This piece is their mascot; a bulldog. Well, not just your ordinary, everyday bulldog, but a five and a half foot anthrpomorphic version of a bulldog.

You don't mind a lot of scrolling, do you? I just figured I'd put all of the small pics on one page. Click on them to see the big version, baby.

Started with, guess what? Yes! A wire armature!!! Pat yourself on the back if you knew that already. For this project we're using fencing wire, the type of stuff you buy at the hardware store when it's time to barr the rabbits (or...dogs?) from invading your garden. Kind of interesting, don't you think? The type of wire you'd use to keep Rover OUT of your tomatoes is now INside him....ha HA! ha      ha          ha, OK, it's not THAT interesting.

Couple shots there of yours truly assembling the armature. I shipped the dog in pre-bent sections for easy assembly at the site. These shots really don't capture how I really didn't know what I was doing because I didn't label the parts.

After the armature was assembled, the students began covering it with glue-soaked strips of paper.

You see a brown color appearing on the project, that is brown paper. We alternate colors while layering the sculpture so we can see that the entire dog is covered with enough layers. We want at least eight (8) layers on his body.

High school art teacher Jill Harris is seen addressing the class with the bulldog listening in the background. Big thanks to Mrs. Harris for her enthusiasm and work on the sculpture. Her classes were a joy to participate and sculpt with.

Our canine friend is seen here with some facial details taking shape. He is leaning against a stack of chairs for support, and what you can't see is he's also wired to the scaffolding behind him. The reason for this is the bulldog is a rather top-heavy design, and while it's wet, the sculpture is a bit unstable. When he dries, he'll stiffen up nicely and be much more stable. 

Some of the artist's work brought to show as examples of laminated papier (papier mache') sculpture.

OK, this is where I left for the day. The high school classes would have a bit of papering to do on the pooch yet, then they'd have the option of painting him later, after he dried (if they wished). If I receive some pictures of the finished sculpture, I'll post them. Thanks for looking!