You may opt to do this activity using a digital camera or sketching on index cards–if sketching on index cards you could draw a 4” x 4” square to create a contained area for sketching. This activity was conceived as working with a sculpture-in-the-round, but it could also work with a large work of art that hangs on the wall.
- Break your group into 2-4 smaller groups and assign a zone of the sculpture to them.
- Discuss birds-eye view and ground-level perspective with them.
- Ask them to take time to look, then identify a detail from this zone that stands out to them. Have them discuss how the detail relates to the sculpture as a whole.
- Have each group take a photo or sketch their selected detail from an interesting perspective.
- The groups will pass their sketch or photo to a group across from them. Each group will try to identify the key detail and come up with a theory for why that detail was selected and how it relates to the themes of the sculpture.
- Groups will share their impressions and compare how hearing the thoughts of another group impacted their own thinking.