Curated OER
Alexander Calder: Master of Balance
Students build simple mobiles. In this equilibrium lesson, students investigate the functions of three types of levers as they analyze artwork by Alexander Calder. Students then create their own simplified mobiles.
Curated OER
Calder Mobile
Students investigate the sculptures of Alexander Calder. They view and analyze pictures of various types of sculptures, discuss how mobiles are a type of sculpture, listen to the book "Roarr: Calder's Circus," and create a class mobile...
Curated OER
Alexander Calder Cookies
Students create an original piece of edible art. In this edible art lesson, students decorate a sugar cookie in the style of Alexander Calder. Students view Calder's paintings and then create an original piece of art.
Curated OER
Alexander Calder: Animal Mobiles
Students are introduced to the life and art of Alexander Calder. Students define the vocabulary related to this work and then design and construct an abstract paper animal mobile.
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Balancing Mobiles
In this lesson plan, students will apply mathematical, science, and engineering concepts to experiment with balancing levers. They will learn to classify types of levers to design and build a simplified mobile. Students will explore...
Other
Calder Foundation
A comprehensive site with a biography, time line, and images. The text in this site is suitable for older students, but the pictures and images will be loved by all.
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Albright Knox Art Gallery: Kinetic Art Mobiles
Alexander Calder invented two new kinds of sculpture: mobiles and stabiles. In The Cone, he combines elements of each-a stabile, or non-moving sculpture, connected to a mobile, or moving sculpture. In this lesson, students use their...
PBS
Pbs: American Masters: Alexander Calder
From the PBS series, American Masters, this is the biography, a video, and related links for the American abrstract expressionist sculptor Alexander Calder.
National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art: The Elements of Art: Form
Students will be introduced to form, one of the basic elements of art. They will analyze the types of forms and materials used in various sculptures then experiment with lines in both two and three dimensions to see how shapes become forms.
Marilyn J. Brackney
Imagination Factory: Create a Butterfly Mobile
This site provides information on Alexander Calder, the inventor of the kinetic sculpture known as the mobile, as well as detailed instructions on how to create your own butterfly mobile. Included are "Tips and Tricks" to making "a more...
Math Cats
Math Cats: Virtual Mobile
Learn about mobiles, the artwork of Alexander Calder and balance. Read about the topic and then play the mobile building game where you have to balance different sized elements.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Art in Engineering Moving Art
Students learn how forces are used in the creation of art. They come to understand that it is not just bridge and airplane designers who are concerned about how forces interact with objects, but artists as well.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian American Art Museum: Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder is profiled at this site in a format that begins with a brief biographical sketch of his life. His works are then listed by appearance in the museum's database. Each work is presented in thumbnail format with brief...
South Carolina Educational Television
Etv: Artopia: Sculpture Critic: Bird by Alexander Calder
One-page article explainshow Alexander Calder uses humor in this hanging art piece called Bird, describes how the mobile is constructed, and gives a short biography of the artist. Students can then answer questions about the sculpture,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Calder's Portraits: A New Perspective
Exhibit of Calder's work in portraiture and the expressive capabilities of wire, his favorite medium.
Art Cyclopedia
Artcyclopedia: Listing of Kinetic Sculpture Artists
ArtCyclopedia's list of kinetic sculpture artists from the twentieth century. There are links to the sculptors' bio and works.
Other
Alexander Calder Trivia
Take this short quiz and see how much trivia you know about artist Alexander Calder. The answers are at the bottom. Don't cheat!
Other
Baltimore Museum of Art
More than 85,000 works of art comprise the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, including American paintings and decorative arts, especially period rooms from Maryland historic homes and miniature rooms, sculpture gardens with...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian American Art Museum: A. Stirling Calder
As part of the Smithsonian Art Museum's database of artists, A. Stirling Calder is described here along with information on his contributions to art through sculpture. Calder comes from a line of sculptors including his father, Alexander...
Van Gogh Gallery
The Van Gogh Gallery: Alexander Calder
Biographical summary of the life and career of Alexander Calder an American sculptor known for his mobiles and monumental sculptures.