Public Art & Installation Project
Students will be guided through the exciting process of creating a proposal for a public
artwork within Halifax. In the first class, students will learn about the history and
significance of public art, with an emphasis on examples from within Nova Scotia. They will
explore different types of public art such as monuments, murals, memorials and abstract
works and will learn about the process to which public art comes into realization, including
the jury selection process, community consultation, funding and landscaping. In the second
class, students will begin to develop their own public art proposals through answering a
worksheet that guides them through questions such as: where will your public art be
located? How will your public art connect to the location it will be situated in? What will
your public art look like? How will the public interact with your public art? Students will
create a detailed coloured drawing of what their public sculpture will look like within its
proposed location.
The following 3-4 classes will be work classes where students will use plasticine, clay,
cardboard, paint, construction paper, pipe-cleaner, glue and other materials to create their
public sculpture models. Students will be encouraged to make their models look as detailed
as possible. Students will also create the location where their public art will be located,
using cardboard, printed or drawn/painted images and other materials.. To help support
their artwork, students will title their proposed artworks and will write a brief description
of what their public artwork represents and how it connects to it’s selected public space.
The final class will be a presentation of the models, where students will briefly present to
the class what they have created.
Materials: cardboard for a base (or cardboard shoebox), modelling clay/plasticine,
pipe-cleaners, wire, paint, markers, pencil crayons, pencils, paper, ruler and scissors.