Tag: DIY

Music Class is Jammin’!

rachelznerold 2014 Gardening Class, Art Projects, Music Class 2014/15, Uncategorized

IMG_4735_wThe Project HOPE Art Art + Music Lab is alive and thriving, celebrating the joy of song, movement and sound with Haitian children in Port Au Prince. Last November 2014, The Project HOPE Art Team brought down three giant suitcases filled to the brim with donated instruments- ukeleles, guitars, melodicas, horn instruments, a keyboard, recorders and drums- for the students to learn with!  The children were thrilled at the sight of the array of instruments, and during the first music class, each student had a chance to hold, play and experiment with each new instrument, and began practicing together on basic drum and recorder tunes. And man! Do these kids have rhythm! Every student is allowed to take home their very own recorder to practice on, while the remaining instruments stay at the art center for everyone to share for the duration of the music class.

The Rythmn and Recycling Workshop, led by artist Rachel Znerold and Haitian musician Gueldy René, and supported by PHA founder Melissa Schilling and PHA Technology Teacher Christine Rosacranse, kicked off the Music Class with back-to-back weekend workshops in late November. Using recycled materials, from t-shirts and trims to bottle caps and buttons, each student constructed a musical costume that made a joyful noise with every stomp, shimmy and shake. The students practiced drawing and painting their favorite instruments, and using tin cans and pebbles, the students even constructed their own handmade percussion instruments, and adorned them all using glitter and paint.

During the second weekend, local musician Gueldy René wrote a new song  for the children, who learned the song and dance routine by Rachel Znerold that same afternoon. They students caught on quickly, adding their own flair to each movement, and the very next day, complete with musical costumes and choreographed dance moves,  the Music Class performed together for the first time ever at the Project Hope Art Graduation Ceremony for the Gardening Class. PHA Artists Sarah Boll and Liz Ancker were on the scene to create a festive Graduation Party, bursting with the energy of all the people, plants, art, music, and dance! The performance was a great success and the music class was buzzing with the excitement of creating music together.

Now, each Saturday, the students come from orphanages and schools throughout Port Au Prince to the Music Class at The Project HOPE Art Center to be taught by Gueldy, Juré and Winter– it is a weekly chance to escape to a beautiful community center to practice their instruments, learn how to read music, share the joy of song and enjoy a healthy meal together every week. Thanks to our generous donors, Project HOPE Art is able to provide weekly music classes for these students for the next several months, but we need your continued support to help the music and learning grow through the end of the year!  If you can help, please DONATE NOW!!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING DONORS WHO HELPED BRING THE MUSIC CLASS TO LIFE!!!!

“I can’t find words to explain my gratitude to you, thank you…. Thanks for all the support, I hope when I play, that will make your ears fun!” -Luciano

“Thank you to Rachel, Melissa and Gueldy! With their help now I reading to play guitar.” -Wilka

 Help Keep the Music Alive!!! DONATE NOW to Project HOPE Art!


 

The Traveling Rainbow Cabinet of Fun

Melissa Schilling Join the Team, Partners, Thank Yous, Visual Storytelling

pha-art-center_final-concept_b-1-e1355946878102 The only thing that beats a good plan, is a better plan. We find that collaboration brings us closer and closer to the best plans in the world.

Enormous thanks to Sam Bloch and Elizabeth Marley for collaborating on the early vision of our art center / storage container. Immense, gratitude to the NGO family over at Communitere for supporting our ideas, visions and plans. Especially Delphine Bedu and Caroline Etienne for handling so many nitty gritty details on our behalf.

In 2013, our rainbow cabinet was built by master craftsman, Jason DeCook and then painted in the colors of the rainbow by our friend, Aimee Gaines. Our Lady of Art was created by our friend Julie Koopman and she stands watch over all the visiting artists and their projects.

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From our little spot in the workshop at Communitere we launched a number of projects, including Let There Be Light 1 and Let There Be Light 2. Thank you to artists Jenni Ward, Luc Winter, Racine Polycarpe, Claudel Cassius, Jason DeCook, Aimee Gaines, Shrine, Moon and Jade for all the hard work to make art in Cite Soleil.

857808_10152525576805567_1944484788_oFor the last two years our rainbow cabinet has lived at Haiti Communitere stuffed to the brim with paint, paper, pastels, brushes and a ton of glitter.
For the last two and a half years we have held puppet shows, dance parties, recycled trash makeovers and more than one bicycle blender fruit smoothie extravaganza.

Haiti Communitere was a perfect home for us and all of our sparkling trinkets of inspiration and creativity. Free spirited artists must keep moving, so onward we go.

On February 15th our little Cabinet of Fun bid adieu to HC. We hope it left a trail of glitter so everyone could find their way to us in our new home in Pacot. Our cabinet is now parked in the Pacot neighborhood next to the Hotel Olofson. The keepers of the cabinet are 20 young ladies who are excited to put its contents to good use.

And with our move, comes new projects and collaborations …

  • We will be working with Emy Morse at her art school in Montan Noir.
  • We are also launching an art project with Human Rights activist and FOSAJ artist, Charlotte Charles and The Haiti Initiative’s Kara Lightburn in Jacmel.
  • And this summer we will be launching a summer gardening class with Rebuild Globally and SOIL.

    • “These are the days of miracle and wonder. This is the long distance call.” -Paul Simon

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    Photo Philanthropy Essay | Wings for Tacloban

    Melissa Schilling Uncategorized

    Each year, PhotoPhilanthropy puts out a call for visually expressive photographic essays that tell the story of non-profits the world over. This year, Jamie Lloyd and I put together a joint essay about our time in Tacloban, Philippines.
    Enjoy!

    Soaring above your everyday struggles, free like a bird. It’s an idea we’ve all wished could come true in times of difficulty and stress. Fueled by generous donations, Artists Jamie Lloyd & Melissa Schilling (along with community organizer, Justin Victoria) were able to gift children (and their families) living in the tent cities and bunkhouses of the Tacloban disaster zone the ability to fly above their problems. Wings for Tacloban are imaginary art wings created for children.

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    It has been one year since Typhoon Haiyan, the world’s biggest-ever storm to make landfall, struck the central Philippines – killing more than 5,200 people, displacing 4.4 million and destroying $547m in crops and infrastructure.
    In Leyte Province, 70 to 80 percent of the area was destroyed. Tacloban, the capital of Leyte, where five-metre waves flattened nearly everything in their path, suffered more loss of life than any other Philippine city. Outside the town centre, in a hillside cemetery, city workers have dug a mass gravesite which stretches along 100 metres.
    Much of Tacloban has been turned to rubble, leaving many survivors homeless and dependent on aid.
    Visiting the city, it is clear that – despite the help of the international community – it will take a very long time for the town to recover.

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    About the Bunkhouses of Tacloban
    The bunkhouses are made of corrugated sheets, plywood and coco lumber and measure
    8.64 square meters. 27 Bunkhouses in the San Jose District of Tacloban with water and electricity have been completed as of April 1, 2014. Another 66 remain to be built and equipped with basic necessities. Each bunkhouse has 24 units, although big families are given two units. The partition per unit was collapsed to accommodate bigger families.
    We be painted broken down concrete walls, plywood, an old kitchen wall — with chalkboard paint in a variety of colors. Once dry, we cured the walls and armed the occupants of the bunkhouses with chalk. We hope to encourage creative thinking and hope.
    Close to 2 million families were affected by the weather disturbance, considered to be the strongest typhoon on record to make landfall. 30 countries have already pledged financial and humanitarian aid amounting to 2.366 billion to victims of super typhoon Yolanda.

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    Artist Statement
    The Wings: Project HOPE Art is an art collective that responds to disaster with pencils, paints, music and imagination. We want to remind the children of Tacloban that they can overcome obstacles by gifting them the power to fly with wings. These wings do not just live on the chalkboard or wall. These wings belong to them and will allow them to fly and rise up above their problems, environment and situations. They should use their wings not just to solve their own problems but those issues facing their communities at large.
    Nothing can stop a large group of living angels.
    The project outcomes are multi-leveled.

    In the simplest terms children are encouraged to have a fun portrait snapped, printed and handed over. A memory to serve as a reminder to overcome obstacles and head towards dreams and goals. Our mobile printing studio was set-up onsite inside the tent cities and bunk houses. Children watched as each digital image was edited on smart phones and ipads and then sent to the mini-printer. A 4X6 image was spit out seconds later.

    In addition to print portrait images, community message boards were created and left behind in every area. A frank discussion was started amongst parents, teachers, community organizers and children regarding their personal paths since Hurricane Yolanda. Lessons were taught about transforming simple, everyday ingredients into action-based toolkits.
    We painted everything from a de-constructed kitchen wall in the No-Build Zone to the shell of a school classroom in Palo. We created double sided chalkboards with plywood. We painted over graffiti with bright primary colors and created sleek, glossy spaces to draw, write and dream.

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    See our Wings Art Project in Haiti, featured in School Arts Magazine: http://www.schoolartsdigital.com/i/141579/54

    Rooz Cafe presents . . . The Industry Collaborative Show!

    Melissa Schilling 2014 Gardening Class, Fundraiser, short story series

    Join us for a Happy Hour Reception at Rooz Cafe.
    1918 Park Blvd, Oakland CA 94606
    Thursday, June 12th 6-10pm

    Mimosas, Beer and Espresso await you along with the sounds of Brass Tax dj’s Ernie Trevino, Alex Mace and maybe a sneak attack by Denim Ding Dong (DDD)aaaand an ambient musical performance by local, Oakland duo Charlemagne Charmaine and William Korte.
    (Catharsis for Cathedral, Brasil, Drifting House)

    Featuring POP-UP PONCHOS by SuperSugarRayRay
    and a pop-up jewelry show by Tidalware Jewelry (Sharla Pidd).

    6-7:30 Charlemagne Charmaine and William Korte
    7:30-10 Brass Tax

    …About the Art Show…
    Industry: an activity or domain in which a great deal of time or effort is expended a group show examining hard work in specific artistic genres and spheres of life

    Martin Goicoechea: Women
    Exploring the female form through a variety of mixed media methods including: acrylics, transfers, watercolor, ink, wood block and charcoal.
    Contact: Martin.Goicochea@me.com

    Melissa Schilling: Automobile Photography
    The automotive industry in the United States began in the 1890s and, as a result of the size of the domestic market and the use of mass-production, rapidly evolved into the largest in the world. These photographs represent frozen in time moments in Havana, Cuba where many cars from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s permeate the roadways and garages.
    It was such a thrill (on blueberry hill) to experience car travel the way my grandparents experienced it.
    www.melissaschilling.com

    Nick Huckleberry: Recycled Creations
    Its overwhelming what is thrown out these days. A large busy metal shop may throw out bunches of pieces as general waste to them but gold to the artist. I have salvaged most of my materials, always trying to bring nature to the pieces by incorporating organic shapes. Bringing new life to old waste is a way of using energies of the old and introducing them to the new, creating a balanced harmony.
    www.trueburningreality.com

    Project HOPE Art: Cyanotype
    Art in Haiti usually requires less materials and more creativity. For this project we needed only the sun, vegetables from our garden and a few chemicals.
    Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. The process uses two chemicals: ammonium iron(III) citrate and potassium ferricyanide.

    Students in a Gardening Class in Port au Prince, Haiti created these cyanotype prints in February 2014. This was their very first time mixing chemicals and using their “design” eye to arrange kitchen utensils, fruits and vegetables on textured watercolor paper for 10 minutes under the brilliant Caribbean sun.
    www.projecthopeart.org

    Sarah Miller: Textile Photography
    Laundry and People on the streets of Calcutta.
    Contact: sarahmiller23@gmail.com

    Bwat Aluminyom | A Project by Fanel Duce

    Melissa Schilling Uncategorized

    Can Race

    1: Pou reyalize yon timachin avèk meteryèl resikle, men ki tip de materiel nou itilize nan atis Rezistans.

    Materyèl sa yo nou itilize pou nou kapab fe ti machine yo gen anpil ladan yo ke nou jwenn nan la rue, e genyen ladan yo tou se achte nou achte yo. Mamit nou itilize yo se penti pou douko ki te genyen ladan yo, apre yo fin pran penti ki nan mamit yo, yo jete yo nan la rue epi nou pran yo pou nou kapab fe ti machine yo.

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    Premye travay nou fe nan mamit lan, nou retire papye ki kouvwi mamit la pou nou kapab jwenn plis fasilite pou nou fe tout sa nou genyen pou nou fe nan nan mamit la.

    mamit lan. apre sa nap ouvwe mamit lan, nap bap li ak yon mato pou li kapab vin plat tankou yon fèy tol.

    Pati sa se lè mou fin byen plati matit la, kounye a nou pwal trase model machin nou vle fè a, e le ou vin trase model machin nan wap pran yon sizo pou kapab koupe li.

    Nan pati foto sa yo nou pwal moutre ou kijan pou fe do machin nan! Le ou fin trase de bo machin nan, kounye a wap pran yon lot fey tol pou kapab trase do machine, ou dwe trase vit devan machin nan ak vit deye machine nan. Le ou fin trase li wap koupe pati ou trase yo pou kapab resoti pati vit la.

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    le ou fin retire pati vit yo, ou dwe bay tol la fom model machin ke ou te trase a.
    apre ou fin trase de bo machin nan, avek do machin nan. Ou pral kole yo ansanm pou kapab kadre machine nan.

    le ou fin kadre machine nan, kounye a ou gen pou travay anba machine nan, le mwen di anba machine nan mwen vle pale de reso ak kawotyou machine nan.

    Pou kapab fe reso machine nou itilize yon ti fe plat, ti fe plat sa se avek li yo konn klanmse bwat pèpè yo.

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    1: wap koupe fe a ak yon mezi ki pa dwe depase machine nan

    2: apre wap kloure li nan moso blanch lan

    3: nou dwe itilize fe sèso ou byen fil alegati ki di pou kapab pase nan reso a pou ka genbe kawotyou yo.

    Pou nou fe kawotyou machine nan, nou itilize yon ti boutèy plastik.

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    Prmyeman nou koupe li, nou pran de bouda a, nou kole 2 bouda yo ansanm pou li kapab vin pi dyanm.

    Can Race: Apre tout demach sa yo, men rezilta can race la.