Sarah Oppenheimer For Older Children

Introduction

Sarah Oppenheimer is an artist that blurs the boundaries between sculpture and architecture. Many of the artist’s works are made in a way that change what we typically see in the environment around us.

Glass is the primary medium of the two structures that make up C-010106. Placed at opposite ends of the footbridge, the forms feature a pair of diagonal reflective glass plates sandwiched between a pair of clear glass sheets.

A bridge is a connector between spaces. The glass sheets within Oppenheimer’s forms act like mirrors, allowing people walking on the bridge to see those below them, and vice versa. The work encourages new relationships between people who would usually be separated by the bridge.

Questions

What surprises you about this artwork?

How does your view change being on top of the bridge compared to the bottom?

Is the orientation of the glass important?

How does this art fit within the surrounding space? Pay attention to both buildings and surrounding nature.

Activity

Take a walk around the art, taking different views from below and above the bridge. Make sure one of your photos has a picture of yourself in the reflection of the art.

Choose one view of the work you want to draw; you can draw from life or take a photo to draw.

On cardstock, sketch your drawing in pencil and then trace it in a black marker. Add color with markers.

On a separate piece of paper, sketch the photo you took of yourself in the reflection of the art in pencil. Place a sheet of tracing paper on top and trace your final drawing in black marker.

To combine your two drawings, use a glue stick to lightly glue the edges of your colored drawing, sticking the tracing paper on top.

How does combining images change compared to looking at them on their own? How does this activity relate to Oppenheimer’s artwork?

BTW

When assembling the glass sheets, the crane operators only had a gap of one-sixteenth of an inch between the bridge and the glass. It was installed using suction cups. The work had to be done exactly or else the glass would have shattered - now that’s some precision!

Look again

While the sculpture itself is minimal, the construction of this project was very complicated. What are some obstacles you think the artist, architects, and engineers would have faced?

How does your view change being on top of the bridge vs. being on the bottom? Do you prefer one view over the other? Why?

Vocabulary

Architecture ‒ The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings.

Diagonal ‒ Straight lines that slant in any direction except horizontal or vertical.

Pedestrian ‒ A person walking along a road or in a developed area.

Reflection ‒ The return of light or sound waves from a surface that create an exact image, similar to a mirror. A reflector is something that makes a reflection

Transparency ‒ Having the property of transmitting rays of light through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind can be distinctly seen, admitting the passage of light through an object.