Yesterday was my first day working as a ZeumMaster. At first I was nervous but then working with the educators and other Zeum Masters I got more comfortable. When the staff greeted me, I felt like I was important. I had a lot of fun. Working in the animator studio was cool. I love working here.
So last night was also parents night. Parents night was a night for zeummaster parents to come and see what we do. We got to see all the old zeummasters projects they've been working on for a while. The art work was amazing and I want to do one for the next time we have parent night.
They did a fantastic job. The zeummaster projects inspired me. I want to develop my art skills.
I think that working at zeum will help me develop my art skills because here at zeum there are different forms of art like technology, clay animation and so much more. I think I would want to do a poetry piece, a play, a drawing or a clay figure. At the beginning of the event, christian welcomed the parents and thanked us for being there. In the middle of the event, the parents got a tour of where we work. all the old zeum masters and educators work really hard to make the event as successful as it was. parent night was a huge success, we had a lot of parents.
I think I like the idea of having my own art show because then I can chose the art I want to be displayed and it would be a lot of dedication and hard work because you need to be organized and on top of your game. this way if I have my own art show I can put art of of the visitors and zeum masters. I do not consider myself an artist but I would like to try to make art and put it in even if im not that great because this way people can see what i have created and my hard work. Making art scares me because people can judge me and my art and I take things personally and hard even if it is a joke or sarcasm.
What does it mean to be an artist? To me being an artist means expressing your self in poetry, lyrics, drawing, music and so much more. If you express yourself in anyway, you're an artist. The reason why i came to zeum was to get away from all the stress at home and just express myself. Here I've been expressing myself through playing with the clay figures because it calms me down and I can be an artist when working with it.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Old Places New Faces
It feels like its been so long since I was gone. Here I am, blogging again! I love blogging because its one of the many ways we express our feelings here at Zeum. we should take better advantage of this site since it was made just for us. ZEUMMASTERS ;]
Before, I worked at Zeum through a program called MYEEP and since that program ended, I stopped working at Zeum. I decided to reapply. and now I am here again ;] I had to go through training again and this reminded me of when I first got training 8 months ago. A few days ago I met the new Zeummasters and went through training with them. this is my second time being trained. I remember the first time I was trained, I had totally different people with me and we were trained somewhat differently. It was then when i realized how far I had come. these eight months had sure past by way too fast.
While I was gone, I missed zeum alot, the people and the place itself. I felt like I couldn't say I worked at Zeum anymore and that made me sad. but I got really excited when Raquel called and offered the Zeummaster position to me. I thought, everything will be the same again.
When I actually arrived at Zeum, some of the old people were gone and new people came it. I think its not typical for a teenager to work at a place for so long and I am glad I have the opportunity to do so. even though I was so sad that the old workers left because they graduated, I was glad to meet the new people. I know that every year, people would come and leave. and some of the new Zeummasters will be leaving when summer ends, so i should better spend more times with them. ;]
Before, I worked at Zeum through a program called MYEEP and since that program ended, I stopped working at Zeum. I decided to reapply. and now I am here again ;] I had to go through training again and this reminded me of when I first got training 8 months ago. A few days ago I met the new Zeummasters and went through training with them. this is my second time being trained. I remember the first time I was trained, I had totally different people with me and we were trained somewhat differently. It was then when i realized how far I had come. these eight months had sure past by way too fast.
While I was gone, I missed zeum alot, the people and the place itself. I felt like I couldn't say I worked at Zeum anymore and that made me sad. but I got really excited when Raquel called and offered the Zeummaster position to me. I thought, everything will be the same again.
When I actually arrived at Zeum, some of the old people were gone and new people came it. I think its not typical for a teenager to work at a place for so long and I am glad I have the opportunity to do so. even though I was so sad that the old workers left because they graduated, I was glad to meet the new people. I know that every year, people would come and leave. and some of the new Zeummasters will be leaving when summer ends, so i should better spend more times with them. ;]
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Getting Down to Business with the new zms
Yesterday Debo, Derrek, Angee, and I led the New ZeumMaster Orientation. It was a lot of fun. Angee and I came up with the idea to help with training the new ZeumMasters and after several weeks of hard work and planning, it finally happened. We wanted to show the new folks what it is to be a ZeumMaster from the perspective of someone actually in that position. So who better to show them that than us? :)
We love our job here and we want them to love it too. So we started off by having each person STAND UP and introduce themselves and tell us 3 things about themselves. We introduced ourselves to them as well. Then, to break the ice and bring them out of their shells, we went outside and played a couple games the way we do it at Zeum. First we started out by playing a name game just so everyone could get to know each other. It ended up getting hilarious at certain points. The point of the game was to get everyone to let go and just CHILL around each other and to be less hesitant and more outgoing, an important trait of every ZeumMaster. We NEED to be loud and crazy to do our jobs right.
Then, we played a concentration game where they were given a category and they had to think of something that fell into that category and the first person to mess up or repeat a thing was eliminated. We had categories that got harder as more people were eliminated, such as: Colors, Things Found in Parks, Ice Cream Flavors, and Bart Lines. We got crazy answers like "Vomit" and "Birthday Cake Remix". It got crazy but we had a lot of fun and everyone got to know each other and have a good time.
After the fun was over it was time to get down to business. Our job was to give them a little taste of Zeum from a technical point of view, but at the same time in a relaxed and understanding atmosphere so that when it actually comes time to learning all the little details, it won't all be so new and overwhelming.
It was nice to see my peers actually listening to me and taking notes on what I was telling them. We were professional and informative while at the same time keeping the friendly atmosphere. I trie
d talking to them the way I would've liked to have been talked to when I was trained. It was fun getting to know the new ZeumMasters and I think they enjoyed it as much as, if not more than, we did. I just hope that everything we told them will be useful to them during their Zeum Career.
On another note, Mission in the Mix (a hip hop dance show) opens this weekend!! This workshop group I'm performing in it. It's gonna be an AWESOME show, so everyone
should come. It's recommended that you buy tickets in advance because they WILL sell out. They'll only have a FEW at the door. *Tickets are $15 and sold at Dance Mission Theater across from 24th Street Bart Station.
We love our job here and we want them to love it too. So we started off by having each person STAND UP and introduce themselves and tell us 3 things about themselves. We introduced ourselves to them as well. Then, to break the ice and bring them out of their shells, we went outside and played a couple games the way we do it at Zeum. First we started out by playing a name game just so everyone could get to know each other. It ended up getting hilarious at certain points. The point of the game was to get everyone to let go and just CHILL around each other and to be less hesitant and more outgoing, an important trait of every ZeumMaster. We NEED to be loud and crazy to do our jobs right.
Then, we played a concentration game where they were given a category and they had to think of something that fell into that category and the first person to mess up or repeat a thing was eliminated. We had categories that got harder as more people were eliminated, such as: Colors, Things Found in Parks, Ice Cream Flavors, and Bart Lines. We got crazy answers like "Vomit" and "Birthday Cake Remix". It got crazy but we had a lot of fun and everyone got to know each other and have a good time.
After the fun was over it was time to get down to business. Our job was to give them a little taste of Zeum from a technical point of view, but at the same time in a relaxed and understanding atmosphere so that when it actually comes time to learning all the little details, it won't all be so new and overwhelming.
It was nice to see my peers actually listening to me and taking notes on what I was telling them. We were professional and informative while at the same time keeping the friendly atmosphere. I trie
d talking to them the way I would've liked to have been talked to when I was trained. It was fun getting to know the new ZeumMasters and I think they enjoyed it as much as, if not more than, we did. I just hope that everything we told them will be useful to them during their Zeum Career. On another note, Mission in the Mix (a hip hop dance show) opens this weekend!! This workshop group I'm performing in it. It's gonna be an AWESOME show, so everyone
should come. It's recommended that you buy tickets in advance because they WILL sell out. They'll only have a FEW at the door. *Tickets are $15 and sold at Dance Mission Theater across from 24th Street Bart Station.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
ZeumMasters train ZeumMasters
The new season means new ZeumMasters! Today marks the first day of ZeumMaster led orientation for the newbies. Angee and Samantha led the first round, ow
ning it, teaching it, rocking it.C
heck out some of the evidence....
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Spoken Music: Fran Varian visits Zeum
This morning Ari's friend, Fran Varian came and talked to us - she is a spoken word artist. I might have mentioned spoken work in my project in media and self image because that's how I'm performing it. Spoken word is a kind of performance art in lyrics, poetry, and stories are spoken instead of sung. So it's like talking music.
Fran gave us a insight into the world of spoken word like slam poetry, which is a competition with eight people who have two minutes to make up their own piece of work and get judged by random people from the audience. Wow that must take extreme talent to make up something in two minutes... it takes me weeks to come up with something even close to a poem.
The artistic process is different for everybody... but I'm seeing that the base of a spoken word poem is to "be vulnerable". A lot of artists write about things that are really personal. This can be hard because people feel uncomfortable but also really easy because you are writing about a subject you know the most - yourself. When you talk about yourself lots of people might respond to it because they might have felt the same way or had the same experiences.
I have never really performed as myself - I'm use to getting characters and being someone else. But I can be someone else and even be myself at the same time. I talked about this with Fran and the group. Even in getting a script and being a different character can be a way to "be vulnerable".
Fran told us about an organization called Youthspeaks.org it helps teens get into spoken word. It gives them a chance to really have a voice and express their feelings, opinions.
I'm using spoken word in my project so it was good chance to hear about her process and actually hear one of her poems. It was cool because the hardest part for me was to get down and write what I wanted to say. Hearing Fran talk about her process of writing made working on my project a little bit easier. I never thought of myself as a writer but in reality if you write something down on paper you're a writer.
Fran gave us a insight into the world of spoken word like slam poetry, which is a competition with eight people who have two minutes to make up their own piece of work and get judged by random people from the audience. Wow that must take extreme talent to make up something in two minutes... it takes me weeks to come up with something even close to a poem.
The artistic process is different for everybody... but I'm seeing that the base of a spoken word poem is to "be vulnerable". A lot of artists write about things that are really personal. This can be hard because people feel uncomfortable but also really easy because you are writing about a subject you know the most - yourself. When you talk about yourself lots of people might respond to it because they might have felt the same way or had the same experiences.
I have never really performed as myself - I'm use to getting characters and being someone else. But I can be someone else and even be myself at the same time. I talked about this with Fran and the group. Even in getting a script and being a different character can be a way to "be vulnerable".
Fran told us about an organization called Youthspeaks.org it helps teens get into spoken word. It gives them a chance to really have a voice and express their feelings, opinions.
I'm using spoken word in my project so it was good chance to hear about her process and actually hear one of her poems. It was cool because the hardest part for me was to get down and write what I wanted to say. Hearing Fran talk about her process of writing made working on my project a little bit easier. I never thought of myself as a writer but in reality if you write something down on paper you're a writer.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
End of Junior year. Beginning of Zeum Summer.
My junior year has come to a close. I made it through finals. This past year was stressful and very busy, and working at Zeum only added to my crazy schedule. Although my Saturdays were always occupied from the hours of of 10am to 5:30, I'm glad I had Zeum this year.
It's hard to believe that I've been at Zeum for an entire year. The time has gone by so fast partly because working at Zeum is so much fun. The kids are great, the staff is even more amazing but I cant lie though, it is hard work. Overwhelming crowds made me question how much I wanted to work with kids. Some days were crazy, running from room to room, trying your best to please every visitor, pay attention to every creation, always an impossible task when the numbers reach the 500 mark.
The only way I was able to survive and have such a good experience was because of the other staff, seriously. We made the hard days go by faster by laughing.
Saturday mornings at Zeum are always fun. We'd spend the first few minutes before morning meetings trying to catch up and explain what had happened during the past week. Eventually Christian would summon us to "Animators" for our morning meeting. That never stopped us, we would still be telling our stories from across the table. We have our own inside jokes, our favorite songs, and Angee is the founder of the ZeumMaster hand sign. (see me demonstrating in photos)
Like most Zeum Masters, this is my first real job, and working on a team is not new to me, but not something that I've had a ton of experience with. A big part of life at Zeum is teamwork. We work together with the common goal: to try to make the best overall experience for the visitors, most of the time that includes making a fool of ourselves. We perform all the time. High School musical is a favorite - we'll act as silly as possible to embarrass our
selves and try to encourage shy kids to perform.
People constantly ask me "What do you do at Zeum?" That question often stumps me. I have to think about it for a while, but eventually say "We help kids perform and create art." and they just give me that puzzled look and I know they're thinking "thats all." But the truth is it's so much more than just helping kids with art.We ZeumMasters facilitate and practically run the museum with the help of the educators. The ZeumMaster team helps with not just the art and the performance, we help make the overall experience an amazing one, a hard but possible task.
I now look forward to another busy summer at Zeum. This summer I can call myself a senior staff member and have the pleasure to help the newest Zeum Masters. The summers at Zeum are always with swimming with camps of kids and visiting families. The most exciting experience is meeting all the new Zeum Masters.
I met so many new people this past year and at times we had just as much fun as the visitors. Summers at Zeum bring out the kid in all of us.
It's hard to believe that I've been at Zeum for an entire year. The time has gone by so fast partly because working at Zeum is so much fun. The kids are great, the staff is even more amazing but I cant lie though, it is hard work. Overwhelming crowds made me question how much I wanted to work with kids. Some days were crazy, running from room to room, trying your best to please every visitor, pay attention to every creation, always an impossible task when the numbers reach the 500 mark.
The only way I was able to survive and have such a good experience was because of the other staff, seriously. We made the hard days go by faster by laughing.
Saturday mornings at Zeum are always fun. We'd spend the first few minutes before morning meetings trying to catch up and explain what had happened during the past week. Eventually Christian would summon us to "Animators" for our morning meeting. That never stopped us, we would still be telling our stories from across the table. We have our own inside jokes, our favorite songs, and Angee is the founder of the ZeumMaster hand sign. (see me demonstrating in photos)
Like most Zeum Masters, this is my first real job, and working on a team is not new to me, but not something that I've had a ton of experience with. A big part of life at Zeum is teamwork. We work together with the common goal: to try to make the best overall experience for the visitors, most of the time that includes making a fool of ourselves. We perform all the time. High School musical is a favorite - we'll act as silly as possible to embarrass our
selves and try to encourage shy kids to perform.People constantly ask me "What do you do at Zeum?" That question often stumps me. I have to think about it for a while, but eventually say "We help kids perform and create art." and they just give me that puzzled look and I know they're thinking "thats all." But the truth is it's so much more than just helping kids with art.We ZeumMasters facilitate and practically run the museum with the help of the educators. The ZeumMaster team helps with not just the art and the performance, we help make the overall experience an amazing one, a hard but possible task.
I now look forward to another busy summer at Zeum. This summer I can call myself a senior staff member and have the pleasure to help the newest Zeum Masters. The summers at Zeum are always with swimming with camps of kids and visiting families. The most exciting experience is meeting all the new Zeum Masters.
I met so many new people this past year and at times we had just as much fun as the visitors. Summers at Zeum bring out the kid in all of us.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Hello, it's Summer
Summer at Zeum can be crazy. Instead of being here one day a week we practically live at Zeum working weekdays also. Oh my God waking up early going to work everyday how BORING!!!! Actually coming to Zeum for my first summer made my summer so much more fun and interesting. Coming into my first work experience ever I wasn't too ecstatic about that I mean I wouldn't get to spend my summer sleeping in bed all day.Zeum isn't the typical white collar job. Starting my first summer I have to say it was confusing after all the fun and games of the scavenger hunt and games it was time to get down to work. All the exhibits all the buttons. Going through various workshops and trainings I felt like I was going to forget all the things when and why I suppose to push things turn on things.
It was so hard recording people the first time I even forgot to tell somebody to
use the microphone at the main gallery and you couldn't hear them on the video. After some bad tapes, changing floppy disks in DW, and learning pretty good animation I can be proud to say I'm a certified expert (there are still slight mistakes here and there) in all the rooms.This month it will have been one year that I've worked at Zeum.
Yesterday, I graduated from high school. Because of Zeum, I have experience in the work field so that when I get another job (hopefully one as fun as this) I will know the basic groundw
ork for working.I also got to use my performance skills at Zeum. Being here helped me develop my talents while working. Having fun while working - I never thought that was a possibility.
So now I want to go to AMDA American Musical Dramatic Theater Academy to study musical theater. for now, I'm going to San Francisco City College to study musical theater - I guess I'm still going to stay in San Francisco for a while.
Now that this is my last summer at Zeum I plan not to totally forget what I have learned. I know that now once I get in front of a camera I'll be prepared for what do thanks to the production stage. Excellent.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
On Performing, the Main Gallery and FINISHING a project
This morning at Zeum, I finished my final project: Fantasy Seder. I performed the one girl play I'd written about how I imagined my family members at a Passover Seder. I was really unsure as to how I was going to be able to act out my different family members and really show the audience different personalities that I was hoping to portray. Recording myself was a bit nerve- racking because I wanted the audience to see what I saw as I was writing the script.
I enjoyed recording myself because I was finally able to make a project that I help kids do everyday when I work at Zeum.
All the kids I work with take their performance so seriously and they really have a vision of how they want their performance to be. When I was recording myself at the production stage, I felt like a visitor, like I was new to the experience even though I've worked at the production stage so many times. I wanted my performance to be right what I wanted. I did a practice run-through, and then did another two more practice runs, until I was finally happy with it, and hopefully those who watch it will be happy with it too.
I've been working at Zeum for two years, and over this time, I've seen Zeum change. The production stage in the Main Gallery is one exhibit that has changed a lot, and where I have become a lot more comfortable working. When I first started working at Zeum, I hated working in the Main Gallery because I never felt like I was 100% prepared to help kids produce a performance.
With Zeum changing over these two years, I've changed a lot too.
These days, working at the production stage in the Main Gallery is never dull, helping kids make their own masterpieces. I have become much more confident, and I have much more to say to visitors and helping them make a great performance. Because I feel more confident working in the Main Gallery, I was able to make a great performance of my own, using the same skills I use to help visitors.
Watching my final project made me feel proud of performing something and I felt that I really portrayed what I wanted the audience to see.
I enjoyed recording myself because I was finally able to make a project that I help kids do everyday when I work at Zeum.
All the kids I work with take their performance so seriously and they really have a vision of how they want their performance to be. When I was recording myself at the production stage, I felt like a visitor, like I was new to the experience even though I've worked at the production stage so many times. I wanted my performance to be right what I wanted. I did a practice run-through, and then did another two more practice runs, until I was finally happy with it, and hopefully those who watch it will be happy with it too.
I've been working at Zeum for two years, and over this time, I've seen Zeum change. The production stage in the Main Gallery is one exhibit that has changed a lot, and where I have become a lot more comfortable working. When I first started working at Zeum, I hated working in the Main Gallery because I never felt like I was 100% prepared to help kids produce a performance.
With Zeum changing over these two years, I've changed a lot too.
These days, working at the production stage in the Main Gallery is never dull, helping kids make their own masterpieces. I have become much more confident, and I have much more to say to visitors and helping them make a great performance. Because I feel more confident working in the Main Gallery, I was able to make a great performance of my own, using the same skills I use to help visitors.
Watching my final project made me feel proud of performing something and I felt that I really portrayed what I wanted the audience to see.
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