Preschool Sculpture Project: Torkwase Dyson

Last year at around this time, the kids and I were out in the desert looking at art, thanks to the incredible Desert X Biennial. We saw a reclining figure created out of shipping containers. There was a yellow fence maze that I found impossible to navigate without cheating. And there was a fantastical alien car with soft sculptural forms bursting out of every door.

But the sculpture we spent the most time with was Liquid A Place, by Torkwase Dyson. It was an imposing black presence that sat a hundred yards away from one of our favorite nature school locations. Every time we went out to explore the desert, we found ourselves spending the majority of our time playing around the work of art.

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With a quick trip back out to the desert on our calendar, I decided that it would be fun to revisit some of the magic we encountered so many months ago, and create our own version of the sculpture.

Before creating our art, we did a bit more digging into Torkwase Dyson and her work. I found paintings and sculptures focused on themes of ecological justice, race, and how we interact with our environment. Minimal, and architectural, all her work is an approachable way to bring basic art concepts to light.

Before sculpting, the kids first tried their hands at creating their own Torkwase Dyson paintings. It was an exercise in mindfulness and minimalism. I captured that process in this blog post.

With all this under our belts, we were ready to create our own preschool version of Liquid A Place. We took a long look at pictures of the sculpture from all angles, then we talked through how we could create our own version.

I had a large amount of cardboard because... well, because I honestly horde most "art project" materials like that. I love cardboard - it's such a light, easy material for sculpting. It was perfect for creating something a bit bigger.

We took an extra large cardboard box laid out flat, and the kids used a crayon to mark out the lines of the piece. They both drew out several lines for each cut and then we decided which line was the best. I like giving them lots of chances to sketch out a form. I want them to know that art is a process repetition and tries, some better than others.

I then cut out the pieces of cardboard with a box cutter while the kids ate snack. I also cut strips of cardboard 4 inches thick to serve as the sides of the piece, the element that allows the sculpture to stand.

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Once everything was cut out, the kids had a blast painting the front and back pieces. I provided them with black tempura paint and large house painting brushes. They enjoyed moving the paint around in all sorts of ways. They used long sweeping strokes and invented their own twisting strokes. It was a fun little paint session on its own.

The panels dried out and we revisited them the next day. My plan was to use duct tape to connect the 4 inch strips with the painted panels. I had picked up duct tape that I thought was black, but was actually a very dark grey. This was a giant bummer, but we went ahead with sculpting. In the end, we really needed that black tape - so pro tip: black duct tape!

After taping everything together, the kids added a final coat of paint to the sides of the sculpture. They also gave the front and back a little touch up. With that, our work of art was complete... but not really.

See, what I wanted more than anything was to have the kids bring our sculpture out to the site where the original Liquid A Place stood. The sculpture would not be complete without the conversation it was having with the environment it stood in. This was the big idea I wanted to introduce to the kids. A work of art, especially something designed to be presented at a particular site, is not really finished until it sits within that site.

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And after Rémy carried out our artwork into the desert and the kids set it just so in the sand, we talked about how the sculpture looked like another mountain that rose up behind. And we peeked through the center hole, and talked about how it was a little window to see the mountains and sky through. Those were the discussions that our project was all about - the discussions that come up when you see Torkwase Dyson's work.

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