Steinbeck Festival Workshop: Visual Rhythms

Above: Pattern tile created in Repper from photo of below.

Abive: Hair salon mural in the Alisal neighborhood of Salinas, California.

On May 5th from 2-5pm I will be conducting a youth workshop for the Steinbeck Festival at the Alisal Center for Fine Arts. The Visual Rhythms: Community Pattern Workshop will engage children in creating patterns that representing their community. Using both traditional and digital media, youth will explore imagery that symbolizes their neighborhood. They will also write statement explaining the inspiration for their designs. Using the freeware digital tool, Repper, students will create digital patterns from photos of their community.

Students create radial patterns reflecting on community using tracing paper, color pencils, and markers.

Orange chair at Salinas Adult School, Alisal, Salinas, California.

Radial pattern repeat created in Repper from photo above.

Students will be using a flickr set of images of Alisal Salinas to create their digital patterns. Each participant will be able to print a window decal of their design to take home.

repeat pattern and pattern tile created in Repper printed on decal film.

Decal placed on window.

Participants will also be able to explore radial pattern design in an exercise using tracing paper. Sample images here.

A wii remote interactive surface set up will enable children to take turns creating a large scale projected mural pattern on one of the art center wall.

The project is made possible by a donation loan of 10 computer tablets by the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College.

As an extension of this project, student images will be uploaded for use in the Slot Shelters Project sponsored by the ZERO1 Biennial . Patterns created in this workshop will be used by other students as surfaces on their Google SketchUp building explorations.

Seeking Shelter Model

Top view of scale model by David Okada

This week I have been exploring designing the Seeking Shelter conceptual bus shelter model with my father, David Okada, who is an engineer and toy designer. He created this mini model based upon our sketches. In the above image, I digitally added a few of the student pattern designs to the structure. I am looking to cut many vinyl shapes of student designs for visitors of the installation to add to the structure. I will be exploring seating as well. The roof may be colorful mesh and window screen netting. The pillars will be cardboard concrete pour tubes. Walls will be translucent polygal. This is the basic design, but the form will end up being a bit more playful and will allude to the slot cards and the prototyping design process.

Wrap It Up! Youth video interviews embedded into murals

A few weeks ago, I was awarded a Donor Circle for the Arts grant to engaging middle school students in a community mural project in San Jose's Japantown. The project, Wrap It Up!, now has a website to document the project process: http://wrapitupmurals.weebly.com/  The project will result in student created video interviews with mural artists which will be hosted on Next Vista for Learning. The project will also invite students to create visual art to add to the mural site and spoken word and poetry recordings. All video and audio recordings will be incorporated into the mural project via QR codes. An earlier posting on the project concept is here.

Accessorizing a Conceptual Bus Shelter

Yesterday as I was sketching ideas for my Seeking Shelter bus stop installation I got an email about a great Kickstarter project, Can Over IP Technology. This is a tin can string phone that hooks up to a cell phone or laptop. I quickly sketched two of them into my design (see detail of sketch below.) I would love to have a few of these in the Seeking Shelter bus stop installation. These tin can phones invite playfulness and  imagination. They fit well with the materials I am using: cardboard tubes, window screen netting and elementary student pattern designs.

Who can be grumpy talking on a tin can string phone?

Seeking Shelter Installation

Day view of structure. Vinyl decals are added by public. These decals are silhouetted shapes are designed by local 5th-6th grade students. The installation will have many decals of different sizes to add.

Night view with structure lit up

Another concept sketch

Working on refining sketches for the Seeking Shelter installation for the ZERO1 Biennial in September. I will be working with polygal, cardboard tubes, pvc tubes, wire, small concrete pours and window screen netting. Visitors will attach vinyl decals (designed by local elementary school students) to the walls. One wall will be a wii interactive surface. More to come.

These colors in the sketch are just to give form to the sketch. The Polygal sample I have is translucent white but I may be getting it in different colors. Will see. I need to now make a scale model. The final piece will be around 4' x 8' x 9'.

A Seeking Shelter youth design challenge will be hosted at the Slot Shelters website and will launch with the ZERO1 Biennial. The challenge invites youth to design innovative bus shelters addressing local needs. More info on the Seeking Shelter Design Challenge is here at this google presentation doc.

Judges:
As of yesterday, these professionals have agreed to be judges of the Seeking Shelter youth design challenge:

1.       Michael Dudley, professor of architecture, the Royal University College of Art, Stockholm, Sweden http://www.kkh.se/

2.       Adam Royalty, Lead Research Investigator at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the d.school)  http://dschool.stanford.edu/bio/adam-royalty/

3.       John Locke (New York architect) http://gracefulspoon.com/blog/2011/07/06/dub-002/

4.       Margaret Simmons-Cross,  VTA Highway Project Manager