Alternative Clay Building

There is more than one way to build a clay character. Normally we give the visitors wire shaped into a person and they can make that shape into a four legged animal, butterfly, fish or whatever they choose, but today we learned how to make characters without using wire or a lot of clay. Once we made the characters, we got paired up with another person and had to tell a story with our clay character. Once both partners told their story, we had to come up with one as a team with a conflict and a resolution.

We could use this technique and show visitors. When we get little kids into the clay animation room.

  we could show them this technique so they can build a clay character that they could take home without using wire. This is a great way to get the little kids into building clay characters and not just smashing they clay together. 

Happy Holidays to All!

Happy Holiday Season
from the ZeumMasters to all!

The creation in the photo is from this morning's winter olympics event in which teams paired up to create blindfolded interpretations of Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, Chinese New Year and The Winter Solstice. :)

Almost Summertime at Zeum

Hello Folks !! Summer is about to kick in and I am uber excited. I am looking forward to a lot of fun and interesting things; going to summer camp at Hidden Villa with full scholarship, working at Zeum, assisting with Zeum's summer camp, Little Voices and taking a Health Education class.

I am really excited to help Perry with his camp, Little Voices because I really enjoy working and educating young kids. I always wanted to work with kids (which I already do as a ZeumMaster) but for camp we see the same kids for one full week and that way I get to know them more than I already do as a ZeumMaster. My goal for this camp is to make every child an artist and an amazing performer on stage. And if they're shy then I'll try my best to bring them out of their shell within a week. How, you may ask? I will use my creativity that Joy taught me, my way of inspiring people when they seem to look like they are day dreaming, by offering them unique things to do or telling jokes that Perry taught me, and self motivation that Bob taught me.

For example, last week there was a visitor who really wanted to make an animation but without clay! He wanted to use his toy car that he had bought from Walgreens. He was screaming and yelling at his mom because his mom was like you can only use clay, how many families do you see using cars? I obviously eavesdropped and I stepped in and explained to the mom while his son was take a potty break that anything the boy wanted to do in his animation was ok. When he was done he gave me a big hug and that made my day. I really didn't expect that I could do something like this but I guessed wrong.

It has been ONE year since I first became a ZeumMaster. Zeum is a terrific job. Working with different kids is an opportunity and I feel privileged. Seeing kids smile when they're done with their animation, music video, paper mask, what more can you ask for? It felt like I had an impact, not only in customer satisfaction but my daily live. Zeum has been contributing a lot to my daily life. Before working at Zeum, I was really shy performing on stage (and I still am) but working on it, nervous when talking to a huge group of anxious visitors and just shy in general. Now, I am not shy to talk to huge crowd of anxious visitors, I talk to them about Zeum to personal life. (; I am however still a little bit nervous on stage but I am determined to sing my lungs out when summer is over. (:

First Job: Under Pressure and Lovin' it!

Time flies! It's my first blog-so be easy on me. Before working at Zeum I was volunteering at the store with Bob, who manages the store. That was a customer service job mostly. But part of volunteering at the store is that you have to "walk around Zeum." I didn't feel comfortable walking around Zeum at the time because I was agoraphobic. :)

I'm a ZeumMaster now....and becoming less agoraphobic!

Being a ZeumMaster is more than just customer service because there are times where you have to sit down and work with kids. The very first day when I started working at Zeum I was really too scared to greet customers because they would come in as a big group lunging at me and asking questions rapidly and I just wasn't prepared.

Zeum is my very first paying job I ever had. I had to get used to a lot of different things such as talking to strangers, having a set schedule, having to soak up so much information at once, and going to meetings. It was sooper hard for me to adjust to real work life.

But with the support of senior ZeumMasters and educators I've been becoming more and more comfortable greeting customers and assisting all kinds of people with different exhibits, and it made me come out of my shell that I was hiding in!

Okay!!! Now one of my favorite movie that I've watched twice is Ratatouille. It's totally incredible. In the movie Remie was helping the janitor to cook by pulling his hair and the Janitor was really scared that his boss would figure out that he had a rat cooking for him. That was a ton of pressure on him. At the end of the movie Mr. Janitor comes out of his shell by telling everyone about Remie, the rat in his hat.

This totally relates Zeum: almost everyday there's a lot of visitors coming in and out and that can be stressful. Like the pressure of working in a restaurant's kitchen with a rat in your hat. But when I actually stood up and told one of the educators how I was feeling about greeting customers and how I was scared of big groups and that I needed help and more support. Now that I've gotten the support I needed I am now lovin' the job!

Working for the Summertime Zoo

I've been a ZeumMaster for two years now, and I have truly enjoyed every day I have worked. The part of my job that I love the most is working with kids, helping them and teaching them how to make clay animation and how to perform.

There is one part of being a ZeumMaster that I don't like - I don't get to see the same kids everyday. A lot of the time, after helping a visitor with the clay animation process, I often feel like I'm a part of their experience, and I begin to miss some of the kids after they leave Zeum.

Throughout my two years as a ZeumMaster, I thought of learning to do other things at Zeum, such as learning how to work the store, but I never thought of working as an assistant at a Zeum Summer Camp. About a month ago, Christian, Raquel and I were talking about summer and Christian suggested that I work at the Zeum Camp. I was really excited because I remembered when I was at camp and how much I loved my counselors.

I really had no idea what to expect. All I knew about the camp was that I had to start earlier (which I hated at first), and get a longer break (which I loved of course).

Then I realized: Now I would be a counselor and kids would look up to me and love me, and I would get close to them and get to know them more than any typical visitor at Zeum.

On the first day of camp, I met all the kids and attempted to learn their names as quickly as I could, and on that first day I ALREADY grew attached to them.

Throughout the two weeks of camp, I used my ZeumMaster skills while also being a Camp Counselor, so I did what I always wanted to do with my job-work with the same kids everyday. I helped the campers with their animation, just like I do on the floor, helping them make their character and assisting them while they made their movie. But by the end of the two weeks, I felt like I was also a mentor to the campers, who at times would come to me with their problems, sometimes in tears. I felt like I had an impact, not only in their camp experience but in their daily lives.

Being a counselor for these two weeks has made me want to work at my summer camp that I went to when I was younger.

On the last day of camp, the campers put on a show for all their parents and friends, showing them their clay animation movies and sets.

I was so proud of my campers, and they were proud of their work too. All the pics in this post are of their creations in the session I helped with "Zeum Zoo".

To all Zeum Masters: I recommend working in at least one summer camp session at Zeum. It is a great experience.

Parting Thoughts of a ZeumMaster

Being that this is my last day at Zeum, I wanted to share a couple memories at this place known as an "arts and technology museum for kids of all ages."

In my last post I wrote about the expectations of the media on young Latina girls - what the media expects of me vs. what I want to be. With this experience and new knowledge, Zeum has led to being a step closer in being what I want to be and not what was expected of me by the media.

My typical day at Zeum usually began with my late arrival (5 minutes after 10am). I would rush in, put on my shirt fast, put on my badge and storm into the Animators studio, where I'd find everyone in a meeting sitting quietly. I would try to sneak in, but then Christian always noticed and gave me the "You're late again?" look.

As they continued with the meeting, everyone would be listening attentively while I'd be trying to get my heart beat to slow back down. Then we'd check in and everyone would say how they felt and some random thing, ("I feel hungry and I like hippos"... random). My favorite mornings were when we would all cut clay and talk about movies (perry would always know all the showtunes and sing them for us). By about 10:50 we'd be ready to open the museum and we'd spread out to different rooms. (Usually animators, everyone feels that they've been in the animators room too many times).

As we walked up the 4 flights of stairs (Exaggeration according to Ari) we took our time and sometimes had detours. Once we were in our assigned destinations, we turned everything on, got all the materials ready and waited as the kids arrived.

When I'd get to my station/exhibit, I was suddenly the director, producer and technician. I was in charge (They must have really trusted me to put me in charge.... Just Kidding). As the day went on I'd dance, laugh, sing, animate and all of a sudden it would be 5pm. We'd turn everything off and march our way singing and laughing into the animators studio once again to reflect on the day.

As I leave Zeum and reflect on these typical days (although some days were not this typical!) I realize that I learned how to, make a music video, make a production, make an animation. Things I never even knew I was capable of doing. Thank You. But I also learned more to the technology part of Zeum, I learned the art of being a co-worker, filling out a time sheet, (filling out leave requests), but most of all the art of making new friendships.

Once again, Thanks Guys/Girls.

First JOB

My name is Sammi and I`ve been a Zeummaster for nearly six months now . I feel like I just started working here yesterday. I found this job through a job-placement-program for youth.

And now I'm writing on a blog about it.

I had no previous arts and museums experience before working here. None! It is so cool to work at a place, in an area where I am not particularly good at (art), and gain that experience and possibly improve on it everyday. For example, I explain animation to the visitors that come into Animators Studio and lead them through their activities. This wasn't easy at first. But more and more I'm able to say, help kids who are alone and don't know what to do - we create animations together. ;D

I always tell my friends that I work at Zeum and they get impressed by how a 14 year old could have this kind of job. So professional. Zeum is different, it's not like working at Jamba Juice. Most of my friends don't even work. At Zeum we do art and educational activities. Zeum has helped me work on my leadership and public speaking skills. So much...

One of my favorite rooms at Zeum is Animators Studio. this is the most popular room and it`s full of families at all time! They use clay characters and create an amazing CLAY ANIMATION. It is the best way to discover a person's art&crafts skills. Working with kids is a lots of fun, especially when they look up to you as a role model. It is amazing how a little piece of clay can make a kid's day.