Highland View ES mobiles

Highland View ES-Grade 2-Mobiles

Alexander Calder and Mobiles

By Ethan, Joe R., Takeshi

While we were studying the Balancing and Weighing unit in science, we learned about Alexander Calder in the Computer Lab. We learned some interesting facts about him by reading information online and going on a virtual tour to the National Gallery of Art where we saw a Calder exhibit.

Calder’s father was a sculptor and his mother was a painter. He studied to be a mechanical engineer and later became an illustrator. Calder was a pioneer in Art because he invented mobiles. We think he took the idea of using stabiles and making them into mobiles. One of his mobiles that is monumental in size is hanging in the National Gallery of Art. His other mobiles are smaller, odd shaped and curvy. His mobiles have all of the colors of the rainbow on them.

Calder made other kinds of art. He made jewelry for his sister's dolls, stabiles, and circus figures made from metal, wire, and he also created wooden sculptures. One of the wooden sculptures is called the Apple Monster. It got its name because it was made from the wood of an apple tree. Many of the second graders liked it because it had a funny name.

We used the program Publisher to make different mobiles on the computer. We used the line tool, different shape tools, the paint bucket, and resized the shapes to make our mobiles look balanced.

Click on the picture to see a larger view of each mobile. We hope you enjoy seeing some of our work.