Big Bambu

I was looking through my iPhone pictures just now and reliving the past year or so.  One very expansive section of photos I came to was that taken on the roof at the Met at Big Bambu.  This installation by brothers Doug + Mike Starn was an ever-growing and changing structure made of bamboo.  The artists had a team of rock climbers (expert knot-tiers) building it.  I took my parents to see it last summer and we even were able to go on a tour through the first section.  It was amazing walking in the sky above Central Park within what seemed to be a structured forest.  The experience was unlike any other.  One detail that I’ve taken with me, as well, has to do with how the rock climbers began to take ownership of the project.  The “workers” became part of the creative team each time they made a decision.  One climber even felt that the space would benefit from a bench and spent his next few days building into the side of one of the elevated walkways a seating area.  It was beautiful — even if it reminded me a little of the bone piano that Andi has to play in Goonies.

I guess I’m thinking about how much I wish for the Hostos Design Lab to inspire our students to contribute their own creative forces to our project.  It might not be their idea and they might not be the leader of the pack, but I want each of them to see how working on that bench off to the side can make the whole a much more unique and special place.

Getting Ready for Hostos Design Lab 2011

This is the first year ever for the Hostos Design Lab.  Professor Sarah Sandman and I are taking fourteen Hostos students and alums to MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA for a 12-day design intensive.  Thrilled for the upcoming experience — both our experience and that of the students, the countdown has truly begun.  Currently I am pretty nervous about logistics and the management of an around-the-clock situation like this.  I will be sharing my personal thoughts and reflections from the trip here on Design + Popcorn.

Presenting my Plan to EPIC

I was invited over the winter break to present my past and planned interactions with e-Portfolios.  In the Spring of 2010, I planned a portfolio review for all of our Digital Design & Animation (DD&A) majors using Digication’s e-Portfolio platform.  Although used primarily as a tool for on-line presentation rather than a tool to deepen learning, the e-Portfolios have become a key part of our DD&A program at Hostos.  The presentation featured below took fellow committee members through the reasons behind the all-majors portfolio review, but also through the planned launch of e-Portfolios within my DD114 Digital Illustration classroom.

e-Portfolios in the Design Classroom

As a part of the EPIC Committee (e-Portfolio Implementation Committee) here at Hostos Community College, I recently took up the challenge of using e-Portfolios in the Digital Design & Animation classes I teach.  My Digital Illustration students are the chosen pilot group (lucky for them!).

Understanding how e-Portfolios could be used in my classroom was not something I understood right away.  Teaching design at Hostos is a balancing act between technical and design instruction, so the idea of incorporating a web portfolio element was daunting.  However, after one guest speaker from LaGuardia Community College, Dionne Miller, spoke to us about her own implementation in her Chemistry classes, I finally saw how e-Portfolios could add value to my design classroom. Immediately I began to develop the project heuristics for e-Portfolios:

Project Heuristics

• e-Portfolios should provide an opportunity for self-reflection on the creative process
• e-Portfolios should provide an opportunity for students to present project documentation
• e-Portfolios should provide another opportunity for students to represent their ideas in writing
• e-Portfolios should reinforce that every design project as an opportunity to build their professional portfolio

I look forward to testing these heuristics and reporting back as the semester progresses.