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

It was with great sadness that we heard the news of Corky Lee passing due to complications caused by COVID-19. Corky was a force to be reckoned with, a giant in the Chinese American community and an enthusiastic supporter, photographer, journalist and documentarian of Asian American life. Corky was the self-described “undisputed unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate.” Our deepest condolences to Karen Zhou, his family and many many friends.    Warming up our imaginations at the beginning of class, our students shared mimes of kitchen actions, such as chopping food, flipping eggs, turning on taps and washing dishes. Their outstanding artwork, completed for homework, featured favorite snacks. Seniors shared their stories while we all commented on their pages. Stella drew Chinese New Year snacks to remind her of the new year’s atmosphere which is dampened due to the pandemic. She wishes everyone a healthy and happy New Year! Sook Fong drew the snack she bought on her way...

It’s always a special treat to catch up each week with our students “in person” even though we keep in touch via WeChat regularly sharing their artwork and stories. Spica is still in quarantine in Taipei and I zoomed from the rehabilitation hospital I’m in after having hip surgery. Unfortunately, Susanna couldn’t be with us this week and Stella was babysitting, however she and her grandson dropped in near the end of class to say hello. Sook Fong is the first of our students to receive the first in a series of 2 COVID-19 vaccinations. We wish her the very best. After a warm up in which each student created a short routine to a ten beat count for us all to follow, we shared the Breakfast pages begun last week and completed for homework. They are terrific! Susanna drew a sausage and two donuts on a plate, which looked like the number 100. Her mother made this special breakfast for her, and placed the items just so, after she achieved an excellent grade.  This week we focused on our fa...

  Technology is amazing. For today’s class we connected from two different continents and an island. Spica is now in quarantine in her family home in Taipei, Taiwan, I’m in Sydney, Australia and our students are in Bensonhurst, New York. We are thrilled we can continue to meet each week even with the huge time differences.   Stella and Susanna were busy looking after their grandchildren so were not able to join our class today, however Stella and grandson Theodore did make a surprise visit!   Massaging our faces was a great way to wake us up, especially me at 2am and Spica at 11pm!! So many of our seniors had tips to add to our facial warm up. By the end we all felt like we’d visited the beautician.   Our wonderful students sent us their finished Utensils’ page and we shared these while listening to their stories. Hui Fen chose a yellow background to feature her rolling pin, which accompanied her from China to New York, teapot, cup, plate, bowl and spoon. She wrote ...

Celebrating with our students is a perfect way to see out the old year and welcome in the new. 6am New Year’s Eve I logged onto zoom to smiling faces and a very warm welcome from everyone. Thank you to Hong for organizing our holiday party and a huge shout out to Chip Ma, Winnie Don Lee, and Karen Zhou for all their support and encouragement during this most difficult of years.    This is the season when we traditionally give gifts but separated as we are because of COVID-19 restrictions, we can still share the greatest gift of all, togetherness via technology. We shared stories of family.   Lao Yu inspired us with the story of how her family has spent their quarantine by documenting their footprint in the USA back to her great-grandfather. Original documents such as passports and birth certificates, family belongings and research at City Hall helped them trace their family tree. Lao Yu used her drawing skills to sketch two grinding machines from her hometown where grains...

    My final day of quarantine and I’m ready to taste my freedom! A joyous way to begin my day with our fabulous students creating amazing artwork.   Our fun warm up involved each student miming a kitchen utensil or piece of silverware, while the rest of us guessed what it was. Laughing together even though apart is a great way of destressing and connecting.   Participants had previously collected utensils and silverware that held a special meaning or significance for them. Susanna, who was joining our class again, held up ivory chopsticks, which her father had given her 50 years ago and engraved with her name. Pun displayed a green chopping mat. It was a gift from her sister who has since passed, and so holds very special memories. So Sim held a precious rice bowl given to her by her aunt 40 years ago. She uses it to make special rice cakes once a year. JuLisa carefully showed a large pair of scissors in a brown sheath which her Mum had given her 40 years ago. These...

  Welcome from hotel quarantine in Sydney, Australia where it’s 2am!! What a wonderful tool technology is that I can be connected with my colleague Spica and our wonderful students and the incredible staff at Bensonhurst Senior Center. I was so very pleased to see everyone’s smiling face this morning and to welcome Stella back to our class.  Beginning with a warmup, which also helped wake me up, we slowly moved our bodies in arching sweeps replicating brush strokes. Next, we isolated our hands and dab and flicked with our fingers. Finally, we rolled our hips and shoulders and shook it all out ready to begin our morning’s class.   Margaret has been working on a personal project which mirrors ours, documenting her family’s recipes by making each dish and writing about the memories they evoke. We shared a couple of images of these dishes while Margaret spoke about them.    Participants experimented with the set of colored brush markers they had been given, making t...

  We welcomed a new student to our class today, Margaret, who has been our student at LaGuardia Senior Center. Spica and I wish to thank the generosity of Homecrest Community Services, Karen Zhou, Executive Director, Chip Ma, Center Director and Zhikang Ling (Hong), Administrative Assistant for making this happen. It’s one of the benefits of virtual technology that we can invite seniors from diverse locations. And as a matter of fact, I will be “zooming” from Sydney, Australia for our next class!    We warmed up by making square and rectangular shapes with our hands and body. Imagining a large piece of paper was on either side of us we used our hands to shape squares. Next, we stretched upwards to imaginary paper on the ceiling, repeating the exercise and finally we bent our knees to draw squares on the floor.   Participants learnt how to create 3-D organic shapes, numbers and letters by perspective drawing and practice techniques of shading leant last week to add de...