GIFT #11

Pricking, Gift #11, uses a sharp tool called an awl to prick holes into paper to create designs. These designs were placed on windows and light sources to observe the full effect. It serves two main purposes in the sequence of gifts: first as a bridge between drawing and sewing, but also as the finale in the progression from physical objects deconstructed into lines and flat shapes and concluding with insubstantial pinpricks of light. I chose to use my pinprick art as a lampshade in my bedroom.

- Erica

GIFT #12

Gift #17 is sewing. According to Froebel's pedagogy, sewing in the context of the occupations is a form of drawing that allows a more physical tactile experience for the students. As the early gifts began with solid geometric forms that progressively became more etherial, the later occupations work in reverse: evolving from flat planes once again into dimension and weight. Sewing is one of these first steps off of the flat plane into the 3rd dimension. The use of sewing as my medium has allowed me to create a veil through which the image can be observed. I have superimposed a visualization of a mathematical solution onto this photograph of a woman and flower in an attempt to highlight the symmetry inherent in the natural forms.

- Erica

GIFT #20

After working with the previous 19 Gifts kindergarteners were finally allowed to put all of their lessons to use with modeling clay in the 20th Gift. In my experimentation and play, kneading molding and shaping, I made my own spheres and cubes, that turned into houses, faces, creatures, and flowers. This one ball of clay could be many things, but I finally I decided to make a little flock of birds. Each one slightly different and unique, yet together they form a neat cohesive group. It seemed to me a fitting metaphor for not only the collection of Gifts but also our own group working together. 

- Erica