Covering and Surrounding Geometry Project Inspired by the Art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude Understanding Area and Volume Through Art

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s History Christo was born in Bulgaria in Lived in Prague, Vienna, Paris, and then moved to the U.S. Is still living today. Jeanne-Claude was born in Morocco in Lived in Switzerland, Tunisia, Paris, and then moved to the U.S. Died in 2009 at the age of 74. The couple met in 1958, got married, and soon began making art together until Jeanne-Claude passed. Christo is still working on their art installations today.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Art Their art involves “wrapping” structures or parts of the natural landscape with fabric. Often times these projects are immense and complicated. Their projects take years to plan, organize, fund, receive permission to install, create the fabric, and then install. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art or joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes “Our art has absolutely no purpose, except to be a work of art”

“Surrounding Islands” Miami, Florida. 11 islands were surrounded. Completed in May 1983 with the help of 430 workers. Left for two weeks. Workers cleaned up 40 tons of garbage off of these islands during the installation process.

“Valley Curtain” Rifle Gap, a valley in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Completed in August, Only stayed in place for 28 hours due to 60 mile per hour winds that tore it down.

“Wrapped Reichstag” Berlin, Germany. Completed in June of Stayed for two weeks. Christo and Jeanne-Claude received permission for this installation because they persuaded 662 German delegates to approve it through letters and making phone calls to each of them.

“Wrapped Trees” Basel, Switzerland. December trees. Each wrapping specifically created for each tree based on the branches of that tree. All materials were recycled when it was taken down after three weeks.

More of their famous projects: Running Fence, California The Gates, New York City The Umbrellas, Japan (left), California (top)

A quote from Christo: "I am an artist, and I have to have courage... Do you know that I don't have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they're finished. Only the preparatory drawings, and collages are left, giving my works an almost legendary character. I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain."

Christo and Jeanne-Claude spend months, even years, planning, designing, measuring, and perfecting their blueprints before the fabric is cut and sewn. Drawing of the ReichstagThe actual installation

Another Example: “Wrapped Coast” Sketch of “Wrapped Coast” Finished product 100 workers and 11 volunteers spent 17,000 hours working on this project in Sydney, Australia. At the time, this was the largest single piece of art—larger than Mount Rushmore, requiring 35 miles of rope. It took visitors over an hour to walk from one end to the other. Met with much praise and had a positive impact on art in Australia.

How Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art inspires our geometry project: This two-week project is going to use some of the same skills that these artists use while planning their installations. We are going to focus on area, surface area, and nets of 3-D shapes. You will also be writing a business letter as part of the project. Every night, for homework, you will complete a rough draft of one part of the project. It will correspond with the topic we’ve learned about in class that day.

Part 1: Choose an Object First, you must choose an object that you will use throughout every step of this project. Here are some guidelines to think about as you choose your object: Your object must be 3-D. It must have edges and sides (more on that in a second). It should contain rectangles, squares, or triangles as its faces (“faces” are the sides of a 3-Dobject). You must be able to measure every side of this object. It can be found at school or at home. You do not have to bring it in.

Your homework: By Wednesday, you must have chosen your object. Come to class with either a hand-drawn sketch of your object or a print-out of it. This is a rough draft. Do this on the page titled “Page 2 Rough Draft” in your blue folder. No, you cannot pull up a picture on your tech device and think that this will count.