What Do You Get When You Cross Art and Technology?

Mentor Groups Round 2- Silk Screening

Is there a better project out there that combines art and technology than silk screening? Thanks to our beloved educators D.Danger and Fran, zeummasters now have the chance to experiment with silk screening.

We spent the morning discussing silk screening 101. The possibilities are limitless. We could silk screen any image on shirts or paper. David showed us a virtual silk screening demo on an Andy Warhol website and gave us some pointers on what kind of images to use. In a couple of weeks, we will be going on a mini field trip to Babylon Burning (a close three blocks away from Zeum!), a store that centers on top quality silk screening, so we can see how the process works.

The next week or two will be focused on finding and adding personal touches to images we want to silk screen. We have ideas flying everywhere from spoons to faces to the Great Wall of China. The best part? You never know how the images will turn out and it could come with the perfect surprise!

Whatever we decide to make, they will probably be put in display at Zeum so that visitors can be exposed to the world of silk screening. Who knows, our project could inspire future Andy Warhols. All anyone really needs is some time and imagination (and silk screens and ink and paper and blah blah blah). What will you create?

-T

Angry Black White Boy

On Saturday November 8th, 2008, we went on a fieldtrip to see a play called "Angry Black White Boy" at intersection for the arts. It is based off of the book written by Adam Mansbach. The play was about a 14 year old white boy who was angry and tired of learning about white history and how they oppressed black people since beginning of time. That was one of the reason why he wish he was black, another is because he says rap is another form of poetry. The main character(angry black white boy) committed white on white crimes. He was a white taxi driver who tried to rob white passengers, while doing that he threatened them.

This play was interesting. The parts I liked the most were the beats and the music. At first I thought it would be super boring because I don't like plays and can't sit in the same spot for too long because I lose attention focus and want to do other things like text. The play made me a little sensitive thinking about tragedies that happened at my school the past few months and and also other personal things.

This play is very relevant today. There is also more racism and hateful crimes. An example of this is when the N word is used. I feel the feelings felt by the angry black white boy are still felt among youth. The main character said hip-hop isn't for white people but it is. Anyone can listen but I feel the actual rapping should be done by blacks since they are the ones who started it. I feel the same as the main character when he said he hates learning about white history and wishes he wasn't white. For me learning about how whites oppressed blacks, that made me soo mad and not want to be white. I don't know anything about 90s music.

Stanford!!

On October 18,2008 Irina, Wing Yan, Sammi, Nicole, and Leigh Ann went to Stanford for a field trip. On the way there we talked about radio stations, college and a whole bunch of other stuff. When we finally got to the college campus we kind of got lost. Thanks to Irina, we eventually found a parking spot, and began our journey on the campus of Stanford.

Before we went on our tour, we decided to interview five people, but we only interviewed four.  The first interviewee was named Lawrence and he is an economics grad student. What he told us was, "The best thing about Stanford is the weather, academics, and the campus." Like Lawrence, Nell, an undergrad, also liked the weather at Stanford. She also told us, "[The] people here are really eager to learn." She commented that the most important part of the admission application was the essay, on which she wrote about the things she really cared for. The last two people we interviewed was Dariust and Collin. They told us that the worst thing about Stanford was the "stanford bubble", that people think they're living in paradise and are not aware of what is happening in the outside world. But the best thing is the people. They also thought that the essay was the most important part of the applications and that Stanford has a really god financial aid program.

After all of that, we finally went on our tour! The tour guide was Janice, she was so friendly and funny! She talked about the history of the school,  the Stanford quarter system, the different buildings, and the academic programs offered there. Did YOU know that Stanford use to be a farm?! I didn't think so, and now you do! 

Overall we had a great time. We got to eat at a place there and, truthfully, it didn't taste really well, but we were all hungry and we ate whatever we had. Next time, we hope to see many other colleges and we hope we can go with Irina, who takes pictures of people blinking!