Teachers Network

“MONSTERS & MYTHS: SCULPTS”

MYTHOLOGY CREATURES

By Lori Langsner, Art Teacher

AIMS: 

1. Students will create a plaster craft (papier-mâché) sculpture to depict mythological creatures.

2. Students will explore myths from many lands, Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Japanese. 

3. Students will create symbolism and three-dimensionality in their sculptures by adding collage materials to depict various associations. (Unicorn - one horn, Cyclops - one eye, Medusa - snakes, Minotaur - bull/man)

 

DO NOW: Describe some words or phrases you would associate with each of the following mythological creatures:      

 KAPPA (Japanese): - head of a monkey, body of a tortoise, limbs lined with scales.  If treated with courtesy, this river dwelling creature is harmless, if ill-treated; it will prey on humans.

SPHINX  (Egyptian): - creature with the body of a lion and the face of a man stands guard over the Great Pyramid. Riddle: “What animal is that which in the morning goes on all fours, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three? (“Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff.”)

UNICORN (Roman):  - described as a ferocious beast, similar to a horse, with the head of a deer, feet of an elephant, tail of a boar, deep bellowing voice and a single black horn standing out from the middle of its forehead. However, it was later discovered to be a great lover of purity and innocence.

MINOTAUR (Greek): half bull, half man, and the most fearsome monster of ancient times. His horns were as sharp as knives, his great hoofs could kick the life out of the strongest of heroes, its food was human flesh, and lived in a labyrinth.

 

VOCABULARY:

1. mythology - stories meant to give meaning to all life occurrences

2. sculpture - a three dimensional form                            

3. plaster craft - gauze impregnated with plaster used for molding 

4. papier-mâché - an art medium of torn paper and past

5. “additive” sculpture – begin with a base and “add” to create dimensionality

 

GRADE LEVEL: 6-8

SETTING:  art classroom

TIME ALLOWANCE: 6 weeks (class meets 4x per week for 40 minutes)

INTERDISCIPLINARY AREAS: Language Arts, History

HOMEWORK:  Using computer technology, research mythological creatures and gather resource information to help you sketch ideas for the creation of your own mythological creature.

MATERIALS: newspaper, plaster craft, found objects and collage materials; branches, twigs, yarn, raffia, ribbon, rubber noses, plastic fingernails, and pre-molded plastic masks, cardboard rolls, bottle caps, tempera and metallic paints, poster board, scissors, glue, hot glue gun, stapler, paintbrushes, water cups, palettes, newspaper, hole punch, gloss medium, glitter paints, sparkles

MOTIVATION:  Language Arts class study of myths from many lands. Homework web sites on mythological creatures will be reviewed and discussed in class, following a visit to our school library where we will explore and share our newly found World Wide Web explorations.

INTERNET LINKS:

http://members.tripod.com/~angelas98/creatures.html  – Greek & Roman Mythological Creatures  

http://library.thinkquest.org/13238/index.htm - Classical Mythology

http://myth.com (under construction - available late Dec. 2000) - Mythology & Folklore

PROCEDURE:

1. Students will brainstorm associations and phrases for various mythological creatures. (Medusa: hideous monster, ugly, scary, venom-like, Minotaur: horns have the sharpness of a silver sword, Unicorn: fantastical, magical, beautiful, loving)

2. Students will contemplate the myth they like best and why and decide what materials would best express their creature.

3. Students will sketch and color their mythological creatures.

4. Using co-operative learning skills, students will work in groups of 2 - 4 to create plaster sculptures:

a) Coat plastic mask with Vaseline or create cardboard and paper base.                    

b) Cut gauze into 2” wide by 6” strips.

c) Cover plastic mask or base by overlapping each strip and repeating 3 times in varying direction.

d) Allow drying for 10 minutes, gently removing plaster from plastic mask and allowing drying on newspaper overnight. 

Each group will continue the process until all is complete.

5. Once dry, sculptures are then sanded, painted, and decorated to illustrate the mythology creatures

6. Fine details may be added, as well as, collage materials to further enhance and exaggerate the mythological theme.

7. Completed sculptures will be displayed in classroom for evaluation and critique.

8. Students will set up a showcase display in school hallway for entire school population to view.

                               

EVALUATION: 

1. Retell the story of different myths you have studied for this project.

2. How are our sculpture similar/different to the pictures you have seen in your readings and web explorations?                            

3. Describe how you created your mythological creature.

4. Why are our “creatures” an example of “additive” sculpture?

5. Which mythology creatures do you like best?  Why?

 

ATTACHMENTS:

Digital images of students and mythological creature sculptures (see link at bottom of page)

                                      

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES:

1. Language Arts class will use sculptures as props in class presentation of myths (Link to Ms. Shea’s lesson: Monsters & Myths)

2. Invite creative writing classes to view our exhibit and respond to our sculptures by writing their own myths.

3. Have other classes create paper masks, papier-mâché masks, and clay masks of mythological creatures. 

4. Visit Museums to view their cultural mask and sculpture collections. 

5. Create student web pages of mythological creations.

6. Produce a book illustrating this interdisciplinary project – (CHAPBOOKS.COM – classroom and community publishing – www.chapbooks.com

 

MYTHOLOGY CREATURES:

1. Medusa

2. Minotaur

3. Unicorn

4. Cyclops

5. Mermaid

6. Sphinx

7. Kappa

ENRICHMENT:

Music playing as students are working on “The Unicorn”

Ask each group to sketch a mythological creature that they make up and then present to the class

 

DIGITAL IMAGES:

Click here to see photo album of students at work and final projects