Alexander Calder, Standing Mobile, 1937
All Rights Reserved, DACS 2005
William Tucker, Beulah,
© William Tucker
|
Strike a Pose
April 2005, Tate Britain
These ‘Strike a Pose’ activities are inspired by two
sculptures you can see at Tate Britain. We looked at Standing
Mobile by Alexander Calder and Beulah by William Tucker. We used
our bodies to become living sculptures: we needed to use our imaginations
and be prepared to strike a pose. We also created some props to
help us. We cut out coloured card to make our own shapes like
the ones that Calder hung from his steel frames. We wiggled to
the curves of Beulah by William Tucker. What wiggly things have
you got that you could use to echo the shapes of this sculpture?
(You could always pop into Tate Britain and have a go for yourself
on the Art Trolley.)
Top tips!
- Cut out coloured spots and other different coloured shapes
and find different ways of balancing them on your body or
gliding them through space. See how many you can carry all
at once.
- You could play a game based on Standing Mobile: first decide
who will be the traffic light. When they call green, move
around the room like the sculpture. Try swooping, whirling
and rocking. When they call amber, balance on three points.
Try not to fall over! When red is called, stay perfectly still.
- Cut out different sorts of shapes and try hanging them off
furniture in your house or trees in the garden to create a
giant mobile.
- Look at William Tucker’s Beulah. Imagine if it came
to life! How would it move? Look at how it bends and twists
in all directions.
- Use wiggly and wriggly props to help and inspire you. You
could try using rope, a hose pipe in the garden, or a scarf
to make all sorts of curving lines through space.
- Do a spaghetti dance. Bend low to the floor and swoop high
to the ceiling. Get your family or friends to follow and copy
you.
|
Tate Learning
