Still from film workshop video
What started as a passion project for Alvin Oei, has morphed into an official and active ArtCenter student club that brings the disciplines of art and design to underserved kids in the community. This past summer, some sixteen Environmental Design, Film, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interaction Design and Product Design students participated in Art Reach volunteering in two separate local Boys & Girls club locations, offering a number of twice weekly workshops.
When film students Amadu Haruna, Joel Bryant and Kevin Ronca began their workshop, they found the kids were not fully engaged. “So Joel, Kevin and I decided to bring them up to ArtCenter to show them how serious we were and to show them that they were also serious people. After seeing the student work in the gallery and being exposed to the College’s resources, they were suddenly excited about the idea of making films,” recalls Haruna.
Still from film workshop video
The team brought the group back to campus a second time to shoot a short scene of their own creation: villains trying to take over the world. The kids were able to experience directing, acting, cinematography and sound production. Haruna then took the footage and edited into a Cinema Verite style video that was screened for the first time at the Boys & Girls club in early September.
Design process for a remote control for a duck.
In a different workshop, Interaction Design students Nicholas Jayanty and Damien Gill introduced the group to user-centered design and had the kids work in teams on projects designing tools for a duck (represented by rubber duckies). One group amazed the facilitators by designing a remote control to help a duck that wanted to watch TV. Because ducks are color blind, they imagined a magnetic ankle bracelet that would interact with magnetic buttons on the remote and they allowed for the size of the duck’s feet by designing buttons that were far enough apart for the duck to “push” one at a time.
Dangerous skate ramp model.
Environmental Design students Rachel Moore and Frank Tran led another workshop working with students to build models using a word as inspiration. The word “dangerous” was portrayed by a skateboarding ramp where the skater encountered a ring of fire as well as a valley of guns. A different workshopper, with the word “money” as a prompt, was creating a mansion.
Mansion model
Illustration student Danielle Verde had kids making masks as a culmination to the summer sessions. Verde had previously worked with a core group of six who were developing their own comic books, creating characters (ranging from “Pepper Toast” to a bloody Indian ninja), building models with moving parts and producing book covers.
Working on character creation.
Following up on an active summer session, Art Reach is continuing to expand. This term Environmental Design students Emily Nyburg and Jessica Roviano are leading fellow Environmental students to bring Art Reach to the YWCA, planning a program for underprivileged girls ages 8–15. Concentrating on the Environmental Design process, “the program will strive to educate the girls on team-work, building self confidence through self expression, and learning a new creative design process. Specifically, the design process will include group story telling, drawing/painting/collage work, linking form to concept and 3D hand modeling,” writes Nyburg.
Additionally, this fall Art Reach will be partnering with the Tierra del Sol Foundation, an educational center for mentally disabled adults, for a series student-led workshops that will be held on campus. Students will be paired with 5 or 6 clients to have some fun and make a piece for clients to take home! Workshops are planned for character design, stop motion animation, fashion illustration, bookmaking, mural painting, and printmaking.
Illustration student Gabriella Guzman, who is heading this endeavor, states, “all we need now are some students to help teach these workshops!”
In taking over leadership of the club as Oei completes a term in Berlin, Guzman gushes, “I decided to get involved with Art Reach because I have a passion for volunteer work and community service. Helping people inspires me to learn new things and is always a lot of fun, and if I can help people through my biggest skill set, which is art, then why wouldn’t I join? I love it here!”
To get involved in this multi-disciplinary club, or any of the other ArtCenter student clubs or organizations, attend the Club Fair Week 3, September 24, noon to 2 pm on the East Bridge at Hillside or contact Celeste Guarneri in CSE.
