math and art

The last project I have to show from Sculpture Week at North Vancouver Community Arts Council is deconstructed books.

I did this during the school year at Kudzu Studio and it is a project I find the kids really enjoy and they tend to get lost in the production of the sculpture.

I especially like it because it is chock full of math and a great lesson in symmetry.

Bonus is that it is a very cheap project to put together.  All you need is a damaged book that is looking to be revitalized in a new and beautiful way, scissors, and a glue stick.  You can add a hole punch and speciality scissors with different designs if you have it, but it is totally unnecessary.

all good things

8 year old

I brought in some old Shakespearean paperback textbooks of different plays and picture books for the students to pick from for their project.

First they have to find the middle of the book, which means they have to count the pages in total if it is a picture book. For books like the Shakespeare plays I brought in, the kids have to locate the last page number and then add any additional pages not numbered to come up with the total pages. 

Once they know the total pages of the book,  they have to divide this number in half to find the middle of the book. (which with this age group I helped with the division, thank you iPhone App!)

Lotsa math!!

Once they have the middle of the book open, the only rule is that whatever you do to one side, you have to do to the other side also. 

Hello lesson in symmetry!

From there it is an exercise in pattern and numbers.  Paper folding, paper cutting, paper tearing, paper building....well you get the idea.  The sky is the limit and open to wherever their imagination decides to go!

so fun

6 year old

You want the students to fold away from the binding when doing this project.  And they have to make sure they bring the edge of the paper into the binding before folding for it to stay in place well.

They can cut pages in half to curl or fold and even pull them out to cut, curl and add back into the project for height.

Again, whatever happens to one side though must happen to the other.

7 year old

As you can see, a couple of students were inspired to add even more of their own personal touch to the work by using markers to color pages, adding origami, and making cut outs.

Like I said, the sky is the limit.

I love the beauty of these finished projects and I still have a bundle of books that were destined to be thrown away waiting to be brought back to life in a new way.  Next time I want to try this project as a mobile.  I can't wait!!!