for clay.

 

The students were required to respond to the exhibition "Cinderella's Revenge" [Archive] by generating a work that could be exhibited alongside the works shown in the exhibition [Archive]. They were encouraged to explore a whimsical interpretation of a shoe. We discussed interpretations of what could constitute as a shoe - these include thongs, flippers, skates, the word shoe, etc. Some of the students ended up using the word shoe and painting it in graffiti style on a sheet of paper. I didn't document many of the 2D versions - the 3D ones were far more creative.

 

      

 

      

 

      

 

      

 

From Justin Kramer:

Students were encouraged to use the media of their own choosing, this included mixed media, collage, Paper Mache, drawing, painting, construction and carving (Moist Clay). They brainstormed possible construction methods and negotiated for media via design plans.

 

The work sent to you were from a year 9 class. In retrospect I feel that I might have had more surreal interpretations from an older group. Technically they handled the media very well but on the whole they struggled with the student-directed activity and were quite needy. This isn't the case with older students. I will be doing the art cars with some of the same students next year and with this previous experience they should be a lot more confident in being creative rather than being conservative or stereotypical.

The brief was very simple and allowed the students to be very creativity. They enjoyed this unit - on the whole the boys were the most successful with it - something which I didn't predict.

Examples from the exhibition "Cinderella's revenge" were used to discuss the variety of possibilities and were used to encourage students to be adventurous.

 

Student work on this page is by students at Dakabin State High School, Queensland, Australia. Justin now teaches at North Lakes State College.

 

See Ceramic Shoes Lesson Plan. Also see Shoe Sculptures.

 

Materials

Choice of paint: Acrylic Paint, Glazes, Underglazes
Stoneware Clay (or other Moist Clay)
Wire End Clay Tool Set
Brushes

 

Books

Carving Boots and Shoes With Larry Green - The shoes become works of art to which most people can relate. With step-by-step, color illustrated instructions, Larry gets the reader started on the "right foot." Five boot and shoe projects are described in detail, including a baby shoe, a work book, a cowboy boot, a "Storm" boot, and a ski boot.

 

The Art of the Shoe - Marie-Joséphe Bossan is a curator at the International Shoe Museum in Romans, the French capital of the shoe industry. This museum holds the greatest shoe collection in the world with 12,000 specimens.

 

Links

• Amazing Shoe Sculptures - Some of these really are amazing!

• Artist Inventor Juan Mejias creates shoe sculptures

• Shoe artist Robert Tabor

• Junk shoe artist Gabriel Dishaw

• Shoe artist Marina Dempster

• Geometric shoe sculptures by Tea Petrovic