Art & Math in Three-Dimensions

This project and lesson takes it's inspiration from the three-dimensional Afrofuturistic quilted sculptures by African American artist Sanford Biggers. As Biggers has described, his quilt works, which he began making in 2012, allude to the highly debated practice of using quilts to mark safe spaces along the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the U.S. during the early to mid-19th century. Biggers glues pieces of old patchwork quilts onto plywood, producing geometric compositions that recall Japanese origami, Rubik’s Cubes, and fractal geometry. In this lesson, students will classify and explore basic properties of 2D shapes, learn 3D design fundamentals, construct geometric shapes (grades 3+), and calculate area of shapes (grades 6+).

Base material such as stiff cardboard or corrugated geometric shapes (pre-cut is optional)

Scissors or a hobby knife and/or x-acto cutter

Pencils

Rulers for measuring

Markers for coloring

Craft glue sticks (ex. Elmer's)

Hot glue (optional)

Handouts (attached)

Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that combines science-fiction, history and fantasy to explore the Black American experience and aims to connect those from the Black diaspora with their African ancestry. Jazz maverick Sun Ra is known as a pioneer of Afrofuturism. His 1974 film, Space is the Place is a great starting point for teachers and students to learn more about Afrofuturism. Contemporary artists such as Sanford Biggers, Xenobia Bailey, and Saya Woolfalk incorporate "afrofuturistic" elements in their artworks. Seattle-based hip hop group Shabazz Palaces uses Afrofuturism as a theme for their album art and music. Afrofuturism can also be used as a style prompt in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

In Chapter 2 of the book Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness, the author (Nettrice Gaskins) explores the relationship between Afrofuturism, Black American quilts, and themes such as escape with the Underground Railroad.

Afrofuturistic and quilt-based artworks are made up of lines and shapes. A shape is a graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external surface. Shapes have sides and angles that are equal or unequal (irregular). Use the handout to count the sides, corners or vertices for each shape type.

Students in grades 3 through 6+ can use this project to learn the principles of 2D shapes. Students in grades 6+ can practice constructing triangles and quadrilaterals (i.e., hexagons) and calculate the area of different geometric shapes.

Artist Sanford Biggers glues pieces of antique patchwork quilts onto wood shapes to make geometric sculptures. The quilt designs are made of up 2D geometric shapes such as squares, triangles, and hexagons. These designs have names such as "honeycomb" or mosaic, "half-square," and "chevron."

For this project, students can use printed Geometric Pattern Templates (see attached files) and color in the designs using markers. They can also make geometric, shape-based patterns of their own on paper or generate geometric patterns using Culturally Situated Design Tools or CSDTs, esp. using Afrofuturism CSDTs that feature Sanford Biggers, Xenobia Bailey and Saya Woolfalk.

For the next step, students will use cardboard shape templates to trace and cut out shapes (from the paper) to glue on the cardboard shapes.

Use pre-cut cardboard shapes or use scrap cardboard to draw and cut out shapes (see attached file) for this project. Next, use the cardboard shapes as a template to trace outlines on the back of the colored geometric quilt patterns. Cut out the shapes (from the patterns) and use glue sticks to attach the patterns to the cardboard shapes.

Use scissors or a hobby knife to cut notches on the edges of the cardboard shapes. Some students may find it helpful to use a black marker to mark where to cut the notches. Make the width of the cut a bit smaller than the width of the cardboard so the shapes slide in and stay put.

Use the colored quilt/cardboard shapes to assemble a three-dimensional sculpture inspired by Sanford Biggers' works. Attach the shapes using the notches or slits on the edges of the shapes. Students can also explore remixing and improvisation with this step.

Remixing is a creative practice whereby existing works are rearranged, combined, or assembled into a new work: a song, section of artwork, block of code, book, video, or lesson plan can all be remixed. In addition to Sanford Biggers remixing quilt designs, Chilean-born Guillermo Bert creates objects embedded with bar codes that remix and extend the iconography of heritage artifacts such as Chilean textiles that are encoded with culturally specific designs. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) artist and technologist Amelia Winger-Bearskin remixes stories with heritage artifacts such as the wampum shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes.

This project is also an example of improvisation, a practice that makes due with whatever is at hand, in this case colorful, geometric cardboard shapes. Modes and methods such as remixing and improvisation form the framework for Techno-Vernacular Creativity & Innovation, which highlights the myriad ways in which certain groups engage STEAM concepts.

This project is an artifact of Culturally Relevant Math Expressions created with Lesley STEAM Learning Lab at Lesley University and made possible by the generous support of Takeda US CSR & Philanthropy.