a new experience at hsc

Hi, this is Isabella Wong. I've been here around three weeks. During this period, I'm learning a lot of different stuffs and skills, especially the block design that I'm working on right now. I've find it is fun to play with different colors of blocks, its like a professional verison of "lego", lol.
I'm also learning how to do a design on computer by using graphic design software which is pretty cool. Basically, I like all the projects that I've been doing.
Above this, the most exciting project is designing my high school's cafeteria.
My school is planning to redesign our cafeteria, so me and my intern- partners are working together to design the whole new looking cafteria. In the process, we did documentary which is taking photos from different angles and combined it together by graphic design software. We also created a survey for our student, so that we can know more about their ideal cafeteria. In the survey, we've created about 10 questions which are all about the environment of the cafeteria. This is the first time for me to make a survey and it is also a really nice experience. I see that the software program is very useful and important which can suitable for many projects, including our cafeteria survey.
Even though we are still working on on the project but I feel happy to work with a project thats related to us and our school. I can't wait to see the "new cafeteria!"
Btw! I'm absolutely glad that I can be an intern in Hester Street! lmao" :)

wats goin on at hester st.

Hey Abdur-Rahman here :D. I guess I can consider this my second week here and so far so good. Bin playing with blocks for a while I gotta say it’s not the most entertaining thing to do hah but its for a good cause. First of all the reason I bin messing with these blocks is because I’m trying to put together a mosaic for a project HSC is trying to put together for a near by public school. It’s more complicated then you think but we tried multiple ways of doing it. We tried different sized blocks at first to see which fits together and is able to show the image more clearly. Also colors played an important role we decided to stick with more vibrant colors rather then dull ones because they tend to blend into each other. Second thing we tried was using symbols. African symbols gave us a good idea how to simplify the images at the same time carry some sort of meaning. Last of was the paper cut outs we used to make chalazas that version simplified it the most. So using those experiments I came up with a theme for my mosaic that was inspired through my cut out test drive hah. I chose to go with a step pyramid. My reason for doing so is that I wanted the steps in the pyramid to represent a person taking steps to go higher and higher in his/her life to final reach the top therefore achieving his/her goals in life whatever that maybe. Still the concept of my mosaic was easy to come up wit but getting it to look decent is steal a pain in neck hah -_- but I’m betting the school students will figure out some way to breeze through the whole complex world of the mosaic *dum dum dum* hah. But for now I’m just gonna do my best to make a mosaic that’s actual useful to HSC. I’m not really to found of not being able to complete any task I’m given
On the other hand there’s one other project were doing over here. One I’m very interested in seeing the out come of. The project is a renovation of my schools cafeteria my schools MCNDHS by the way. Isabella, Jun and myself are working together on this project. So far we’re still beginning but we have a decent draft so far of our survey :D. We made sure the survey covered the most important questions such as what the students think of the cafeteria how it makes them feel. Also what is it that they dislike weither it be the color of the walls or the long cramp lunch tables. I personally think this cafeteria was crying for a face lift hah. The survey is important because not all the students eat there only its also used for other things. Some people have art classes there others have tutoring sessions. So I’ think they’d appreciate more comfortable surroundings. So hopefully we can start as soon as possible but for now we still need to finalize the survey.
Now for the last activity I participated in at HSC was the stripping of the signs at the Allen st. malls. I found that pretty fun because I didn’t have to sit in place and play with the blocks hah but it was a shame they had to come down. They looked better hanging there then nothing at all. But they had to come down Maybe HSC will put something up again. So ya that was pretty much my first couple weeks at HSC and I’ll update again some other time when there’s more to write about. LATER xD

Introducing SPURA to me and you

Hi I’m Kashawn Henry, a new intern here at HSC. The other day Johnathan, another intern, and I went to a community meeting with Anne about Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA).It has been 40 years since the city took ownership of a piece of the lower east side known as SPURA. Bordered by Essex, Delancy, Grand, and Willet Streets, SPURA is the biggest plot of undeveloped land south of 96th street which is perfect for this new project for our principal. We went to this meeting because our brilliant principal Scott Conti envisioned a project; he calls it, New Design House (NDH). New Design House is a home for children who have unstable home environment. We went to the meeting because we needed an idea for where NDH would be located. In the meeting we did this Activity which involved money. They gave us 20 stickers and each sticker represented 1 million dollars, they also gave us this paper that had a bunch of different things we would want in the neighborhood such as affordable housing and new schools, day-cares, new movie theaters and markets. Half of my money went toward affordable housing and new schools because if you think about it NDH is a combination of both of those. We are currently still working on where to put it and a design for the interior of the building.

my Experience with (SPURA)

For the past two weeks kashawn and I have been developing our skills on making floor plans on paper. We need this skill to help us plan out the floor scheme for new design housing. NDH is a project that kashawn and I are developing for our principle and his idea of housing several students to help and support them through high school.
Last Wednesday kashawn, Anne, and I attended a community meeting for the Seward Park Urban Renew Area (SPURA). The SPURA site is a part of the lower east side that is government owned; meaning that the community can have a say on what they would like to see in the area. SPURA is located between Essex and Delancey; willet and grand.
When participants arrived they were all given separate numbers depending on where they lived in the L.E.S. because I live in the les I was at table 3 while kashawn and Anne were at table 4. After receiving a number we sat with our groups and introduced ourselves to one another. When the group introductions were done we sat and listened to two speakers talk about the S.P.U.R.A site and its background history from two different points of view. Hearing all the information about the history got us to thinking about what this area can be used for since it hasn’t been used in almost 40 years. When the speaker’s were done with their presentations we participated in group activities in which we had to do as a group and no one was left out.
For first activity was look at a bird’s eye view map of the S.P.U.R.A site and the surrounding areas and mark off what ever you know on the map such as convenience stores or schools and parks etc.…
The second group activity we all were given 20 yellow dots which represented a million dollars each. We were given a list of potential things we can do on the site and added what ever wasn’t on the list that we felt should have been on it. They told us to use up all your money on what we thought we would want to spend it on. So I added the project that kashawn and I are working on the NDH and other stuff. When every body spent there money we were told to calculate the total and report out to everyone what were our top three money makers.
My group’s top three money makers were NDH, affordable housing, and mixed income housing each have a specific reason for being chosen.
NDH was chosen because I explained that NDH is going to be a housing complex for students that have unstable houses or live in foster care. To change the statistics of teen’s dropping out all they need is a strong foundation to stand on. That is what this house is going to be the rock of support under the 60 selected students of new design high school. So everyone thought that the project was a good idea and altogether 15 million dollars was spent on it.
The affordable housing was chosen because honestly who doesn’t want affordable housing and we spent at least 10 million on that. Mixed income housing was chosen because it would be able affordable housing for everyone. No one has to feel like there getting kicked out of there homes because they don’t have the money for it. For example if you charge one person 2500 for rent, then charge a single mother with four kids 800 on rent to work with living situation and leaving enough money for food to be on the table. My group and I came to realize if mixed income buildings were built that it would balance itself out cause of the mixed income being brought into the neighborhood.
It was fun being there even though at first I thought I was going to be board but learning more about the area I live in interested me a lot. Doing the activities I just lost track of time I even forgot for a second that I was with Anne and kashawn. When the night was coming to an end we meet at the front entrance and expressed how we thought the whole thing went and kashawn and I both said that it was fun. Also nerve racking because we both had to stand up and present our top three choices to a room of people we have never meet before but at the same time a learning experience.

lequin's 2nd blog Its My Park Day

Hey this is lequin again here to tell you about what’s been going on here at Hester Street collaborative hmmm where to start well I guess you can say Sara D. Roosevelt Park is watched by its community to assure a better park. Also we as a whole help rejuvenate the park. How one might ask this is being done well first advocated for money, next they created a plan to fix the park, and then we did some creating for example we did stencil project which was making a design for the kids to paint with. The process was complicated yet easy. The first step was to Google search for leaf images and then traces them on thick card stock. After that I laminated it with contact paper then cut the shape out. That wasn’t really a slice of cake, and whoa was it dangerous. This was all for a big event called Its My Park Day on October 25. More on what happened during it’s my park day from what I hear it was great people were helpful, and they did lots of activities like scavenger hunts stenciling, bulb planting for spring, also it’s a semi-annual event that bring together the community. Oh yeah the shirt design if your wondering what happened. The t shirt design is being looked at by the school. Also in the future I will be learning how to print the design on to the shirt once it’s been checked.

T shirt design

Hi there this is Lequin Robinson here with news on what I’ve been working on for the past six weeks. Now where to begin lets see ill start from week 1 man was that week pretty rough trying to draw the letters for the p.s.134 community garden (t) shirt design and also trying to make it almost perfect. Then after that week 2 was even more exhausting doing the lettering that says (at the p.s.134 community garden) that took me at least 25 tries, but it was completely worth it cause I get to improve and learn something new. Soon after that I got to the computer and that was a whole other level of work although it was my first time using adobe Photoshop and illustrator, and just struggling to learn the keys and tools but that too is pretty fun, and this is weeks 4-6. But if I learned anything this past 6 weeks it would be that you shouldn’t be quick to want to give up on something that may help you on the long run.

Building the Tool Shed

Hi, this is Mandy and Connie. We are volunteers here at Hester Street Collaborative. Yesterday, we brought long beams from the P.S. 134 Community Garden to Hester Street to measure and cut them into smaller beams so that they can fit into the tool shed in the garden. Jess cut the wood into long rectangular pieces and small square pieces. Each rectangular beam had to have 2 square pieces to support it. Mandy and Claire drilled holes into these beams. The holes on the beams were all in different places because we had to eyeball where the holes should go. Because of this, there had to be sets of 3 pieces of wood. We created a system where we had to label each set of wood with a letter of the alphabet.

Today we went to the garden to work on installing shelves and hooks to organize the tool shed. In the center of the shed, there will be many hooks to hold shovels, trowels, and rakes. There will also be a total of 8 shelves, 4 on each side. On the right side, the first shelf will be 3 feet from the floor and the others will be 1 foot apart. On the left side, each shelf will be 1 and a half feet apart. Today we (with another intern, Claire) worked on creating the support beams needed to hold the shelves. We had many problems in putting the nails into the beams. Two beams split in half because to too much pressure. Later on today, we will be returning to the garden to continue to work on attaching the support beams to the shed.

Today will probably be our last day posting a new blog (Mandy and Connie) because tomorrow will be the last day we will be working here at Hester Street Collaborative this summer. Good bye and have a nice summer. :]

Finishing our designs

Hi, my name is Helen, i am one of the interns in Hester St Collaborative Design. Yesterday I've been working on t' shirt design and figuring out how to draw the letter H for "WatcH Us Grow". The design for the letter H was suppose to be a butterfly on a branch to make it look like an letter H. I tried out different ways to draw the butterfly and the branch together. It didn't work out because it doesn't look like an H or the butterfly is too big. My co workers, (interns); Melissa, Angela and Vivian were also drawing out the design and finishing the sketching as fast as we can because Vivan and Melissa last day of work is tomorrow. I am going to missed them a lot because we always have fun together and helped each other out.

So yesterday, i finally drew out a nice butterfly on a H instead of a butterfly trying to look like a H on a branch. I feel so proud of myself and my co workers. We basically gather our thoughts and design together and even our supervisor put in their designs. Its our master piece and the best design ever made. I had a lot of fun working in Hester Street Collaborative because i get to experienced a lot of things and doing something crazy such as working on the garden. I've never done that before and I'm glad i did. Afterward, we put all the letters together and scan it on the computer and print it out. This process sounds easy but its not from hours of drawing then we have to put it together. I'm glad we're finally finished with the design. Now we have to trace the design on a contact paper so we can silk screen it on a shirt. So I'll have to go and trace now!

t-shirts and shed plans

Hey, this is Connie and I'm a volunteer at Hester Street Collaborative. Other volunteers are Mandy, Daniel and Alex. Here at HSC, we are learning a lot of new things. For one, I have never made a t-shirt design before and here I experienced the process of silk screening. Everyday HSC is filled with something new to do.
At the P.S. 134 garden, there is a tool shed. Over the time, supplies and miscellaneous objects were piled and thrown in. Right now everything in it is a mess. So, one of our projects is thinking of a way to organize the tool shed. We had to draw out plans and side-views of the interior shed. Using our plans, we decided to put three to four shelves on the three sides of the interior shed. To organize everything, we will buy tubs or crates and label them.
This is Vivian. As with the silk screening, a design was picked out of the interns' and volunteers'. We worked on the design and finalized it. Everyone's been working hard and the table is now covered in layers of tracing paper.
For me and Melissa, this is going to be our last week at HSC. I'm going to miss all the fun projects we did and going to the garden. But, before I leave, I have to finish a research project. My project will be planning a proposal to build a stage at Sara D. Roosevelt Park. On every other Friday, there are performances at the park. The first one was a puppet show and I went to a Chinese Culture Dance Performance. I noticed these events are done on a soccer field. Therefore, I want to design a stage for these events because they seem to have this every summer. If there is a stage, it can be more presentable and not blocking children from using the soccer field. The stage will have to be versatile and able to be used for any kind of performance. I will show a plan of my design using Illustrator.

Silk Screening! :D

After weeks and weeks of sketching, we finally silk screened our designs on paper, wood, and cloth. All of the designs came out better than we thought it would. All the work must had paid off from drawing our design on contact paper and cutting them out with exacto knife. We were so excited silk screening our designs and getting paint all our fingers. Throughout the process, we felt that we have achieved and learned a lot about designing. It also brought back our childhood memories, and for us to think once again like a child. As a child we think things simple and adorable, so our main theme is all about the kids. We had to focus on the phrase "Watch Us Grow" at the P.S 134 Community Garden. Even though the thinking part required a little brainstorming, seeing our designs come out nice made our day!!
Yesterday we started to brainstorm about our research projects. We split up into two groups. Melissa and Vivian went to SDR to take pictures of the part to build a stage for the performances. We, Angela and Helen, went to SDR to take notes of everything that takes place in the park, like the different activities that difference ages groups do. The park was long! It was about 6 blocks long. While walking from the beginning to the end of the park we noticed a lot of things we didn't know about the park. Theres a community garden that is taken care of by communtiy workers. We also learned that the houses from Grand going down to Delancy, the 6 blocks, there are different types of people living on each block. While we were exploring around the park, we saw people performing in front of the kids and the parks are open for everybody. We also saw a huge garden; which took up a whole section of the parks. But no one really takes care of it. And Helen thought of an idea to write her research project on the community gardens that no one takes care of. And as of Angela, she took notes on the different activites and different age groups in the park. Now we should get started on the project. We only have 2 more weeeks!! :(

Meeting in Queens

Hi, this is Melissa. This morning I went with Dylan and Kayan to a meeting with the Immigrants and Parks Collaborative in Jamaica, Queens. A main goal for today's discussion was to address language on signs in parks. Two days ago, Mayor Bloomberg signed an executive order that would improve language access for immigrants. It stipulated that essential public documents would have versions in the six top languages spoken in the city and that interpretation services would be available in these same languages. Unfortunately, logistics for achieving this level of communication has been slowed down by bureaucracy. The Parks Department claims that it shares the Collaborative's interest, which is in favor of the immigrants, but if there is no result to show for their supposed good will, no one is satisfied. The Immigrants continue to suffer from the inactivity of those with power. Today's discussion was often directed towards how they could impress the importance of actually translating important documents and signs. This meeting made it all the more clear to me exactly how slow the process of actually getting things done in this city is. The tiers of power always get in the way because it takes such an effort for advocates of impoverished New Yorkers and immigrants to get their point of view across to those with money and authority.
Perhaps halfway through the meeting, the guest speaker showed up. Christian DiPalermo from New Yorkers for Parks. He orally presented some of the history behind what Parks has done until now. The agency grades parks and beaches in the five boroughs and assesses safety, cleanness, and the condition of facilities. He brought up the issue of tracking crime that takes place within parks, as this is a fairly recent development. Some people presented ideas they had for there own parks in order to lower the crime rate, but it was merely brainstorming.
I found the meeting insightful. I was in a unique position because I came into the meeting knowing very little about the topics of the conversation. As someone who grew up going to many of the parks that were addressed, I found it very interesting to hear what the politics behind them are. So little is concrete because of the complications of working with the city. It was not exactly comforting to learn how much crime still exists in New York's parks, but at the same time, the rate has decreased due to all of the work that organizations for parks have done over the past decade and more.

THE GARDEN

The garden is used by students from the elementary school located next to the garden. It is a place for the students to learn and do hands on activities in an outdoor environment. The garden is maintained by volunteers daily. So far they had helped to water the plants, clean the floor of fallen leaves & trash, and pull out the weeds and perform other gardening work. Not only do volunteers maintain the garden, they also help design ways to draw the community’s attention. The garden needs to attract members of the community.

Currently, we are working to make the garden more community friendly. We are trying our best to develop ideas to make the garden much more noticeable. One suggestion is to make signs. The signs will bring attention to the people walking by the garden. Some thoughts are

the use of colorful and seasonal signs. We also want these signs to be kid friendly yet are still appealing to adults. Another idea of attraction is to make tracks leading into the garden so it would lead curious children who follow it right to it. Hopefully these signs and attractions will bring the community to visit the garden more frequently.

One recent problem was an intrusion of delinquents in the garden. These delinquents had climbed over the door, and had vandalized the garden. Red paint was splattered on trees. A couple of chairs made by the student of the elementary school were also thrown and smashed. To prevent another intrusion, an idea was formulated to prevent future cases. One idea was to hang a sign over the entrance of the garden. The entrance to the garden had a lower fence than the surrounding areas, which delinquents can easily climb over and enter during the night. The signs would not only attract members of the community - it can be used to block delinquents from entering.

Keep in mind that none of our current ideas are final, and that we will continue to work to improve this garden.

Allen Street Pedestrian Malls

            One of the projects we are in the middle of is renovating the Allen Street Malls. Funding for this project began in 1996 and planning began in 2003. This past Wednesday, HSC hosted a scope meeting to get suggestions from people who live in the neighborhood and find out what they would like to see in the new malls. Those who came to the meeting were split into groups and given line drawings of panoramas of different malls on Allen Street. They could draw all over them to give visual aid to their suggestions about how to renovate specific blocks.

            For the local residents’ benefits, there were ideas of creating a peaceful area for relaxation or an area for events such as dance performances, holiday festivals, etc. To make living in the area more comfortable, local markets would benefit from their long walks to buy groceries. As for residents that walk their dogs in the morning or daily joggers, their own greenway would really benefit them. Families would be able to go to the malls and take a stroll.

            There is a safety issue around the Allen Street Pedestrian Malls. On each side of the malls are wide roads which can cause a hazard to pedestrians. People hope that there will be a way to decrease the amount of traffic and lessen the pollution. In effect, it can also minimize potential accidents. There is also an idea of putting bike lanes around the malls, which can also minimize the traffic. However, it might not happen because by law, all bike lanes have to be on the right of the road.

            There was a scope meeting with people from the DOT and Parks Department to discuss ideas about renovating the malls. Representatives from each group shared their ideas.  

David Byrne’s "Playing the Building"

David Byrne’s new art installation is quite the auditory experience. It plays with the sounds already present in the former terminal of the Staten Island Ferry. A single organ is situated in the center of an empty room that has hardly been restored since the building was used for its original purpose. Byrne used wires to attach each organ key to fixtures located all around the room. The wires are connected to different aspects of the building that can make sound. When the building is “played,” sounds are produced that simulate those of conventional musical instruments from woodwinds to strings to percussion, except that the sounds are more primitive in nature. When a key is played, vibrations are sent to the connected wire and travels to the motor. Each motor produces a different sound and pitch. When multiple keys are played, a gathering of clanks, whistles and booms rise up the empty room and echo off. This piece of art is something that you must hear with your own ears to understand. The beauty of this installation is its interactive quality. Visitors can play the organ and actually create the clanking sounds of an ancient building. The installation is like an art gallery, but it is at the same time very unique. To get the complete experience, it is beneficial to walk around the room and hear the sounds from different angles. Unlike in an art gallery where walking around allows for a different perspective of the visual display, the location in which the visitor stands gives a new perspective on the sound as well.

We have referred to the other interns for ideas on what to do with students on a class trip to the exhibit. We have played with the idea of having students respond to a drawing or writing prompt. As far as the drawings go, we came up with ideas such as the students drawing what they think the space might have used to look like, drawing an imaginary instrument that they think could produce a certain sound they hear, or designing some sort of basic design inspired by the clean lines of the room. A writing activity would allow the students to pay more attention to the sounds they hear, rather than the visuals. Prompts included the question of whether what they hear is music and what they believe music to be. Another prompt questioned whether they consider the exhibit to be art. We also like the idea of students simply listening to the sounds. If they spread out and sit alone in different parts of the room, they will be able to better appreciate what they hear. If students are not with their friends, they will listen to the sounds rather than talking, and there will be less miscellaneous noise that may distract people from hearing the clanks, rings, and whistles of the installation.

Done Cleaning...

Today, we did the usual going to the garden and watering. It was good weather, not too hot and a bit breezy. We're just about done with the cleaning, but still have the tool shed to clean. In the future, the garden will be easier to handle. 

We're thinking about ideas with the signage in the garden. We want to make the garden more appealing and want to attract more people to come in. As of now, we're just brainstorming and throwing out ideas. 

vivi signing off...:]

First day of work

Hey, we are the 2008 summer interns. Our names are Angela Huang, Helen Liu, Melissa Gollance, and Vivian Kong. Today is our first day of work in Hester Street Collaborative. It was such a great experience. We first went to the P.S. 134 garden. There was a lot of work to do because people from the neighborhood have thrown lots of trash through the fence. We had to sweep up all of the dead leaves, pick up trash, organize the tool shed, water the plants, and weave the vines through the fence. We were there for hours, but there is still so much work to do that we will be returning each day to make it presentable for the children who will be learning in this outdoor classroom. 

After lunch, we passed out flyers around chinatown. The flyers were about a design meeting on Wednesday night. Posting the flyers around chinatown made me(Vivian) understand how tiring it was. I sympathize with people who pass them out in the streets under the sun. 

we cleaned out the planter outside the building. We had to weed the whole thing. We only left behind the marigold plants. Later on we will plant flowers and other plants. Hopefully this will discourage people from throwing trash into our planter in the future. We are looking forward to the next weeks of our internship and sharing it with you!

Great Experiences Will Always Be Remembered

Hey this is Tracey. I started out as a volunteer during the summer and became an intern when school started. Well today is my last day at HSC so this is my first and last blog. Anyway, I have had a great experience interning here. One of the first things I learned was to help maintain the garden. My favorite part about going to the garden was the pick cherry tomatoes. It was exciting that a bunch of new tomatoes ripped each time I went there (once a week). I didn’t like going to the garden so much when fall came because then it got cold, the garden looked lifeless, and there were endless amount of leaves to sweep up.

I also learned how to silkscreen which reminded me of my printmaking class in LaGuardia HS. We silk-screened tees as a fund raising project for P.S. 134. It was fun (until we encountered problems but we always managed to solve them) and inspiring. For Halloween, Mindy and I silk-screened our own costumes. We were (defected) Crayola crayons.

Chinese New Years was just last week. Happy Chinese New Years everyone =). It’s the year of the rat and here in HSC we helped students at M.S. 131 make lanterns with rat prints on them. The students came up with some really interesting and funky lamps. Now they are hung all over the ceilings at the office and at the nearby park. They look great at night with the lights illuminating them.



Rat pattern made by me. Well, it has been a fun half year spent at HSC. Good-bye!! I will come back to volunteer/visit in the future.

Lanterns In The Making...Jellyfish Style

Hey everyone! This is Mindy again. It has been almost half a year since the last time I have posted. Well, sadly to say, this will be the last day I will intern at HSC but I will come back to volunteer.

Well, what have we been doing at HSC lately? We helped with a lantern installation at Sarah D. Roosevelt Park with students of M.S. 131. This project was done in relation to the celebration of Chinese New Year. According to the lunar calendar, 2008 is the year of the rat. Using this point, both HSC and students of M.S. 131 used stamps of rats and printed them onto different colored large plastic sheets. Then, we cut these plastic sheets into smaller and more manageable sizes for the students to design and create their own lanterns. They used different techniques in designing and creating their own lanterns. The students twisted and bent the sheets around, used different colors, used various pins and tools to attach pieces together, and used many other ways. After the creations were completed, Dylan and Annie, Leroy Street Studio, and we interns helped attached small battery lights in each lantern. We helped tighten pins, reassembled lanterns, and etc.
Before:

After:
The M.S. 131 students who worked on the lanterns:

The materials we used:

Hanging lanterns at Sarah D. Roosevelt Park:


In addition, Tracey and I designed our own lanterns. I wanted my creation to be different and unique and came with an idea of creating a lantern in resemblance to a jellyfish. It was a fun and interesting process. I cut, folded, and attached strips of clear plastic sheets together with pins. Here are a few photos of my creation: