Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Tepee Construction and Design Project

Tinkering Workshop
Members of the the Oklahoma Museum Network (which thankfully, includes me) got together this week for a one day training to prepare for the tinkering exhibits which will soon be touring the state. We explored some deep and playful activities and discussed how to think about setting up a tinkering studio in a museum.

Above is a picture of Barbara Asepermy who is now helping me . Barbara and I are both amazed at the ingenuity behind tipi construction and design. Now that we are trying to figure out what sorts of materials are needed for a tipi tinkering area, we realize how much we had overlooked. For instance, do you know how many poles are needed to make a tipi or how they were placed? Where did the Indians even find such nice long, straight poles? And how many buffalo hides were needed to cover the tipi? Our questions go on and on.
http://goo.gl/photos/iJQdYKoJHd Here is a link to some photos, to see how our plans are going.

Luckily, Al Hobbs, a volunteer at our Red River Trading Post, is also providing his insight and understanding as it pertains to tipi construction, calculating the area of a circle, the relationship between the length of the poles and the diameter of the tipi, proverbs that promote the importance of a good question, tipi customs and etiquette, and the likelihood of a trial and error method of construction and design, by the first people when it comes to this very brilliant mobile home design.

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