Alexander Calder-Inspired Fish Mobile

Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder is an American sculptor who is best know for his mobiles, hanging sculptures which move in the air.

He made several fish mobiles - like this one. The fish is made from wire. The shape of the body is made from a thicker colored wire with thinner wire used to create the appearance of scales all over the fish's body. In each scale he hung a small object or piece of colored glass which creates a shape within the fish's scales.

In the video below, we are going to create our own fish mobile, inspired by this Alexander Calder artwork.

Calder-Inspired Mobile Project

For our project, you will need a piece of paper - white or any other color is fine and if you have something that is a heavier weight, cardstock or construction paper that would be good but printer paper will work too. Also a pencil and black Sharpie for drawing and crayons for color.

After you've drawn the fish, see the update below - I added an extra small step which is not in the video.

To make our mobile, you'll need scissors, some string, yarn, thin ribbon or similar, a hole punch (or something to make a small hole) and a coat hanger.

Update...

I added this extra step before doing the project with students the past week. After drawing the basic shape of the fish, they draw an outline around the entire fish, replicating the colored wire used by Calder. This will be colored before cutting out. This makes cutting out easier, particularly where the tail meets the body.

Here's my finished mobile!

Enjoy!

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