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Pterodactyls, flying fish, dragons and other winged creatures in a rainbow of colors dangle from the main hallway in the Special Programs portion of the Hazelwood School District Learning Center, all examples of kinetic art, or art that moves.

Created by fourth grade GALACTIC, or gifted education students, the winged creatures serve two purposes – they decorate the main hall while demonstrating the students’ creativity. Other elements of teacher Mike Beck’s class include building mobiles, harmonographs and simple art-making machines.

Beck said the students began working with kinetic art by making Automata examples. Automata are animated scenes which use gears, cams and levers. Later, the students build other forms like the creatures suspended from the hallway ceiling.

Evan Ariana proudly pointed out the red dragon he made as it swung lazily on its line.

“I’m into imaginary things,” he explained. “That was the only imaginary thing I could think of at the time, so I made a dragon.”

He said his original design had fire in the dragon’s mouth, but his teacher cautioned that might make it unbalanced. He attends Garrett Elementary School.

“So I painted it red because I thought it was going to be a fire dragon,” Ariana said.

“While the kinetic art is an annual project,” Beck said, “the flying sculptures are new this year. It keeps it interesting for me and it is a new activity for the kids.

“I think one of the great things about this class is that a kid can come in here and be successful building automata or basic mechanisms when they have not felt confident painting or drawing,” Beck said. “Another thing I like about it is I have a lot of girls interested in engineering, physics, and art in this class.”

Jordan Carey, who attends Barrington Elementary School, showed off his dragon. It can walk as well as fly and is painted a dark blue.

“I think it turned out pretty well, but I wanted the body to be a little longer compared to the wings,” Carey said. “I liked creating the body and making the first design.”

Georgia Jackson, a Walker Elementary School student, stood under her orange flying fish piece as it slowly rotated above her.

“My sister likes fish and I wanted to make something that was different,” Jackson said. “I like the whole project because we got to express our ideas.”

Roxane Prouhet, who also attends Garrett Elementary School, decided to create a flying horse.

“It was the first thing that came to my mind, she said. “I liked making the project and designing it.” “I like that they are going to hang up for a year and a lot of people will be able to see them,” Ariana said.

The students said it took them 2-3 days to complete the mobile artworks.

“The automata started from something I do. One of the things I enjoy is woodworking. Another thing I enjoy is tinkering. I started creating automata at home 10 years ago,” Beck continued. “It seemed like a great way to combine science and art. They have been a cornerstone of my class ever since.”

These lessons serve as a bridge to the fifth grade Lego® robotics curriculum which uses more complex elements. “We use the same materials and building concepts for both the art making machines in my class and the robots done in fifth grade,” Beck said. “The only difference is these robots at GALACTIC are not programmed; they’re more random. Each one has a motor, a switch, some wheels and a marker and away it goes.”

(story courtesy of Hazelwood District Communications Dept.)

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