Fall 2023 - Art 5 Student Wire Portraits

Over the course of a few days, students created wire self-portraits in the manner of Alexander Calder. They used black 16.6 GA. tie wire, available at any hardware store. This malleable steel wire is ideal for making life-size head portraits because its blackness evokes the drawn line, and its stiffness holds the form well. A drawback is that the steel wire work hardens as it is bent, so it can be hard on students' hands.

The class reviewed the results, and voted on five of the portraits to enlarge. At this point, the five pieces chosen became maquettes to be made into monumental works to be displayed outdoors during the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (LBC) for their two-month-long Northern Lights Festival.

Students completed life-sized wire self-portraits. The group voted on the five that should be enlarged.

 

How to Enlarge the Maquettes

Since the larger works were to be made from 3/8" aluminum armature wire purchased from Douglas and Sturgess Links to an external site., we need to come up with a scaling ratio. A simple calculation was done to figure the ratio:

1. The original tie wire was approximately 1/16" dia.
2. There are six 1/16" divisions in 3/8".
3. This means the enlarged work should be six times larger than the original to look like the proper ratio.
4.  The heads ran from 8-12" high from chin to top of hair, so we used 10" as an average.
5. 10" x 6 = 60". So we made the enlargements 60", or 5' high.

 

Grace Moore enlarging her wire portrait.

Lauren Garcia enlarging her portrait.

To make the enlargement, we used a very simple method of projecting a shadow of the maquette onto backdrop paper, and then traced the shadow with a marker. The light source was a single cellphone flashlight because its pinpoint light source made a sharp shadow cast. We placed marks on the paper 60" apart to site the shadow. By moving either the wire model or the light source, an accurate scaled drawing could be created.

 

Calculating How Much 3/8" Armature Wire Was Needed

A calculation had to be made so we could determine how much wire was needed for each enlarged portrait. This was a more complex process than scaling each to 60 inches:

1. We started by weighing 20" of the tie wire, which weighed 6.5 grams.
2. This meant that 1" of tie wire weighed 0.325 grams (6.5 / 20 = 0.375).
3. Then we weighed each portrait. From this we could know how many inches of wire was used to make each of them.
   1. For example, the 10" tall head weighed 47 grams (47 / 0.375 = 125.33).
   2. The student used a little over 125" of wire for their maquette.
   3. Since we were to enlarge the 10" maquette to 60", or 6 times larger, we multiplied 125" by six (125 x 6 = 750). 
   4. They needed 750" of 3/8" aluminum armature wire. Dividing 750" by 12" gave us the number of feet (750 / 12 = 62.5). We dispensed 63' of continuous wire to that team.
4. Each team's needs were calculated to the appropriate enlargement ratio. Each was different due to the varying heights of each maquette and the consistent 60" enlarged height.
   1. As another example, a different maquette was 12" tall.
   2. It was enlarged 5 times to get to 60".
   3. The maquette weighed 107 grams, so it was made from 285.33 inches of tie wire.
   4. That, multiplied by five, came to 119' of armature wire.

Working With the Armature Wire in Teams

Because of the size of the enlargements, we used the art gallery floor to do the work. All students were tasked with creating the enlarged heads. Teams were formed with 4-5 students each who worked under the leadership of the one whose head was chosen. These students carefully manipulated the armature wire to shape the portraits.

Teams lead by Ana Leigh Bodo and Diego Zamora.

 

Teams lead by Grace Moore, Sophia Chin, and Lauren Garcia starting the process.

The groups used mainly their hands to manipulate the wire, and on occasion a pair or two of pliers. Bolt cutters were used as needed to cut the wire. It was not important to make the work from one continuous wire if that caused the process to be too cumbersome or difficult. Cut pieces would need to be joined either by twisting in the manner of the Calder technique, or tied with fine galvanized tie wire. The most challenging exercises were in bending the tight radiuses that make up the eyes and mouth. It took up to two class periods for each team to compete their heads, with part of the first period being taken up by the enlarging pattern and calculation process.

The teams progressed over the course of the day, and into a second day.

 

Work was completed in the art gallery.

Upon completion, each team posed with the large and small portraits for comparison. Then they were hung in the art department hallway for safe keeping. While in the hallway, they were viewed and admired by many staff, faculty, administrators and students.  In their silvery state, they shimmered and appeared nicely 3D. Normally, wire portraits need to be black to show up well against a light background. If these were black they would have been quite striking.

The unpainted finished portraits hanging in the hallway, ready to take to the LBC.

A box truck was needed to move the sculptures to the LBC and to keep them from tangling with one another. Tying them to the walls of the truck made for safe delivery. Former student assistant, Emiko Ogasawara helped with the transport. Student Alyx Strother, and Emiko assisted in hanging them on the LBC fence.

A group of students volunteered to paint the sculptures fluorescent colors on site. They purchased high quality fluorescent Montana brand, "MTN 94 Aerosol Color" paints from Riley Street Art Supply Links to an external site.. The LBC installed black lights to illuminate them.

The portraits being moved to the LBC by box truck.

Amaya Lounibos Hartard and Alyx Strother taking the portraits down for painting. Photos by Lauren Peters.

Anna Leigh Bodo and Lauren Garcia applying fluorescent spray paint. Photos by Lauren Peters.