Navajo Storyteller Figures

The children and I learned about the importance of storytelling as tradition in the Navajo culture. Storyteller figures in terracotta clay depict that tradition. Each student created a storyteller of their own in terracotta air-dry clay, and decorated it with acrylic paint. Some distinctive features of the figures are the round open mouth, closed eyes, and traditional Navajo dress. 

Standing figure forms were shaped like a bell, and then head, hair, and arms were added using score and slip method. For seated figures, children formed a thick coil, bent it into an 'L' shape, and then separated the bottom half into two legs. Again head, hair, and arms were added using score and slip method. Figures were painted using a limited palette and some areas of the clay were left unpainted. Details were added with fine brushes and/or black sharpie marker. Enjoy!

The Completed Giacometti Sculptures

Here are some of the completed Giacometti sculptures. The children really took to this project and were so productive. If the stages are messy, tactile and fun, I think we can accomplish anything!

Our sculptures grouped together and compared with the master.

Heavy Walker

Tall Female

 Arms Wide Open

Low and Lazy

Giacometti Sculptures

My students and I worked as sculptors and created figures inspired by Alberto Giacometti. We talked about how the figures made us feel. They are tall, lonely, and held to their bases with heavy feet. They are textural and monochromatic. I showed them photographs of the artist with his works and they could see how he looked like his artwork. We then talked about the process of casting a metal sculpture and one of my students wanted to know why we weren't going to do our sculptures that way. Since my studio doesn't have the capacity for a foundry, I made things up to them by letting the paint their sculptures with metallic acrylic paint.

We each started with an 8" square base of corrugated cardboard and four 12" lengths of light garden wire to create an armature. I've seen this lesson done with pipe cleaners as well, but I just couldn't cover them up! We began by placing the legs onto the base where we thought our figure should stand, and then poked the wires through the base, bent about a 1/2 " of wire flat long the bottom, and taped it there. These two lengths of wire became the bottom of the torso and legs. The third length became the arms, and the fourth was shaped into the head, neck, and upper torso. Next we took large pieces of aluminum foil and molded them around the wire armature to flesh out the figure's shape. The final stages were to wrap the foil with strips of plaster gauze to harden and solidify the sculpture and then to add a coat of acrylic paint. The children got to choose from copper and bronze. The final projects are coming up on my next post!