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. 

I Love Zeum!

Heyy everybody! I'm just going to blog about how much I enjoy Zeum =). I've been working here for about 5 months?? Well, it doesn't feel like work. It almost kind of feels like play time! I've learned more then I've expected to learn. From working with computers to working with kids and adults, there's a variety of new things to learn. I mean, every room you go into holds a whole new path of creativity and imagination! And, dude, there's alot of rooms to explore. When I help out the guests, not only do THEY experience new things, but I do too! For example, the questions each guest holds, the reactions to the experiences and fun they're having, ideas on how to improve what can be done, the things the kids create with their own i m a g i n a t i o n s , things that even I, can't think of.

My two favorite rooms right now are Music Production Lab (MPL) and Animators Studio. I'm liking MPL because I love m u s i c ! I find it pretty cool when I see and listen to kids, adults, and Zeum Masters singing. There are many different voices and songs out there. Sometimes, I even learn new songs while listening to everybody.

Animators Studio is another favorite because I used to love making art when I was little. I loved drawing and painting. I remember in kindergarten, the teacher would give us an option to play in the playgroud, or stay in the room and draw or create things ! Everybody would choose to go out, but I remember myself staying in the room playing with the crayons. Animators caught my eye when I first got here. I was like "Woahh this is cool!". I've made a couple things in Animators already. One I like the most is the sliced clay cake. Its in the display box! (The Pink Cake). I like this cake because I've seen kids go look at the cake, and then make a cake themselves ! Another cool thing was that the inside is all guts. So, when I sliced open the cake, it looked pretty cool!

Well, yeahhh today is my last day! Hopefully I'll be back in the summertime. kThnx For reading! =)

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. (:

Storyboarding Basketball

Above is my storyboard for animation. (you can click on it to see it bigger) It's for my community project - I chose to talk and create something that relates to me in my community. When I first started thinking about what I would do for this project, basketball was the first thing to come to mind. I'm talking about how I love to play basketball and how its my thing to do.

For my project, I'm going to make two clay male characters and animate them using stop motion animation. Just to let you know, one of the characters out of the two clay male characters is me and I make the basketball go into the net of the court, all net, at the end of my performance.

Also, something cool about my project is that I will speak a rap to the audience and as the two clay male characters move the rap music I say goes exactly to what the characters are doing regarding movement wise. In the end I look forward to seeing everybody who gets the chance to see my work to say, "Cool", after I, the clay character hits the shot and it swishes threw a clay basketball court.

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.

Goal = To be an Artist Even if it Scares Me

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.

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 groundwork 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.