“Take a line for a walk…” Paul Klee
Judith writes:
This chunk of black foam was found on Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. The lightweight, sturdy Styrofoam-type material, is used in water-resistant acoustic panels that are scientifically designed to absorb sound. How it made its way to the beach will forever remain a mystery?!?
As I examined the block, I discovered that it was made of thousands of tiny black bead “pearls” compressed into the form. At first these precious gems from the sea inspired me to string them to make a necklace. But as the stringing progressed, taking a queue from Paul Klee’s “Pedagogical Sketchbook”, his textbook for his drawing students at the Bauhaus, I decided to follow his instruction to “take a line for a walk.” As he says… “You have a point. If you move a point you get a line, and if you move the line you get a plane.”
As I carefully thread the small holes in the beads, the repetitious movement of my hands is both meditation and making. Since I began this deconstruction/construction, I have threaded over 50 feet of strand. With 6 beads per inch or 600 inches that is already 3600 beads.
John Gushue from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation writes about how just one drop of oil (or one bead) in the bucket of the ocean can have a big impact. Just imagine what a spill does.
With my students I spent the summer session immersed in the 3,900 pages of Klee’s notebooks that have been scanned and are now available online. Yes, you can turn every page: http://www.kleegestaltungslehre.zpk.org/ee/ZPK/BF/2012/01/01/001/
As I chip away at the chunk, I am documenting the process:
UPDATE MAY 7, 2019
For my entry for the 2019 Spring Art Show at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center I wrapped my line into a ball then placed the ball on a pedestal.
Spring Art Show statement:
As a meditation, in a repetitious movement, this ball is being made from thousands of foam “beads” — tiny black “pearls” that are being strung one by one from a block of Styrofoam acoustic insulation that was found on Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. At first these precious gems from the sea inspired me to string them to make a necklace. As the stringing progressed, taking a queue from Paul Klee’s “Pedagogical Sketchbook,” his textbook for his Bauhaus drawing students, I decided to follow his instruction to “take a line for a walk.” As he says… “You have a point. If you move a point you get a line, and if you move the line you get a plane.” As I continued, the plane became a ball and the ball became this a sculpture. 
UPDATE JUNE 23, 2019
My GRO statement:
This web is the result of hours and hours of meticulous and meditative effort — stringing, one by one, the thousands of foam “beads” — tiny black “pearls” from a block of Styrofoam acoustic insulation that was found on Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. At first these precious gems from the sea inspired me to thread them to make a necklace.
As the stringing progressed, taking a queue from Paul Klee’s “Pedagogical Sketchbook,” his textbook for his drawing students at the Bauhaus, I decided to follow his instruction to “take a line for a walk.” He says, “You have a point. If you move a point you get a line, and if you move the line you get a plane.” As my strand, in an wild and unwieldy way, grew longer, coming into what appeared to be a labyrinthine meander, the line escaped the plane. Then, when given the opportunity to use this window, it went wild and transgressed all of the panes.
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The Plasticene Discontinuity 