About 130 students in an introductory 3-D design course learned about the challenges of working on a large scale when they wrapped their bodies or friends’ bodies in tape for their final project.

When they cut off the tape, they displayed the resulting castings in a temporary installation before making stop-motion films of the figures that were screened in class.

The sticky undertaking was designed to teach the students how to tackle a large-scale project using “a playful, contemporary material,” says James Thurman, the assistant professor of art who oversaw the project.

“Plus, this gets them thinking about basic postures and how that conveys basic ideas — like Rodin’s The Thinker. There was a lot of planning and careful consideration that went into that exact posture.”