Lesson: Head in the Clouds

Review students’ notes from their “Graphic Organizer: Working With Ideas” skills. sheets.

1. Read “Head in the Clouds” as a class and invite students to observe the photographs of Shorter than the Day closely.
2. Ask: How does Sarah Sze work with shape? (Sze uses suspended rods that appear chaotic but form an organized sphere around a void. The shape mimics a cloud, connecting the work to the airport and travel.)
3. Have students record these findings in their “Graphic Organizer: Working With Ideas” skills sheets.

• Compare this sculpture with the works by Sol LeWitt, pages 4-7, and with the works by the artists on pages 8-9. What do you notice? (Answers will vary but should refer to the artwork and text.)
• What makes this an example of public art? How does it relate to Sze’s commitment as an artist? (Answers will vary but should refer to the images and text.)
• How is this work “a reminder that art has the capacity to be uplifting?” (Answers will vary but should refer to Sze’s efforts to complete the work during
• the Covid-19 pandemic.)

• Pick a location for a site-specific work. Sketch a design for a work that relates to that space and incorporates geometric shapes. What materials would you use?
• How can you relate the work’s shape, the space around it, and it’s meaning?
• Research images and text related to some of Sze’s other works. What do you notice about her use of shape? Choose one of her artworks and write a short paragraph about how she uses shape in the work.

• Have students complete the “Write About Art” box on page 11.