Straw Journey 2020 Passport

WoodmereArtMuseum

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Passport 2 02 0 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

A journey of activities that make connections between Woodmere’s outdoor sculpture and straw installations.

ALTER ROOT

Alter Root, 2002, by Steve Tobin (Gift of Dennis J. Alter, 2020)

After completing each activity, record your journey by placing a sticker on pages 14–15 of your passport!

Find the sculpture, Alter Root.

Straw bales of rectangles repeat in an orderly pattern around Alter Root.

Does this pattern remind you of something?

How does the pattern of rectangles resemble a brick wall?

Rectangles have straight lines. Alter Root is made up of patterns of forms that curve and twist around.

How do these patterns of curvy shapes resemble those in nature, such as trees or the roots that grow underground?

What is different about Alter Root and the roots of a tree?

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IN PLAIN SIGHT Notice the shapes and spaces in between the bales of straw. These shapes are there but we don’t always see them.

The shapes in between the bales are called negative shapes. The shapes of the bales are called positive shapes.

Find the negative shape in this picture. What do you see in this negative shape?

What do you see in the other negative shapes?

The curvy forms in Alter Root are the positive shapes. Look how many different negative shapes they make.

Find the negative shapes that are similar in Alter Root; find those that are different.

3

TIERRA

Tierra, 1990-1995, by Sidney Goodman (Gift of Joseph Shein, Esq. 1996)

Find the straw installation around the sculpture titled Tierra.

What do you see in this sculpture? Tierra is a Spanish word for “earth.�

What in the sculpture could represent the earth?

Straw bales wind in a circle around this sculpture like the snakes that wind around the figure.

Here the bales are angled in a zig zag pattern, like the teeth of a snake or a saw.

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Have someone time you as you move around the circle of bales with the activity Here the balesstraw are shaped in circle around below. the sculpture. They are angled in a zig zag pattern, like the teeth of a saw.

Climb on the bale marked with the #1. Count by 5’s as you move around the circle.

Count the number of jumps it takes to jump from bale #1 to bale #5.

How many jumps did it take to jump across 5 bales? _____ How long did it take to jump across 5 bales? ___________________ Go to bale #6. Count the number of steps it takes to step from bale #6 to bale #10.

How many steps did it take to step across 5 more bales? _____ How long did it take to step across 5 bales? ___________________ Go to bale #11. Walk heel to toe from bale #11 to bale #15. Heel to toe means walking with one shoe directly in front of the other with no space in between.

How many heel to toe moves did it take to walk across these last 5 bales? _____ How long did it take to walk heel to toe across 5 bales? ___________________ Which was the fastest way to move across the bales?

Which was the slowest way to move across the bales?

Which was the most fun way to move across the bales?

5

WHITE WATER

White Water, 1978, by Robinson Fredenthal (Donated by the investors in Miller Real Estate Fund II, LP, 2019.

Installation supported by Paul Sehnert and the Wind Family.)

Find the straw bale installation in front of this sculpture, White Water.

Here are four groups of bales. In each group, 3 bales are gathered together. What shape do you see inside the 3 bales?

What shape do the groups of straw bales have in common with the sculpture?

Can you find the negative triangle shape in White Water?

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Triangles have 3 sides. When all 3 sides are equal length, it is called an Equilateral Triangle.

An equilateral triangle is the basic shape for all the forms in this sculpture.

Triangles are combined to create new shapes.

Find a parallelogram.

Connect the dots. How many equilateral triangles fit inside the parallelogram?

Find a trapezoid.

Connect the dots. How many equilateral triangles fit inside the trapezoid?

See how many other shapes you can make by combining equilateral triangles.

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SPRING & TRIANGLE

Spring & Triangle, 2016, by Dina Wind (Museum commission, 2016)

Find the straw bale installation around this sculpture titled Spring & Triangle.

Look at how the three groups of bales line up with the tunnels in Spring & Triangle.

What shape do the straw bales and the sculpture’s tunnels have in common?

The straw bale is a three-dimensional rectangle that is called a rectangular prism.

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12 bales of straw are arranged in 3 groups of 4 bales.

Climb onto an end bale and count by fractions as you move across all 4.

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Bale 1 is 1 bale out of 4. This can be expressed as the fraction 1/4.

Color in 1/4 of the shapes below.

Move to bale 2. You could say this is 2 of the 4 bales or the fraction 2/4.

Color in 2 of the shapes below or 2/4. Notice how 2/4 is one half (or 1/2) of the bales.

Move to bale 3. Color in 3/4 of the shapes below.

Move to bale 4. Color in 4/4 of the shapes below.

Or you could say 4/4 = 1 line of bales.

PLAYING WITH FRACTIONS A fraction die is in your packet. Each side displays one fraction: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2 Start at bale #1. Roll the die and move forward across the bales based on the number facing up. Roll the die again and move forward or backward.

When you reach bale #4, walk through the tunnel to find the next group of bales. Roll the die and move across the bales by fractions.

Continue with the third group of bales.

9

UNTITLED

Untitled, 2017, by Samuel Maitin (Museum commission in memory of Acey Wolgin, with funds provided by Bill Wolgin and his family. Additional support was provided by Dr. Luther W. Brady, Jr. and generous contributions were made in memory of Dr. K. Robert and Mrs. Sylvia Lange, 2017)

Find this group of colorful sculptures.

Does the biggest sculpture remind you of a creature?

What kind of creature? What do you see that makes you think of that creature?

Notice the two smaller sculptures. All three sculptures are filled with bright and colorful curvy shapes.

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There is a semi-circle of straw bales around this sculpture. Discover how the sculptures change from different points of view.

Stand by the bales where these photos were taken. How do the sculptures change from different points of view?

Find these shapes on the sculptures:

11

FREE INTERPRETATION OF PLANT FORMS & TEAPOT

Free Interpretation of Plant Forms, 1967, by Harry Bertoia (Long-term loan courtesy of the City of Philadelphia)

Walk to the big sculpture that is a fountain and titled Free Interpretation of Plant Forms. What do you see that resembles a plant form?

Walk around the sculpture. Notice how the shapes change. It looks different on every side.

As you walk around, your perspective changes.

Perspective is the angle or direction in which a person looks at an object.

Find the straw installation behind this sculpture.

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What is your perspective?

Here two rows of straw bales are placed in diagonal lines. Notice how the diagonal lines create the shape of a triangle between the bales.

Stand at the base of the triangle.

Do you see a sculpture beyond the far point of the triangle?

Does it look big or small?

Find your way to the far point of the triangle. What do you see?

How has the size of the sculpture changed?

Perspective changes when objects are close to us. They look bigger.

Count the number of steps it takes to walk to the Teapot.

How has the size of the Teapot changed now that you are up close?

Walk around the Teapot and discover a surprise.

Turn around and look at the fountain. Does it look big or small now?

Perspective changes when objects are far Teapot, 1997, by Stephen Robin (Gift of the artist, 2017)

away. They appear smaller.

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Place a sticker in your passport after completing each activity along your journey.

Alter Root

Free Interpretation of Plant Forms & Teapot

Spring & Triangle

14

Tierra

Untitled

White Water

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