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

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center HOME Project Blog 18 12/23/2021 As this is our last class before Christmas, we want to wish everyone the joys of the seasons and good health and happiness. It is also our last class of the year, and what a difficult year 2021 has been, with new COVID strains, increased transmissions, illness, restrictions, cancellations, and isolation for so many. We hope 2022 brings with it new hope, resilience, and good health for our community. Christmas is a time of cooking and we warmed up our imaginations by making food or drink and passing it to another person. Next, we checked in with the terrific living rooms our clever students made. Pun’s red couch is highlighted with colorful patterned dots. She added a long table with a pink top and attached a center cloth. By learning from each other, she figured out how to make flower vases on the floor pop-up. The Christmas theme was evident in a reindeer painting on the wall. Pun also found an image of a little girl...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center HOME Project Blog 17 12/16/2021 Our students created some beautiful base pages for their “Living Room” HOME page. In today’s class they learnt techniques for creating their own furniture, building on the skills attained last week. First though we warmed up our imaginations with a pop-up gesture and added sound. I demonstrated a pop-up mouth and made a bird call, inspired by the variety of bird calls in Australia. Pun demonstrated a gesture we are all familiar with, opening her phone and calling friends. Lao Yu cupped her hands to her mouth and called out. The rest of our students followed the animal sound theme, with Hui Fen throwing her head back and cockle-dooing-do like a rooster. Jing Wei flapped her arms like a chicken and chirped. Ru Ping imitated the neighbor’s dog and barked, while Susanna quacked like a duck. So Sim pawed her face with meowing and Sook Fong bleated while butting her head like a goat. Stella amazed us with a perfect bird call...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center HOME Project Blog 16 12/09/2021 As we will be constructing boxes as the basis for making “furniture” for each page of their Book of Home, we began with a warmup theater exercise that involved making shapes with your bodies. These shapes were informed by objects around us. Some students also added an action to their shape, for example, Pun opened the refrigerator door, Jing Wei drank a cup of tea, Ru Ping opened and closed a door, Stella made the shape of glasses and the swiping action for checking phone messages, while Hui Fen demonstrated putting on a mask. So Sim shared a cleansing exercise to help our kidneys and Sook Fong shared her exercise regime she has been doing for the last 20 years which involves 90 separate movements.  Our students showed their amazing creativity and inventiveness with the base pages they designed for their House. They learned how to attach the house to the center of their page, so it popped up when the page was open...

  HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center HOME Project Blog 15 12/02/2021 It was great to be back after Thanksgiving and to check in with our students to see how they celebrated. They were of course busy finishing their homework, creating their houses mobile. What a creative and inventive collection of their artistry we shared over zoom. Stella incorporated the American flag into her house design and added a resident - the crocheted rabbit So Sim made for her! There was a bird nestled on one roof and a flower on another. Susanna’s 5 houses balanced perfectly. One roof featured scalloped edges reminiscent of a Swiss chalet. Lao Yu created a unique Traditional Chinese house in a hexagonal shape with curved roof from the corners of which hung purple beads. She added a circular Welcome sign which reminded us of Tibetan prayer wheels. Sook Fong added a ting strawberry charm to the tassel hanging from one of her houses. She wrote a tiny red scroll and added it to the door. Pun is so proud of her c...