HURLEY ART: UMASS - Practicum Teaching: Motion Sculpture

This past semester at UMASS I completed my final art education course titled ‘Student Teaching 5-12’. One major requirement for this class was that each student had to complete 300 hours of practicum teaching at a local Massachusetts School, under the direction of a supervising practitioner. For the entirety of my time at Williams Middle School I had to: assist groups of students with projects, work one-on-one with individuals who were struggling with artistic processes, as well as create and teach full lessons to 6^th through 8^th grade art classes.

One of the major lessons I taught to both of my 7^th grade classes was a multi-stage motion sculpture project. This was a lesson created by my supervising practitioner Ed O’Gilvie and the purpose of said lesson was to motivate students to begin thinking about how still art, like sculptures, can still create a sense of movement. Below are pictures of the teacher example that I first brainstormed, then sculpted (using plaster strips) and later painted.