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Teach about how art and science complement each other. Alexander Calder’s art is a great way to explain kinetic art, art that moves. Learning about this sculptor and toy designer lends to easy and fun hands-on lessons. The following are links to a biography, coloring page, projects, video, and lesson plans to teach about Alexander Calder.

Alexander Calder (1898-1976) American Artist, Sculptor and Toy Maker

Alexander Calder was born in 1898, in Lawnton, Pennsylvania. He was born into a family of artists. His father Alexander Stirling Calder was a prominent sculptor who created many public sculptures in the Philadelphia area. Calder’s mother, Nanette Lederer Calder, was a professional portrait painter who studied art in Paris before moving to Philadelphia where she met her husband Alexander Stirling Calder.

In 1902, at the age of four, Alexander completed his first sculpture – a clay elephant. In 1909, when he was in the fourth grade, Alexander sculpted a dog and a duck from a sheet of brass. The duck, which could rock back and forth, is one of his earliest examples of his interest in kinetic (moving) sculpture. Read the rest of Alexander Calder’s biography at www.makingartfun.com.

Free Printable Artist Biography