Declaration of Art Dependence

The new term rolls up with a new project in the course called Argument, a mix of history and writing alongside the fundamentals of an argument. Speaking of arguments, you may be wondering why there's a whole class revolving around it, but it's a little known fact that "argument" actually has origins from the word clarify. So rather than the negative connotation of argument, you should see it more as a debate class, since that's easier to wrap your head around. To digress, the first Action Project for this class had us create our own Declaration of Independent Study. Yes, independent study. We essentially write up an organized passage, similar to the declaration, featuring an introduction, preamble, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, and those will tell GCE why this desired class would be beneficial to the students. It was no doubt challenging thinking of a subject matter, however I did manage to think of something and was quite proud of my result. Speaking of that result, just look down below to see my Declaration for an Arts Class unfold!

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We the students are always preoccupied with a variety of classes that do indeed educate us in several ways. Sometimes, we debate and speak out, verbalize, other times we solve, and at moments, we even create. As stand alone methods, each one provides its own benefits and drawbacks, but classes truly shine out as effective when they mix some of these methods, something that GCE specializes in. Hybrid classes that mix several subjects is no doubt a strong trait that this high school carries, but has that idea truly been executed in the most effective way possible?

Schools are intended to prepare us for the world, as well as give us enough knowledge to provide a solid education to not only the next generation, but further ones to come after, and that's how we've learned to speak up, to treat others equally, and many other things. Now to say what you want, solve the world's problems, and to have creative solutions to the problems you assertively address, that's truly something to teach the next generation. We the students, the people, the citizens of Earth; we have unalienable rights to speak our mind, the freedom to treat each other equally, but express ourselves with passion, to be ourselves without the fear of being scrutinized. Those are our rights as citizens of the Earth. Now if you think about it, how many entertaining mediums are out that that express things to teach the new generation in a creative manner? Arts.

Arts help express the lessons we feel are necessary to share with each other, solving problems through conceptual visualization, determining what is fair and far from fair through writing, and even to compose melodies in tribute to those we've either lost, or care for. Arts are not limited by anything, as they are represented by music, poetry, story-telling, film, and of course –the most common idea when that word is heard– visual arts. Arts of the World would be a relatively perfect class, as it's an open minded course that would welcome all kinds of ideas to be executed or expressed. Nothing is limited to visuals, or even the ground beneath us. At times, it's even best to look towards the sky, and aim at the stars above. We, the citizens of Earth, are not limited to helping the same of our kind, as the goal of this final period, extracurricular-type class would be to do anything, to create a story, to develop a debate, to compose something to express your feelings, truly anything. Art is never limited, and we, the people of Earth, are never limited. It only takes time and dedication, for everything is feasible, and anything is possible.

With that, I ask you. I ask us. What drives you to be who you are, and how can you show that to the world? How can you contribute to Earth? That is my guiding question. With any chance, we get enthusiastic participants that are excited to behold such an opportunity to express, solve, or create, and those are the goals for Arts of the World.

Who would teach and handle such a multitude of subjects? Multiple professionals of course. Other creative minds that wish to assist the youth in solving the world's struggles, with architecture, biotechnology, pure design and engineering, etc. Or perhaps to express themselves with the assistance of poets, artists, and even actors or film makers of documentaries. Then there's always the chance of fellow writers, other artists, musicians, and more helping we –the new generation for our planet– create anything and everything. It's an ambitious goal, but most of these traits are already held within GCE itself, as these are talents shared or found within the staff itself. Arts of the World will not need to have a very long search in order to organize a course like this, one that can easily reside in GCE, especially considering the recent expansion (which is still under construction at the time of this post [Feb. 16, 2016]).  If anything, Arts of the World wouldn't require too much outside of instruments, which could be provide by the Old Town School of Folk Music should a partnership be provided. Just as we already know, nothing is impossible, and anything is feasible.

A comparison of Class, VG, 2016

Arts of the World compiles everything, from solving problems, creating stories, teaching lessons, expressing ideas, and sharing experiences. This is what teachings today try to focus on individually, yet the goal to combine them all is what will truly provide an extracurricular class that everyone can access and relate to. That is how we, the citizens of Earth, may start to contribute to the planet. All through the immense portal of expression and creativity known as art. That is how Art of the World will benefit the education system.


Table of Contents:
¶1-Can education improve?
¶2-How will that be achieved (concept)?
¶3-How will that be achieved (execution/coursework)?
¶4-How will that be achieved (people/materials)?
Conclusion-The purpose of the class?

Shoe Box Shelf

Final Action Project in the RPG-2 course. What are we assigned? We're building something for the new space in GCE! While it was difficult to determine what exactly I could build in the new space, I decided that it would be best to build a shelf like structure. Then it was a simple matter of downscaling the size to something I could feasibly make. Hence, why I used shoeboxes.

Just right here you can go to the Intractable link that details how you can make it. In case you aren't familiar with intractable, it's essentially a site where you can share not only your creations, but instructions on how to make them too. The time lapsed video shown was 38 seconds, and that was at a 30fps rate. Since the time lapse takes 2 pictures every second, that means that we can do 38sec x 30fps to get double the original time (so dividing the answer by 2 gives the original time), which was 570 seconds total. I was slightly inspired by this Ikea hack as it had the same principle of box structures being together to create a shelf. Now as of the tools I used, leverage assisted my use the scissors as the bolt in scissors is like a fulcrum, even though only torque is applied (the twisting force).

If you want to know exactly everything I used to make it yourself here's a simple list:

• Cardboard boxes
• Scissors
• Tape (electrical or duct)
• wood working glue (Elmer's to be specific) 

On a side note, I felt that I had slight inspiration (design aside) from one of our Field Experiences to the Rebuilding Exchange. You can check out their site and it's good to note that during this FE, I found myself being captured by what our guide had to say about his life, "Surrounded by trash" claiming that living on the SouthSide of Chicago, the trash was practically following him, even after moving (as his new apartment was right next to a land fill). That inspired me to think, "What if we can make this trash useful?"

With that, I hope you enjoyed reading and may create this yourself!

Perfect Pencil: Better than it is?

Elective term is wrapping up, and with this final Action Project of the Biomimicry class, we're creating better versions of the best. Unique and eco-friendly, that was the goal; reinventing what we commonly use. I decided a pencil would be best since it's literally what I have the most experience with, and it's relevant to my passion with art. Though it was difficult to find a way to improve the pencil, I thought that a unique concept that would benefit the environment, and the environment only... Going through the research, I actually found that modern day pencils are just about as good as it gets. Despite the challenge, I was proud of my unique concept and it while it wouldn't improve off of the pencil in every fashion, I feel that my cardboard mechanical pencil is the best for the environment. Just navigate the slideshow below to view the presentation!

A Board fit for a King

Most Important Chess Piece, VG, 2015

The second Action Project in the RPG (2. RPG-2; as it's the second one of the 2 classes, opening up more spots without crowding the class) class has come from just around the corner. This math and design course threw at us the challenge of creating chess pieces, as they would be created with 3D models of layered cardboard, clay, and even 3D printed. We were partnered up after picking a piece and if you're interested in seeing my partner's blogged project, just click the link. In terms of challenges, it was difficult to make the designs just right but I'm actually quite proud of how clean the 3D printed model of my king looks. Without further ado, just below you can see the full slideshow presentation of the process, size calculation, and even thought process of how the king was created.

Habitastic Home

Biomimicry has its second Action Project out of the blue. This time, we are to base a design of a house inspired by 2 animals that were chosen from a Field Experience to the Lincoln Park Zoo. There was a great challenge in this, and for me, that was deciding which animals to choose and how their attributes would be used. An ostrich, sea lion, and a tiger were the options, but what kind of traits would such mobile creatures have that enhances a habitat, a house, a home. Overall, I was proud by my creative decision mainly based off the ostrich, and you can check the poster-presentation just below. I hope you enjoy.

The Process of Prototyping

In the second course this new term, there's Rapid Prototyping, a class that's mainly math and how we can use mathematics to our advantage in prototyping and design. We learned several concepts, mainly what a network is and how a traversable network must work. A network is  series of connected vertices, or corner points. If it's traversable, that means that it must either have only 2 odd vertices, with the rest being even (odd or even number of lines shooting out of that corner), or no odd and only even. Moving on about the first Action Project, we made 2 pairs of designs based off of 2 letter of our choosing. Incidentally, because of a couple of absences, I had both lower case letters "e" and "t". The designs would be made twice, once by hand, and a second time using a digital machine. I was proud of the result of my stencil and sticker (handmade) because aside from long waiting times for the spray paint to dry, they where clean and precise cuts. Just below, you may view the slideshow that tells you everything about what it's like to make something and the different experiences to have between hand made and machine helped.

Animal Repelling Rose?

As the next term begins for the winter, I'll be kicking things off in here with the first Action Project for the Biomimicry course. Biomimicry is a science course that focuses around the idea of using planets for inspiration in engineering and inventing. There were certain challenges throughout this course that incidentally didn't actually come from the course. Ailments that had me out on a couple of sick days pulled me back a lot as it was around the time of introducing the Action Projects, so catching up was tough. That said, just below, you can see a presentation that goes in depth about how a rose inspired me to use it's blueprints (the way that it works, rather than the actual parts) to create an all natural animal repellant, transportable post. It's a camper's best friend!