Sculptured hands by my younger students ( 7 to 12 years old)

Here are the results (and examples of the works in progress) of the sculptures of hands my younger students have been working on.  

After drawing their own hands for the first half of the month, the students began working on clay sculptures of their hands.  

The aim of the sculpture project was to continue the intense observation (proportion, size, shape and relationships between shapes, and details such as wrinkles, nails, bones, soft areas, muscular areas, rounded areas etc. of the hands).  The students also worked on a concept of their own choice that they could incorporate into their sculptures.  The students explored Halloween themes (they enjoyed the idea of disembodied hands ... !), hands holding objects, and hands as an expression of mood or gesture (hands stretching, fingers bending, clenching etc.).

We used armature in the form of wire and sticks to work the joints in the fingers and to attach the fingers to the palm of the hand.

The most commented-on observation was how far down the thumb is located from the rest of the fingers.

The students worked very hard on this month-long project, and were very pleased with the results they achieved after pushing themselves those (many!) extra miles.

The work shows such energy and some really excellent observation!