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

  Bensonhurst Senior Center Blog  7  3/31/22 Flowers & Family Tree Greetings from rainy Sydney! It’s early morning here but the weather is brightened by the smiling faces of our students, all eager to meet for another creative session. Eye strain can be caused by too much computer use so we started our class with some eye exercises which can be incorporated into our seniors’ daily routines. Blinking slowly and deliberately helps lubricate the surface of the eye as well as strengthening and releasing tension in the eye muscles. We focused on an object in our field of vision, tracing its outline. This is great for strengthening eye muscles. Tracking near and far is another eye strengthening exercise. We did this by stretching one arm out directly in front and making the thumbs up sign. Seniors focused on their thumb while slowly bringing it toward their face, staying focused and reversing the action. Tracking side to side supports peripheral vision. Seniors took a pen i...

  Bensonhurst Senior Center Blog  6  3/24/22 Flowers & Family Tree On this rainy day there is no better way to start our class than with a physical warm up. As we will be investigating the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami who uses repetitive motifs, I had the students make body patterns by first following my lead. I made circular movements with my arms and body which culminated in a frozen pose resembling a leaf. Each student was spotlighted while they led the class in their own movement pattern. Our students created magnificent family trees which they decorated with their photo ornaments. Each chose 1 or 2 ornaments and shared the story of the photo with the class. The predominant theme was honoring their parents and we heard heartwarming stories of love and devotion and the hardships and deprivations endured during the Cultural Revolution. So Sim shared a black and white photo of her mother and father taken in 1960 when they met again in Hong Kong, being una...

  Bensonhurst Senior Center Blog  5  3/17/22 Flowers & Family Tree As we would be exploring the work of Yayoi Kusama today, we began our class with a “making circles” warm up. Starting with the right hand we gently circled it clockwise, adding the wrist, elbow, and full arm before switching to the left hand and then finally incorporating both arms. We tried moving one arm in a clockwise direction while simultaneously circling the other arm counterclockwise - an excellent activity for stimulating brain function. Next, we rolled our head and neck and then our shoulders. Making sure they were stabilized by holding the back of a chair, our students circled the right foot and then the leg before switching to the left leg.  In order to finish the “Family Tree” we had to add the cardboard base and then apply colored tissue paper to the tree and the base. Jing Wei and Ru Ping had already colored their trees by using florists’ tape. Pun did not have the colored tissue she...

  Bensonhurst Senior Center Blog  4  3/10/22 Flowers & Family Tree We played an online version of “Grandma's Footsteps” as our theater warm up activity. I was “in” and placed my head down as our students moved away from their cameras. Slowly moving forward, they tried to reach their screen without me seeing them move whenever I lifted my head. Julisa succeeded in the first round, but So Sim was certainly doing a fine job until I caught her swaying! Practice makes perfect and our students exemplify this maxim. Julisa claimed you need 5 attempts at transferring the photo or image to the wooden decoration to get it just right and this was certainly evidenced by the beautiful decorations our students shared. Ru Ping cleverly placed a photo of her 3 children as youngsters on one side of the decoration and then the other displayed them as adults. Old black and white photos as well as modern colored ones were proudly displayed on one side of the ornament while the other fea...

  Bensonhurst Senior Center Blog  3  3/3/22 Flowers & Family Tree A great way to get us all connected at the beginning of class and to warm up our bodies and imagination is through the “Ball of Energy” theater game. The teacher shapes a “ball of energy” and selects a person to throw it to, who is spotlighted. That person catches the “ball”, reshapes it, and nominates another person as the receiver. We had a lot of fun moving the “ball” around the class as it was remade, by rolling it out like dough, stretching it with Tai Chi moves, blowing on it, juggling the ball, and making it longer, flatter, and hotter. Hui Fen’s granddaughter, Sharon, was keen to join our class, adding her smiling face to the group. As Hong is on vacation for the week, we were hosted by Fanny at Bensonhurst Senior Center. Our seniors shared their terrific sketches of a tree; Hui Fen added birds, Jing Wei, bird -houses, Julisa created a 3D effect with shading, Lao Yu’s branches were intricately d...