In choosing to represent a series of sculptures that I proposed for funding through the Wisconsin Idea Endowment, I decided to create a portion of one sculpture at full scale. The sculpture, a zoetrope, defined by Webster’s as An optical toy, in which figures made to revolve on the inside of a cylinder, and viewed through slits in its circumference, appear like a single figure passing through a series of natural motions as if animated or mechanically moved, is approximately four and a half feet in height and two fee in diameter. The abstract of the grant proposal follows:

This project seeks to complement and enhance the interdisciplinary education of students at the elementary and junior high school levels. To this end, the creation of a small-scale mobile unit of six sculptures and accompanying teachers’ manual is proposed. Two Project Assistants and a limited support staff would fabricate these materials over the 2004 – 2005 school year. Each sculpture represents a melding of multiple academic disciplines including Biology, Math, Physics, History, English, Spanish, Music, and Art. Students’ interaction with the sculptures would lead to discoveries about the physical world, and human innovation and culture. This “peripatetic sculpture park” would travel throughout Wisconsin during the second year and third years of the program. Special concern will be made to ensure that schools in remote rural and inner city communities are given preference in hosting the sculptures. This entirely new initiative would create an opportunity for Wisconsin students to provide outreach to the community in their professional fields while benefiting students and educators and furthering the mission of the Wisconsin Idea Endowment