What materials can you think of that stretch and squish like skin? Artist Senga Nengudi asked herself this same question in the 1960s. The answer was hiding in her closet: her nylon stockings! Senga Nengudi (b. 1943) is an American artist who makes body-like sculptures from plastic, dirt, water, fabric, and nylon that sway in the wind or wiggle when bounced. Her soft sculptures become performance art when a performer touches, stretches, and moves through it.

Get to Know Senga Nengudi is a part of Hirshhorn Kids We Speak: The Art of Becoming and About the Artist series. About the Artist biographies are designed for kids under age 12. Modern and contemporary artists' lives reflect recent human history ​and events. Sharing these life stories and artworks can help kids see their own potential and better understand the world and their place in it. It is our goal to inspire future generations of artists, makers​, and creative problem solvers—sharing artists stories is one way Hirshhorn Kids realize this goal.

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Use it in the classroom to teach:

Art classroom: soft-sculpture, performance art, movement

Language Arts classroom: biography, storytelling

Science classroom: gravity, elasticity