Paper Folding with Jenna

(Mia Pearlman) (David Thorpe)

This past week Jenna showed us that paper art can take many forms. After discussing Mia Pearlman's "Eye" and David Thorpe's "Out from the night, the day is beautiful and we are filled with joy" Jenna offered our students a few samples of how to fold, curl, rip and cut paper to create either a collage or 3D design. Jenna then had our students practice these kinds of folds and curls one at a time. Jenna would model the folding or rolling technique then ask each child to try it on their own. It became almost like a game as Jenna went around the room folding and curling paper with each student.

After some folding practice, Jenna had our students think about and discuss where their favorite places are, and then begin to fold paper to create those places.

Jenna encouraged her "staff" to allow the students as much freedom as possible in creating their work. Some staff were instructed to show how to fold or curl paper while sitting next to the students, but not actually do the work for the student. I like this kind of side by side modeling for our kids. The "staff" also allowed their students to instruct them in helping with the project making process asking some folks to hold things while the kids glued, or hold paper while it is being cut.

Two excellent samples of the different ways our students took this project are "Philadelphia, where I go to art class" by Andrew and "The Airport" by Anthony.