Visual Diary project @HSC Bensonhurst Senior Cemter.4 May 20, 2021


                                    HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center

VISUAL DIARY Project

Blog 4 5/20/2021

 

As we will be learning about how to create dialogues using our figures, we warmed up with a complimentary gestures game. After Spica and I modeled the activity, Julisa started and blew a kiss, which was accepted by Jing Wei, then she scratched her head and Ru Ping responded with a gesture asking, “what happened?” Pun jumped in with a “she loves you” gesture to which So Sim accepted with a “thank you”. Lao Yu gestured a kiss to Sook Fong who gave her a hug and Hui Fen offered a handshake. 

 

Always ready to accept any challenge and make it their own, we shared our students’ artwork in response to the Visual Diary theme: What You Care About. Susanna drew two pictures showing pressure families are facing during COVID restrictions. Her figure with flailing arms expressed, “too much pressure to work and study at home”, and a small child crawling away. Next to this she drew a large TV with the child relaxing, “take a break”. Stella also used the theme of COVID times and drew the door of the subway and colorfully masked figures with the statement, “NYC Central Park subway station set up free vaccination - get 1 free MetroCard for 1 week”.

 

Sook Fong drew four generations together celebrating the new grandchild’s 1 month’s birthday. Her second image was of two masked figures in front of a green background with an arrow marking the 6’ social distance rule. So Sim enjoys using colored pencils and drew two versions of a family gathering in 2003. One with the faces selected by generically coloring them and the other without. Her second drawing showed a figure doing Tai Chi in the park. Ru Ping, inspired by the Keith Haring examples shared in class last week, drew two posters in support of respect for Asian Americans. In one she chose to color her figures red, yellow, and green, “We are Asian Americans”, and in the other her blue figures’ arms reach upward to a central heart, “We all love America”. Pun also created a poster with a message, to cut off the elastic from masks before disposing of them. She drew a large pair of scissors, mask and garbage can with a much smaller figure in the corner. The colorful design surrounding the drawing helped to draw our focus to her message.

 

Lao Yu created a comic strip with three figures watching a computer screen with the last figure wearing glasses. The images on the screen change from dolphins playing, to war to alien invasion. The grandmother says, “stop the computer”, and the child responds, “5 more minutes”. Julisa also took a stance about an important issue, climate change in her two drawings. In one a figure holds an S.O.S. sign above his head on the roof as the water rises. On the other Earth is rendered as balloons with buildings, people and flowers hanging off it. Her drawings have been beautifully and delicately rendered in colored pencil. Jing Wei used markers then added water to create a watercolor effect that is quite lovely. She depicts sadness at leaving her homeland, “When I gaze up at the moon, thoughts of home bring my head down”. In one image we see the country and in the other the city where she now lives. Hui Fen documented what she saw in a recent visit to the park. An active figure on a skateboard is beside another dropping rubbish in the bin. Her second drawing was inspired by a TV ad. In which The Statue of Liberty wears a mask encouraging New Yorkers to do the same. Her masked figure has a fist in the air showing strength, she includes the COVID virus and washing hands. 

 

Students revisited brush stroke figures, drawing them with distinctive silhouettes by considering body build, hairstyle, posture and clothing. They also used their puppet as a model and tried drawing poses directionally. Next, they selected a figure and thought what it could be saying, finally looking at two together to create everyday dialogues. 

 

Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art was viewed as inspiration, focusing on his use of simple repetitive colors, bold images and inspiration from comic books to modern art. Students looked at their own drawings and shared possible dialogues, which the figures’ postures suggested. We are excited to see what Daily Dialogues they draw.

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