Art Farm Sculptures Inspired by Deborah Butterfield

Art Farm Summer Camp Season is off to a great start! Last week our middle school-age students studied Deborah Butterfield, an American artist known for her larger-than-life-sized sculptures of horses made from found objects such as metal and wood. Students watched a short video of her work, in which Butterfield talks about her technique and her life as an artist.

Following the video, students set about collaboratively creating primitive, larger-than-life sized sculptures of Art Farm's very own alpacas, Harry Potter and Mr. Weasley. The goal was to use as few tools as possible. Other than a ball of twine, all materials were found within Art Farm's habitat. Art Farm Instructor Andrew Sinclair, an accomplished sculptor himself, used the lesson to teach art concepts including the roles of negative space, tension, and texture in creating a 3-dimensional work of art.

Pictured here is a Butterfield sculpture (top) and the alpaca sculptures (bottom). Click on the images to see a larger view. 

!Palomino Horse by Deborah Butterfield