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 tried 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.

ANGEE on Human Rights, Technology and the Artistic Process...

For Parent Night I chose to create a movie based on the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Now, the Declaration has THIRTY articles, so I didn't know if I were to make a move based on all THIRTY articles or just a few.

Now, it's still a work in progress. I'm still going to tweek it here and there, but overall it looks good.

Here's what I've done so far:

Enjoy!


Starting out, I realized that basing the movie on all THIRTY articles would be a little ambitious, so i just stuck with the first ten. Then, I had to brainstorm how to do this: animation? drawings? claymation? I didn't know just yet.

LIKE A BOLT OF LIGHTNING it hit me. I could just do images on photoshop based on each article. ADOBE PHOTOSHOP is one of my favorite things to do here at Zeum. I've been working with photoshop for about four years now, so I thought it was a great idea.

On Photoshop made an image for each article. To do this I would get an image from the internet, make it into a black and white/positive and negative image, then define a brush. Photoshop saves the brush automatically. This is a good function to know. The brushes I made then became backgrounds for the images I created.

From there I took the articles and placed the text over the colorful backgrounds. I think it came out great, just like I wanted.

Now, what to do with the images?! Make a gif. file? Movie? Hmm...Then I remembered how well I worked with Windows Movie Maker...PERFECT.

I took the images I made on Photoshop and created a movie. I started with titles introducing the articles and quick history on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, followed by the images I made, and then quick credits at the end. All of this was accompanied with the song, "Dream" by Common and Will.I.Am.

Yeah, it's still a work in progress. But MOST DEFINITELY a project that I'm proud of.

Hitting the Road: Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Yesterday, April 6th, nine Zeummasters were fortunate enough to be able to go on a field trip to The Monterey Bay Aquarium and get to know a few teens over there.

After the two hour drive to Monterey (Perry drives like a grandma) we checked in at the Aquarium and were escorted to a room in the back of the building
(because we were V.I.P.s). We walked into a room filled with fish tanks and life-size replicas of sea otters and turtles and other wild life.

Once we settled in a little we got to meet the teens of W.A.T.C.H., Watsonville Area Teens Conserving Habitats. We played games where we got to know the teens more and basically "break the ice.". Getting to know everybody was pretty cool and after a few games we felt like we knew each other pretty well.

After the games, the Zeummasters talked to the group about what we do at Zeum. The educators sat back while we did the talking. We showed them our lovely blog that we write in religiously - got it up on a big projector - and the year-long project we're working on. I talked to them about the personal histories project, and the "what does home mean to you" project. I really believe that the Zeummasters made a great presentation. I didn't feel nervous at all.

Then the W.A.T.C.H. teens introduced their program and talked about what they're working on. We got to learn that they are a group of teens raising awareness in the Watsonville Area about the habitats around them. They all go to the same school, a school set in the middle of numerous wetlands.

Their program is cool, because they get to go out into the wetlands, dunes, etc. and do research. Some of their presentations won awards and a group was even able to go to Washington D.C.. Just listening to them, you could tell they were very involved with their projects and the environment they live in.

After their presentation we got to do some art! What we did together was a reflection of our programs, from how we've grown or what we love about the programs. During the project we got to interact even more with the other teens. In my group, we talked about colleges we're interested in, what we liked about our program, our backgrounds, they were all very outgoing people.

And then, the aquarium TOUR, led by their teens. The people I was with were cool. The Aquarium is such a big place, we actually got lost a few times. We got to see the sea otters, the penguins, and the jellyfish. The teens knew their way around so we got to see a lot. The Aquarium is so much bigger than Zeum. It was cool to be in a different environment for a day.

After the tour was over we got to show the W.A.T.C.H. teens a game we love to play at Zeum. Of course, the winners were both Zeum Masters. After the game, we had to say our good-byes, and end a great day.

The experience overall was a great one. To be in a different environment and interact with another teen group was pretty cool. They're all so passionate about the environment and conserving the areas in their community, just like we're passionate about our art and reaching out to the community. At Zeum, we're all about art and technology, but to see a place dedicated to preserving wild life and show how much the world is at risk from the things we're doing to it, it was eye-opening. The teens were great, they were so welcoming and able to help us with everything we were doing that day. I loved the day, and would love to do it again! =]

Click HERE to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Live Penguin Webcam!

What does HOME mean to you?

This year Zeum Masters are working tirelessly on an exhibit that will be shown at the end of the year.

Today we started with reflection on our home life. We were given the task to reflect on what "home" means to us, also challenged with making a collage of what we believe this word meant to us.

Without hesitation I went for what I knew to be true about my "home." That is, "Home is where the heart is." Although cliche, it is the truth. I illustrated my own definition with a huge heart in the middle of a green home surrounded by deep strokes of blues. With the words, "Home is where the heart is.." emblazoned in yellow around the house. My home is definitely where my heart is. It is the beat that keeps me going everyday and the center of my world. My situation at home is different then anywhere else outside of it. It is where my heart lies, because that is where my family is.

My situation at home is very different than most. I live with my mom and brother. My mom is a single mom who works three jobs taking up most of her time throughout the week. My brother is pre-med at a local university, he is also very involved at school with clubs and his fraternity. While I go to a high school 20mins away, and usually have something to do after school between student government meetings and club gatherings. With this much going on outside of the house it is hard to get us all in one place. That is why, home is the one place i know to go to when i need to be with family. On the weekend is probably the only time we get to be a family. Although limited, we cherish our time together as a family. Home is stationary to me, always there for me when i need it. Because a house is not a home...home is where the family is and where the heart is.

This project tied into what we will be doing later on with the exhibit. Not only will we be working with different collages but also photoshop. The different layers and mediums we used in our collages ties into the different layers we can develop with adobe photoshop. Next week we will segway into photoshop by making photo composites of a favorite memory of ours.

As we work on this exhibit we are asked to reflect on our personal history and develop our thoughts into our own artforms. Something i cant wait to figure out and develop for myself! =]

Posted by ANGEE