What would you do with a piece of wood? Would you paint it, draw on it, film it or dress it up?

Ars Nova, an NIU art group, is posing that same question in an ongoing project this semester.

The club is handing out pieces of wood to students and asking them to modify them in some way. The results of the modified pieces of wood will be documented and passed off to another person. Those second results will also be documented.

“We talked about what we could do in the future with it,” said Laura McAndrews, freshman visual communications major. “And it sounded like a good way to incorporate people into art.”

Ally Herrera, the president of Ars Nova, said the group plans to start the project anew next semester. But instead of passing the pieces of wood off to a second partner at NIU, the group would like to mail off the pieces to another school. The group ultimately hopes to mail the pieces of wood overseas.

“This semester we’re working out the kinks of the project,” Herrera said. “We want to get it right before we pass it off to another college and overseas.”

The project was conceived when Ars Nova members McAndrews and Herrera were bored.

Herrera, a visual communications and psychology major, was bored this summer and asked her friends, family and strangers about their first kiss. Herrera took the answers and printed them on paper. Laminating those papers, she posted them across campus.

“It’s something you don’t know about, but it’s an interesting part of a person,” Herrera said.

McAndrews pulled her part of the idea from her 2-D drawing class where she heard about writing a message on a piece of paper and sending it out to people.

“I’ve never done anything like that and it interested me,” McAndrews said. “It’s never-ending and always changing.”

Ars Nova handed out the pieces of wood during Friday Fest. McAndrews has taken an active approach with her piece.

“I tried lighting it on fire and singeing the edges, and I’m going to try to cut into it with a knife,” McAndrews said. “I’m going for something abstract. I think I’ll paint it when I get it to the point where it’s ravaged.

“I sprayed it with perfume to see how it would smell. The smell lasted for a few days,” McAndrews said. “I think I might take it on a date or two and try feeding it some food.”

You don’t have to be an Ars Nova member to participate in the project – the group welcomes anyone to participate.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people and everyone loves art but can’t get into some of the classes,” McAndrews said. “We try to mix it up a little with all our members.”

Ars Nova will be at a table noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 1-4 in the Art Building’s second floor by the main office to hand out pieces of wood and provide more information on the project.