Join us for an experiment in mathematical film making. After months of playing with business cards and watching the evolution of gorgeous and unexpected structures emerging from the imagination and skill of our community, we have decided to embark on an experiment. We’re going to make an animation called The Inner Life of Cubes. We request your assistance with the realization of this project.

As fans of animation, we at the IFF have long been interested in the inner life of objects. In this open-ended exploration we aim to discover how cubes can dance. Using business card origami cubes as our basic pixel, we aim to create a short animated film. Inspired by the pioneering work of Dr Jeannine Mosely, creator of the new field of business card origami, we are adding to this novel art form the dimension of time. We need people to fold cubes and make artistic suggestions. This will be a collaborative effort and all folders will be credited on the resulting film.

Please RSVP to mail@theiff.org

Join us for an experiment in mathematical film making. After months of playing with business cards and watching the evolution of gorgeous and unexpected structures emerging from the imagination and skill of our community, we have decided to embark on an experiment. We’re going to make an animation called The Inner Life of Cubes. We request your assistance with the realization of this project.

As fans of animation, we at the IFF have long been interested in the inner life of objects. In this open-ended exploration we aim to discover how cubes can dance. Using business card origami cubes as our basic pixel, we aim to create a short animated film. Inspired by the pioneering work of Dr Jeannine Mosely, creator of the new field of business card origami, we are adding to this novel art form the dimension of time. We need people to fold cubes and make artistic suggestions. This will be a collaborative effort and all folders will be credited on the resulting film.

Please RSVP to mail@theiff.org

8 Origami Octahedra form by Jacob Dotson.

The Midden – four years worth of Margaret and Christine Wertheim’s domestic plastic trash.

On Saturday May 18, IFF Director Margaret Wertheim will give a public lecture about the Midden Project  at The New Children’s Museum in San Diego. The talk is in conjunction with the Museum’s ongoing TRASH exhibition, which features the IFF’s Midden project as the centerpiece of a show in which artists reflect on rubbish. The core of the IFFs installation is a large sculpture that contains four years’ worth of Margaret and Christine Wertheims’ domestic plastic trash, collected in their home from 2007 – 2011, and hung here in a fishing net, metaphorically referencing a toxic ocean catch.

Supplementing the Midden sculpture is a participatory aspect of the project in which thousands of San Diego children have been making plastic trash “Midden Monsters.” Over the past 18 months more than 7000 children have contributed to an ongoing cloud of trash creations, constituting a child-generated collaborative artwork known as the ‘San Diego Midden’.

Margaret’s lecture will chronicle the Midden and its innovative approach to raising awareness about plastic trash in our seas. The event is part of the NCM’s 5th Birthday celebration.

EVENT FREE:  For adults.

Children’s cloud of Midden Monsters at the New Children’s Museum, San Diego.

Danish paper hearts workshop.

Designs for Danish paper hearts from the classic book “How My Mother Taught Me To Weave Christmas Hearts” published by the Museet Falsters Minder with patterns by Knud Vaegter. This delightful guide contains a brief history of this traditional craft along with 150 patterns for a stunningly diverse array of hearts – from a classical angel-themed design to little modernist masterpieces.

EVENT REPORT:

Inside a Danish Heart: The interior universe of a paper confection. IFF Archives, May 2013.

Who would have thought that making a paper heart could be so challenging? Simple hearts are easy enough, once one grasps the basic assembly algorithm, but more complex designs are surprisingly hard, requiring mental and physical dexterity. Knut Vaegter’s beautiful designs inspired us all and our patience was rewarded when we opened our hearts and discovered unexpected geometric patterns within, as if each heart contained a miniature kaleidoscopic universe. Traditionally, Danish hearts are woven from paper that is only colored on one side, with white on the backside, thereby making for an all-white interior. By using brightly colored copy paper, plus black+white stock we revealed an  interior beauty as well.

Judy Tanenbaum teaching Danish Hearts workshop at the IFF, May 2013.

Danish heart in Astrobright papers reveals an interior universe of geometric complexity.

Mother and daughter folding team – Mary and PJ – at the IFF, May 2013.

For those who’d like to know more about this complex, ever-expanding art form, we recommend the website PaperMatrix, by Danish crafters Lena and Anna Schepper. Here you can see an astounding array of patterns for incomparably beautiful and complicated hearts, cones, balls and other paper constructions. A whole universe of topological marvels awaits. Be daring, be bold, try some of these for yourself. At the IFF we intend to challenge ourselves for our 2013 Christmas Tree.

Beaded buckyballs by Kathryn Harris. Photo courtesy the artist.

Join us for a workshop to learn how to bead polyhedral structures. Conducted by master beader Kathryn Harris from the Fiber Studies program at San Diego State University, this one-off workshop will provide an introduction to the art of making platonic solids and other polyhedral forms from beads. We will start by making pyramids and cubes and then progress to more complex shapes, such as spheres, hoops and barrels. These small sculptures can function well as jewelry, hung on chords as pendants or arrayed into necklaces and bracelets. Equally they can be enjoyed for their mathematical beauty and the workshop will entail a discussion of the geometry behind the famous “Platonic solids”. Experienced beaders and novices alike are welcome. No prior experience is necessary.

Suggested Door Donation: $15. All materials will be supplied. 

Please RSVP to anna@theiff.org

You are welcome to bring your own beads. Beading tools will be supplied; but please bring your own needle-nosed pliers and wire-cutters if you have them.

Beaded cubes by Kathryn Harris. Photo courtesy the artist.

Beaded polyhedra by Kathryn Harris. Photo courtesy the artist.

 

EVENT REPORT:

Beading platonic solids turned out to be an extremely satisfying, if technically challenging experience. Once we got the hang of wire threading, participants quickly turned out miniature models of tetrahedrons, cubes and octahedrons. Some tackled the challenging icosahedron and a few people mastered the dodecahedron. Harris wore an elegant red bugle bead pendant designed in the proportions of a “perfect cut” diamond, whose geometry is carefully calibrated to maximize the stone’s property of complete internal reflection. Harris explained that it is her substitute for the real thing: “I love diamonds,” she said, “and this is a way to avoid the blood diamond trade.”

Polyhedral beading workshop at the IFF, May 2013.

Kathryn Harris wearing her “perfect cut diamond” necklace at the IFF.

 

Perfect cur diamond pendant made from bugle beads and wire by Kathryn Harris.