This project began with the book Sandy’s Circus by Tanya Lee Stone. This book is actually about the artist, Alexander Calder. His nickname was Sandy. Calder began his career performing with a mechanical circus he built by hand. I told the kids that he basically created his own toys and was paid to let people watch him play. : ) He developed this passion for the circus from working as an illustrator for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
We started out by creating an elaborately decorated train car for our animals to ride in. Then students chose their animals. Some followed me in a directed drawing while others drew from their imaginations or copied from a hand out. I let them use pencil since this was a little tricky. Then we outlined in Sharpie and painted with puck tempera. The last step was to cut them out and glue them on black paper. They really are precious. : )
