The Memory Project: Storytelling through visual arts, theater & puppetry

  MEMORY POP-UP BOOK PROJECT for FAMILIES With PS22Q grades 2-5 Thursday June 24, 2021 Blog 10 Spica and I are very sad to say goodbye to our wonderful students at PS22Q. We want to thank The Thomas Jefferson School’s Principal, Ms. Jennifer Meyer, and Flushing Town Hall for making this program possible. A big shout out to Ms. Jeanne Powers, PS 22 Queens Staff Developer and Sio Man Lam, FHT Education & Public Programs Coordinator and all the teachers and parent coordinators who logged onto our classes and offered support and enthusiasm. And finally, the students of PS22Q - what a great bunch of creative, talented, and eager young people. It’s great to see other artwork our students have created, and they are keen to share it with us. For Father’s Day, Karina made a “jellyfish” from recycled materials. It was so colorful and inventive.  We threw a ball of energy to each other to warm up our imaginations for the start of class. As they were making the book cover today, we sc...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center VISUAL DIARY Project Blog 9 6/24/2021 We are sad that today is our last class with the wonderful seniors at Homecrest’s Bensonhurst Senior Center. We want to give a big shout out to Zhikang Ling, “Hong” who has facilitated our zoom classes and recorded and posted our sessions on WeChat.  He has also arranged for the drop off and pick-up of the materials needed for each project. Thank you also to Fanny Chen, who has helped to administer the program. We know that Chip Ma is there behind the scenes making sure everything is running just right. Thanks also to Don Lee, for his ongoing support of us. Most importantly we want to thank Karen Zhou who believed in us and was instrumental in giving us the opportunity to teach at Homecrest’s Centers.  The students have created incredible work during this Visual Diary project, and we are pleased to honor their achievements. We look forward to visiting the center next week and seeing some of our students...

  MEMORY POP-UP BOOK PROJECT for FAMILIES With PS22Q grades 2-5 Wednesday June 23, 2021 Blog 9 We were joined in today’s class by two teachers from PS22Q, Ms. Jane Mishra, currently teaching Kindergarten and Ms. Jillian Lamano, 3rd grade teacher. We thank them both very much for their enthusiastic support. Our students were right on time today, eager to make the last page of their book. As our vocabulary word is “flap”, describing a new type of device to create a pop-up, we warmed up with a hide and seek zoom game. Andy volunteered to be “in” and hid in his room while our backs were turned to the count of 10. When we turned back, we guessed where he might be hiding. Spica suggested under the table and sure enough, she was spot on! Andy emerged, grinning.  Today our students learnt how to make a door which opens to reveal something inside and either a desk or cabinet or dresser, with drawers containing special objects. They learnt how more interesting a door can be if drawn wit...

  LMCC - Creative Learning Grant Book of Home  Blog 9 6/22/2021 .  Today is Primary Day in New York City and already some of our seniors had voted!! We warmed up by sharing a gesture that might be used to indicate voting. Helping gave the “OK” sign, Chi the “V” for victory, Lily gesture the check box symbol and Diana shared a gesture for “love”, which is popular with Asian Americans and one I hadn't seen before. I’m always learning something new from my students. I shared work in progress from Lily, who had finished the figures for her 3rd page. She changed the color of their clothes, giving Thomas an “ocean” inspired shirt reflective of the story of the page, their vacation to Hawaii.  She added a sheer wrap over her yellow top, commenting that she always carries one with her, just in case. Situ traced the image of herself and her husband standing in a giant clog, which was taken during their vacation in Holland. Helping shared a pocket she made from a recycled maga...

THE ART OF SHADOW THEATER:  FAMILY STORIES VIRTUAL ASSEMBLY With PS20Q 6.19.2021T Spica and I were honored to be asked to present at Flushing Town Hall’s Virtual Assemblies for students and their families attending PS20Q or John Bowne Elementary School. Thank you to Haihong Chen, FTH’s Education & Public Programs Administrator and Monique Lizcano, Parent Coordinator at the school. We were excited to share our love of shadow theater with the children and their families. After introducing ourselves we spoke about how our shadow is always with us, like our best friend, and it’s even there in the dark! Images of shadow puppetry from Cambodia, where fire is used as the light source and puppeteers manipulate large shadow puppets using two hands, India, where shadow puppetry is used to tell Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, Malaysia, and Thailand where shadow puppetry shares similar elements. Next, we shared an image of the well-known Turkish shadow puppets, Karago...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center VISUAL DIARY Project Blog 8 6/17/2021 Trying something a little different we warmed up by playing a word association game called Scattergories. I said a category, “family”, and the students said the first word that they thought of related to the topic. The rule is that it must be a tangible object. Hui Fen said “bed”, Ru Ping, “house”, Julisa, “cellphone” and Pun, “key”. When the Category was “travel”, Jing Wei said, “plane and boat”, Lao Yu, “medicine” and Pun “chewing gum”, referencing an aid for helping pressure in your ears when descending.  Next, we shared their homework which was their visual diary of the seasons.  In Susanna’s word “hot”, the “o” seemed to be sweating as it was surrounded by flames. Her second drawing depicted a whimsical woman sipping a cool drink and a dog panting. She drew a man cooking a BBQ at the grill bedecked in a green apron while much smaller figures sat waiting at the large table. Stella chose to depict th...

MEMORY POP-UP BOOK PROJECT for FAMILIES With PS22Q grades 2-5 Wednesday June 16, 2021 Blog 8 We were joined in today’s class by Ms. Sandra Paolo, 1st grade teacher and Ms. Leah Lewis who is currently teaching Pre-K - 5 but is usually the Science specialty teacher at PS22Q. Thank you for supporting the workshop. In this week’s lesson, students will make a third page, which includes a table and chair and add a designer background inspired by their built surroundings.  To warm up we played the theater game, transform the object.  Students took an everyday object from their desk and used it in a new and imaginative way, hence transforming it. Chloe transformed a ruler into a magic wand, Dionela transformed her ruler into exploding firecrackers and her glue stick into blue lip gloss. It was great to welcome a new student tonight, Olivia.  First, we revised the technique students learned last week, how to build two V Fold stands onto a Base Page. We were impressed by how much t...

  LMCC - Creative Learning Grant Book of Home  Blog 8 6/15/2021 Happy Dragon Boat Festival! Tuen Ng is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. It commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet and minister known for his patriotism and contribution to classical poetry who eventually became a national hero. People make zongzi and share them with family and friends. In order to honor the day, we warmed up by paddling our imaginary dragon boat in a battle to win. Then we waved our winning flag! Chi had recently visited the High Line to see the flower show and shared her beautiful photos on WeChat. It is a great medium for not only posting the recording of the day’s class but also for asking questions and sharing homework. It was great to welcome Bobo back to our class. We hope she enjoyed the experience and will log on for future classes.  Some of our students posted the 2nd page they completed at home, and we honored their achievements by sharing photos of their...

  PS120Q Pop-Up Page Making Workshop 6/14/21 Spica and I want to thank Ms. Jacqueline Momoh, Assistant Principal PS 120Q and Ms. Yu-Hsien (Sandy) Wu, Parent Coordinator for supporting our pop-up page making workshop for PS120Q students and their families. We gratefully appreciate Flushing Town Hall’s ongoing enthusiastic support of our projects, Gabrielle Hamilton, Director of Education & Public Programs Haihong Chen, Education & Public Programs Administrator and Sio Man Lam, Education & Public Programs Coordinator.    It is always great to see families working together and today’s class was no exception, with Jayden in grade 4 and his sister Jaelyn, in grade 1 joining us. We also welcomed Yu, Angelia and Justin. We warmed up our imaginations and our bodies with a pop-up game and checked we had all the materials necessary for the workshop.    Spica and I shared samples of a Home Pop-Up Page, featuring either an apartment building or a house and asked...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center VISUAL DIARY Project Blog 7 6/10/2021 Logging on early gives us a chance to catch up and learn more about our students. So Sim, who is always first to sign onto zoom, and generally the first to submit her homework, is 92 years old, or young! Her classmates hold her in high esteem, calling her Big Sister. Ru Ping said she tried twice to learn how to crochet from So Sim who’s an expert but was unsuccessful. Pun calls her “my idol!” and Julisa says she can’t keep up with her when they are out walking together. So Sim goes to Bensonhurst Senior Center every day to help with the distribution of food now that it’s open for “grab and go” meals.  We joked about nicknames and Pun shared that hers is “little swallow” because one of the Chinese characters in her name is “swallow”. Julisa’s last name is Chin which is the character for money, so her nickname is “lots and lots of money”. It’s fun to share the meaning of names and pertinent as we will be using...

  MEMORY POP-UP BOOK PROJECT for FAMILIES With PS22Q grades 2-5 June 8, 2021 It was great to see familiar faces today, Andy, Chloe, Dionela, Dianella and Lilia. Spica and I want to give a big shout out to our support teachers, Ms. Courtney Conti and Ms. Salma Din - thank you for being there.   As a result of the COVID pandemic we have all spent a lot of time looking out our windows. Sometimes we can imagine what might be and at other times, it just helps to pass the day. We asked our students to close their eyes and imagine what they might see outside their window, either real or imaginary. Upon opening their eyes each one mimed what they saw. Andy mimed rain or a storm, Lilia a rainbow and Chloe a dog. Ms. Conti joined in the fun and mimed a bunny she saw in her backyard.    We refreshed the technique learnt last week, of how to make the V Fold stand after selecting a color and folding the Base page. For this page, the students made 2 V Fold stands and glued them in...

  A hot and sultry day in New York so what better way to cool off than do some art inside! We will be teaching the art of the reveal - that is hiding something in the pocket of the page that once removed helps to tell the story. To facilitate this idea, we began with a warmup where participants covered their face and after a count of three removed their hands to show us a big emotion using their facial features and gestures. Although we didn’t specify it was the emotion they were currently feeling, most students chose happiness, however everyone's version was expressed differently. And it was confirmed that laughter really is the best medicine. Lily expressed sadness in her face and gesture, trying something different.  Some students had completed the background for their second page, so we shared their work with the class. Alice chose a red base page and V Fold stands to set off the image of her wedding photo. We learned that she made her wedding dress herself in one day! Ama...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center VISUAL DIARY Project Blog 6 6/03/2021 T oday’s Visual Diary class is all about objects we hold in our hands, so we began with a warmup exercise imagining just that. Participants closed their eyes and imagined an object in their hands, feeling its weight, texture, shape and size. When ready they each mimed using the object as the rest of the class guessed what it was. Lao Yu wore a pair of eyeglasses, Sook Fong washed her face, Pun cut an avocado, Julisa tossed a hot potato from hand to hand, Ru Ping texted a message on her phone, Jing Wei read a book, Hui Fen brushed her hair and Stella used a microphone to sing karaoke. The quality of our seniors’ work continues to astound, and we take great pleasure in sharing their homework each week so we and the students can offer comments. Susanna drew two hands with a small child in between dressed in red, which really drew focus; “Don’t worry I’ll catch you”. “No, no,” cried the child. Sook Fong used two hand...