GIFT #7

The 7th gift of parquetry is the bridge between the preceding 3 dimensional gifts and the following 2 dimensional gifts. After thorough experimentation with the prior tangible forms students would be presented with flat geometric tiles to continue exploring ideas of parts to whole and the interconnectedness of all things. My personal exploration of parquetry actually began with paper folding (gift 18) which led to dividing colored squares of construction paper into smaller shapes. After arranging and rearranging these shapes into abstract designs and simple representations they began to have a life all their own. Stop motion animation seemed like the perfect way to show the inherent liveliness present in this gift.
-Liz

GIFT #18

The 13th, 14th and 18th gifts of cutting, weaving and folding are often grouped together because they all share the common material of paper. At the onset of this particular exploration I mistakenly thought that the 18th gift was paper weaving and immediately began to fold pieces of paper into even sections. I meant to use these sections as both a grid to plan out the weaving and to make the paper strips to weave with. Somewhere during this meditative process I realized that the 18th gift was in fact paper folding! I also realized that folding is often the first step I take when working sculpturally with paper (the exploration of gift 7 started with paper folding too). The top picture is of the grid I created by exponentially subdividing a large piece of paper through repetitive folding. The bottom image is of a folded oragami fortune teller, created in a similar subdividing manner. Each form is made up of smaller forms and like previous gifts further develops the idea of parts to whole. 

- Liz

GIFT #19

The 19th gift is called peas work because back in Froebel's day peas were actually used as the joining material. Being the second to last gift peas work draws on the earlier learning of  prior gifts as they relate to point and line (parts to whole) through an introduction of volume. My exploration of peas work started small with toothpicks and gumdrops, which grew to wooden skewers and larger gumdrops and finally ended with straws and brads. In each activity I found similar ideas of exponential growth, repetition and parts creating a whole that I noticed while working with the other gifts, only now the product was much more spatial.

- Liz