Younger Children

Mark di Suvero

American, born in China 1933

Clock Knot

2007

Subject: Angles
Activity: Creating a drawing with different angles
Materials: Ruler, paper, and pencils, crayons, or markers
Vocabulary: Angle, crane, sculpture, vertical

Introduction:

Mark di Suvero’s sculpture has many angles. An angle is made when two lines come from the same point. An angle is like a triangle with one of the lines missing. Di Suvero made this sculpture by lifting very heavy steel beams with a crane. A crane is a large machine with an arm and a kind of hook. It can move very heavy objects. Cranes are used to make big buildings.

Questions:

How many angles can you count in the sculpture?

Walk around the sculpture. Does it look different from the side? From the back? From the front?

This sculpture is called Clock Knot. Do you think it looks like a clock?

Activity:

Ask the child to use a ruler to make one long vertical line. Then ask him or her to make another line that crosses the first line. How many angles does the child see now? Can he or she make triangles from the angles by adding another line? Ask the child to continue to make intersecting lines. Suggest that the child use different colored pencils, crayons, or markers to fill in the triangles when he or she finds them.

Vocabulary:

Angle - two lines that extend from the same point
Crane - a machine for raising, shifting, and lowering heavy weights
Sculpture - a work of art that has height, width, and depth
Vertical - positioned upright, like a flagpole, and opposite of horizontal

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