One of my student in KDM today showed me this amazing computer generated animation in YouTube by Lakonanimasi, an animator community based in Solo, Indonesia. I'm in awe with their work. And when I visited their website, I'm double in awe because they offered free workshop for future animators! Not just a 2 hours or 2 days workshop about animation in general, but an extensive 7 months workshop in which one learn about character study, dialogue, anatomy, sketching and more. A true believer of "Talents are worthless if not shared with others".
I'm speechless to see the painting by KDM children considering that they never take art classes before. I'm in awe with their colors, their whimsical lines & dancing pattern. I'm amazed at Fitrajaya Nusananta who took these kids under his wings and spread his joy of painting. I'm overjoyed Love is mine.
I found this perfect tutorial for an art & craft project. In my dictionary perfect means 'I can recycle my paper collection & I can improvise'. I have tons of paper strips cut from all kind of scrap paper for my journals. My instructions to the children were shorter than the tutorials. "Use scissor to cut the strip of paper into the length you like and glue the end to make a circle. You can make anything you like." The most exciting part of doing an open ended instructions like that is to see how creativity unfold.
In 10 years of teaching I've been given tangible love {a love bear, an origami beetle, a stuff cat, a soft tiger, a fluffy wombat, snow globes, framed pictures, thank you cards, condolences cards, farewell cards, get well cards, key chains, paintings, a ceramic bowl, mugs, batik goodies, sticky notes, handmade journals, a recycle bag, a note book}, edible love {cookies, chocolate, birthday cakes, ice cream, pizza}, and my favorite kind of love: intangible love {smiles & laughter, hugs, high five, greetings, encouraging words, comforting words, attention, support, kindness} Love is just a 4 letter word without an action.
After ten years of teaching I acquired so many paper stuff {student's works, worksheets, drawings, leftover prints, thank you cards, all kinds of paper good}. I was the school's unofficial trash picker who specialized in paper. Instead of throwing them away I cut them into different size of rectangles, sort them by colors and made collages. I then scan this collages and print them on art paper for my journals. I love paper! They are flexible & available. If only everything else in life fit into those categories :-)
Eight KDM boys sat in a circle. It started with "Once upon a time there lived a witch in the tallest icy mountain in the world.." Each boy gave life to the story by adding one or two sentences on each turn. First round most didn't know what to say, second round a prince, a battle, birds & dragons showed up, by third round they were unstoppable!
{Thank you grade 3 for inspiring us with your cool comic. Can't wait to learn KidPix to illustrate the story and make a comic like yours!}
So this is how it feels like not to be restricted by time. It's like on a surprise extended holiday in an off-peak season. I have all the time on my hand to adjust to having all the time on my hand :-) A note to myself: Let's not get carried away in the euphoria of having all the time in the world: focus, focus, focus; serve, serve, serve. Learning the art of finding self through losing self. Life is awesome!
