You will need
- Cardboard
- Paper
- Scissors
- Pencils
Barbara Hepworth
Be inspired by artist Barbara Hepworth and make your own artwork that explores form and negative space
Explore the artwork
Dame Barbara Hepworth
Epidauros II (1961)
Tate
Your students don’t need to know anything about an artwork or artist to start exploring it.
Use these quick group activities to build their confidence in sharing their first responses to the artwork. Discovering art can be new, exciting and sometimes confusing. There are no right or wrong ways to respond!
In pairs or as a group, take it in turns to imagine the artworks answering these questions and telling their story
- What are you made from?
- When were you made?
- What has happened here?
- Do you want me to feel sad or joyful, or something else?
- What else would you like to say?
In pairs or as a group, use your body to respond to the artwork
- Mirror movements or shapes in the artwork
- Imagine sounds the artwork might make
- Trace the artwork in the air with your hands
- Move like the artwork
- What else could you do?
About the artwork
"You can't make a sculpture, in my opinion, without involving your body. You move and you feel and you breathe and you touch"
Barbara Hepworth
Epidauros II 1961 is cast from bronze with a textured inner and smoother outer surface. It is 80 cm tall. Artist Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975) preferred her work to be shown outside, believing that sculpture 'grows' in the open light with the movement of the sun, space and sky above.
Many of Hepworth's works have holes in them – these are sometimes called apertures. You can see ‘through’ the artwork. This also means the artwork frames something on the other side, for example the sea.
Barbara Hepworth is considered one of the most important British artists of the 20th century. In the 1950s she lived in St Ives, Cornwall with a group of artists that were inspired by the landscape and referenced its shapes, forms and colours in their work.
Make
Epidauros II prompts us to think about organic form, landscape and negative space. In this activity, capture a view through a sculpture of your own.
- Draw an organic (irregular) shape on your piece of cardboard, so that its edges touch the edges of the card. Starting in the bottom left corner, draw up towards the top of your card and then down to the bottom right corner. The bottom of your shape now takes up the whole bottom edge of your card. This is important because it means your shape will stand up on its own.
- Cut out your shape.
- Draw a vertical line down the middle of your cut-out shape and fold along this line. Your shape is now a 3D sculpture that stands up!
- Put it on your desk and crouch down or move so that you can look at it from eye level. Imagine that it is as big as the Hepworth sculpture.
Adapt
You can use paper instead of cardboard to make your sculptures. Your shapes won’t stand up on their own but cutting is easier! You can follow the steps and explore looking through the apertures and framing different views.
You could also use a cardboard box as a pre-prepared sculpture. Open the tabs at the top and the bottom, then look through the box to frame a view. Hold the box at different angles as you look, or even wear it on your head!
Pass the sculptures around to explore different perspectives and sensations. Look into the dark interior of a box, look through at a friend, reach a hand through. Try covering your sculptures in reflective material to see how this changes the experience.
5. Now make an aperture (hole) in your sculpture. To do this, flatten it back out and decide where you are going to draw your hole, how big or small, what shape. Draw the shape of the aperture you want, then carefully poke the scissors through the card to make a small hole inside it. Finally, cut out your shape.
6. Fold your sculpture back into its 3D shape and place it back on the desk.
What can you see through the aperture?
7. Move yourself or your sculpture sideways, up, down - what do you see now?
What changes about the view you’ve captured?
7. Take a piece of paper and make a drawing of your sculpture by only drawing the negative space! To do this, draw only the space around it and the space through the aperture.
How does the shape of your sculpture change the view in front of you?
8. At the end of your lesson, bring your sculptures and drawings to the front of your classroom and look at them together. Find each other’s artwork and celebrate everything you’ve just made!
What have you learned by experimenting with negative space?
What does the view you’ve captured represent to you?
Extend
Make larger artworks working in small groups and using cardboard boxes or corrugated card, cutting out a hole or space in each one. Take time to look at each other's work from different angles, including through to each other's artworks!
Stand in a circle around the edge of the space your sculptures occupy. In your sketchbooks or on a piece of paper, draw only the space around your sculptures and the holes or negative spaces you can see.
Think about where and how your sculptures and drawings can be displayed together. Use a table, the hall or playground to make your display.
How to use art makes
Making art is a powerful way to learn new skills, explore ideas and express ourselves creatively. Encourage your students to discover new materials, techniques and methods inspired by great artists at Tate.
- Prepare
- Project the artwork in your classroom and/or print off copies for your students to have in front of them.
2. Explore (10 minutes)
- Invite your students to respond to the artwork through the group activity.
- Read the background information on the artwork and the artist.
3. Make (30 minutes)
- Follow the step-by-step instructions.
- Use the Adapt section for accessible alternatives to this activity.
- Use the Extend activity within the same lesson or in a future session.
