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: