Agamographs-Fun Kinetic Art

I made this years ago.

So long ago I don't remember where I got the idea from, I only know it's not something I thought up. I also had no idea that it was most likely inspired by the Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, until I attended a Park West Gallery art auction with my friend last summer and saw these.

     

Yaacov Agam sells his art through Park West Galleries.

Now back when I made my sample, I didn't really connect artists to the projects I did with students. I referenced optical and kinetic art.  I was new to teaching art and didn't have the resources or support groups that are available today. Many of my lessons came from what I saw when I subbed in art rooms.

Having found the connection to an artist from this long ago project that I did, I was really excited to share this lesson with my students. I choose to do it with my 5th graders and it was a big hit!

To introduce the lesson I showed a very brief Power Point about Yaacov Agam along with photos of his work from the internet. There are also many You Tube videos with him and his art that you can include in this lesson.

 Students were given 9"x12" white drawing paper. They were instructed to fold it in half and create a separate design on each half.

 

When they were done I did a whole group, directed lesson on assembling the Agamograph.

On the back of their paper, they were directed to measure and mark the top and bottom edge at 1" intervals. Basically they made nine 1" wide columns. 

                                           I    H    G    F    E    D   C   B   A

 

                                         9     8    7    6     5    4    3     2     1

 Next from right to left on the top of each column they assigned an alphabet letter to it. On the bottom of each column again from right to left they numbered the columns. 

 Now it was time to cut and assemble. Knowing that everyone finishes at a different rate of time I tried to stress that they should cut ONLY one column at a time starting on the right side.

 Cut off a column, cut it in half at the fold line and then glue down on black paper (18"x 6") starting on the left side. They can start with either the alphabet letter or the number. If they start with the alphabet then this is the order in which they would glue down the strips:

A, 1, B, 2, C, 3, D, 4, E, 5, F, 6, G, 7, H, 8, I, 9

 You gotta love it when a take away from a conference is that you have been using glue sticks incorrectly for years.......... So with my new found knowledge I directed students to use the glue stick to completely cover the back of the paper. AND to have scrap paper underneath it to keep the glue from getting all over the table. (Thank you Journal Junkies!)

   

 

 

When gluing down the strips butt them up against each other, you can even leave a little space between the strips-JUST DON'T OVERLAP THEM! When all the strips have been glued down fold them as you would if you were making a fan. This student was one of the first to finish.

I am planning to mount them on 9"x 6" boards and display some at the county fair in February. They came out great, sorry I don't have more photos of the finished ones...... just didn't get to it.

Have any of you done this project with your students?? Anyone gonna try it now that they read this??

Thanks for reading!!