I never actually posted the final painting of Camp Director Claire, made by the devoted tweens of the San Francisco Boys Chorus, and stretched on four 50-inch wood slats. So here it is. Our masterpiece features a screenprinted background, gilded rays, and a main image made of about 2 gallons of housepaint.
First dance, first fistfight, first girlfriend: having logged many seminal moments of my life at summer camp, it was with a commitment to the memorable that I recently executed my duties as art director for one week of San Francisco Boys Chorus away camp.
It’s never really possible to know what kind of impact you are making on eleven year olds, but my basic plan was to win them over slowly by focusing on a precise five day project. Something that would keep kids busy with their hands and look really cool when it was done. Since the goal was to construct set pieces and props for EB’s parallel kid operas, we ended up painting a 50×50 inch Resistance-style portrait of Camp Director Claire. In her creation class, EB helped the boys work the painting into their story.
We began with a photoshoot.
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I digitally processed one of the better images into seven discrete layers:
Over the course of five camp days, I projected each layer independently for kids to outline and paint on canvas hung from the wall. Registration marks were used to line everything up.
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Then we stretched the canvas on a frame, ready for the show.
So it was pretty cool. And I got the kids to call me Jono. The painting looked very fine from a distance and I think the boys were into the program. Of course we did a bunch of other stuff. We made signs and banners. One day I chopped up a bit of branch from an apple tree and we made medallions. Located in Sonoma County at a Seventh Day Adventist boarding school on the banks of the Russian River, the setting was a nicer than summer camps I remember but the food a lot worse. A huge thanks to EB, Camp Director Claire, and Jess the counselor.
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The twelve week screenprint workshop I have been teaching with the glamorous Angie Crabtree is complete. We asked our nine high schoolers to print on nice paper for this show at Root Division, but some of the more exciting projects were their clothes and bags. I wasn’t able to photograph everything, but I did want to record here the little I did get for the ages. Nice work brahs. And Angie thanks for everything. Especially the black eye.
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Check out how good this tee-shirt came out.
It was done by Martin (with a little creative input from Banksy, who fully supports the appropriation), one of nine SF high schoolers in a screen print class I’ve been teaching at the nonprofit arts center Root Division this spring.
It can be hard at first to convince high schoolers that screenprinting in the age of mechanical reproduction is almost by definition not about technical perfection. But then we get to magic moments like this that make more sense than me talking. The shirt not only looks great but it maintains the trace of its maker: way cooler than a shirt bought at a store. Creative high schoolers understand that.
It’s midterm season.
I thought this stack of gambling-enabled Dynamics tests was beautiful enough to photograph.
I just completed my fifth year teaching undergraduate engineering.
If you know me, maybe you find that statement amusing. I would guess you might think this is funny in the same way that it was funny when Bugs Bunny put on a tuxedo and conducted Wagner’s theme from Act III of the opera, Lohengrin. Trust me, no one is as surprised as me. And I am me.
Amusing or disturbing, the completion of the academic year always means graduation. It’s one of my favorite times of the year because I always feel very proud of my seniors. And because it means summer is here. And because sometimes I get presents.
This year, before accepting any gifts from the class of 2011. I decided to strike first. I thought that since the senior awards so benevolently bestowed by the university are usually a little boring, it would be fun to make my own. One for each senior, construction paper and typewriting, a safety pin sewed on the back: that sort of flaunt-my-masculinity thing.
Anyway, I did it. I got all twenty-five made! I was a little fretful about offending someone, but each fortune came from what I think Christians call a place of love. Therefore I ultimately feel comfortable about all that was said. We had a small ceremony on the last day of ET460: Automation and some people even wore their ribbons for the rest of the day. Class of 2011, I will miss you. (And thanks for the booze, Lamar)
click to enlarge:
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Is it that time of year again? The winning bridge held almost 25 pounds with 25 pieces of pasta. And I haven’t even taught these students anything yet.
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I hope you don’t mind if I interrupt ignoring my journal to post a Halloween picture. For years I have wanted to dress up in the uniform my students and colleagues wear everyday. This year I finally did it. Not just that, but me and fellow instructor Robbie Jackson dressed as each other.
Except I never wear a tie and he isn’t a slob.
A sneak preview of this morning’s quiz: (more…)
Notes from my sophomore Statics course: Not only was this team’s pasta bridge well designed, but it was the best looking in the class. When you are going to school the boys, you might as well add some rhinestones for good measure.
Today my job was to operate a jet engine. Then I went home and took a nap.
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After 539 pages of final exams, 72 end of year emails, and too much Excel wrangling for a grad school dropout, the 2007/2008 CMA school year is done. In the final classroom for the final final on the last day, there was a bubbling surprise waiting for me in the middle of the room.
My very own novelty fish tank!
Fisch tank.
And now I am going to Cleveland.
Here are the results from my Statics midterm:
The reverse bell curve. The ditch. The grave.
I spent a bunch of Sunday thinking about what this data really means. On the surface it seems like half my students get it and the other half don’t. I don’t really believe that, though. I keep pretty close tabs on my class and I think most of them are getting Statics. I think this data means that half of my students are good test-takers and the other half aren’t. And I think I’m still idealistic enough about education to believe that being a bad test-taker shouldn’t stop a student from being successful.
Of course many people might say that success should have nothing to do with exams at all. I’m not sure I totally believe that either. One of the most useful and least tangible things you get from engineering school is the confidence of finishing. Later on, you might learn how to actually engineer something. So good:I’m glad 14 people failed! If my 14 F students can find a way to improve their ability to solve highly irrelevant math problems under timed conditions, I believe they will have gained something significant. And if I can find a way to help my 14 F students get better at solving highly irrelevant math problems under timed conditions, then I will have achieved something, too.