Tiina Kraav
Tiina Kraav is a lecturer of mathematics education at the University
of Tartu, but also has an art degree from the Pallas University of
Applied Sciences. As a lecturer, she is interested in incorporating
various active learning methods, especially paper folding into
mathematics education, and as an artist, she works with different
mediums like alternative ways of printmaking, machine embroidery,
mathematical origami, and their intersections.
The heart, folded from 20 cm x 20 cm paper, is unfolded again,
photographed and the result converted to a 20 cm x 20 cm
cross-stitch design. The perpendicular fold lines are in a
dialogue with the very nature of the cross stitch - the
perpendicular threads. The midperpendicular and the diagonal are
simple mathematical concepts that can be used to refer, through
origami, to what is basic and elementary in life - the heart. The
motif of the heart and the lines that emerge as a result of the
unfolding allow a mathematical and seemingly non-emotional
expression of a highly emotional state of mind. The work also
illustrates that any mathematical model takes on different shades
in real life in order to be applied in a purposeful way.