MOLAA- Museum of Latin American Art Week 2

My Week 2 began as Week 1 of the children's Summer Art and Culture Camp here at MOLAA: Museum of Latin American Art began. In entered every child, first the 6-8 group and then the 9-12 group. I help check in the campers and get them organized in their assigned classrooms. The art camp consists of a wide array of activities from teachings on various art techniques, to art analysis in the galleries, to culinary arts, zumba, capoeira, Spanish lessons, stop motion animation, and gardening, all for the ultimate showcase presented to the parents during Friday's Open House. Besides facilitating activities, I worked well behind the scenes upstairs in my cubicle on the layout for the event's set up through a medium called Floorplanner.com. It was a new task that surprisingly was quite interesting. I never thought that perhaps I would consider interior design as a field of study. Furthermore, I continued to use Microsoft Excel, quite the useful installation, utilizing Mail Mergings and the convenient spreadsheets to organize students' profiles and simply create diplomas for their final day. I bounce around here and there wherever and whenever necessary. In fact, Sunday was the grand opening of a new exhibit called Artist's Assemble centered on Latino and other types of comic art. One way I contributed to this successful event was through my creation of a photo booth backdrop apropos to the theme as well as props. Through this, I further put into practice my developing artistic skills. Every Wednesday, the campers go on a field trip. This week, we went to  a science lab in Cal State Long Beach and a park for recreation time. The kids had a lot of fun exploring the various conserved species in the room and learning about scientific conccepts. Like in our time during Washington Week with the Smithsonian, I have been exposed to well-rounded ideas, and gladly my learning keeps on growing. It is important to realize the connection between all facets  of life. This contributes to my growth as a human, a college student, a person entering the real world with questions to be asked and answers to be challenged.

I wrapped up my week with the camp's grand finale: SAC Open House, with mini art galleries curated by the children, and zumba and capoeira performances. I created the program for this event and layout like I previously explained, but it was not as clean cut as I have put it. When I say "I created," I mean a product finally arose after the various drafts that were generated through my supervisors' suggestions, the artists' input, and in some respect, my personal judgment. More useful life lessons: learning to delegate possibilities, execute suggestions, compromise personal ideas, but also maintain the original intent for the ultimate result. This skill will greatly benefit me in my academic, professional, and social life. In addition, I created a slideshow collection of the campers' week and gave the opening welcome to the audience as emcee, thereby practicing my public speaking skills. Throughout the week, I was given the @molaaart Snapchat username and password to add snaps featuring the camp's adventures. As part of this social media outlet, I am able to develop public relations skills.

By the end of my days, I am left feeling exhausted and ready to get on the metro and go home. There is always that one kid that doesn't easily adjust to group surroundings and leaders' instructions. This job requires a lot of patience, but mostly a fun contagious attitude.

I look forward to my next weeks, as there is so much to learn in such a well-rounded position!

This is my floor plan coming to life!

Pictures of the children's curated gallery featuring their own work for family and friends to see.

This is the backdrop and props I created for the comic book exhibit opening photo booth.

Children hard at work during art class.

SAC Open House

MOLAA School Bus for Wednesday's Field Trip

Capoeira- Brazilian martial arts lesson

Urban Gardening

9-12 Prints

Lango: Fun Spanish lessons