Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Final Project

In Language Arts class, we read a book called "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas."  It's about a Jewish boy, Schmuel, in a concentration camp during World War II and a German boy called Bruno, whose father is the commandant of the camp.   The two boys become friends even though they are separated by a barbed wire fence.  It has a tragic ending, because both boys are mixed up in a death march and are gassed.

For the final assignment, our teacher allowed us to create our own project as our final reflection on the reading assignment. My friend Sebastian and I created this design that represents the two characters' friendship despite being on either side of the fence at Auschwitz. We decided to turn the design into a handmade print for each student in the class as a reminder to always stand up against injustice and prejudice.

Mission Blue Monarch - Stop Motion Animation

In our "Art Is..." elective class this past year, we were talking about endangered species on Twin Peaks, the spot in San Francisco where our school is located.  It was part of a bigger study with Andi Wong and Marcus Shelby about the natural history of San Francisco and using art to explore and express it.

One of my classmates, Jared, wrote an original piece of music called "Blue Monarch."  Another classmate, Addie, wrote a poem about the Mission Blue butterfly, an endangered species of San Francisco.  Some of my friends and I had the idea to make a stop motion animation based on the song and the poem.

We asked the whole class to help us make origami butterflies.  Using an app on my ipod, we animated these butterflies and made them fly.  We were thinking about the poem and ways to express Addie's words and the song using visual images.

The soundtrack was recorded live at the Red Poppy Art House.  Three classmates volunteered to recite the poem.  Marcus Shelby and Jared played the music to accompany the poetry. 

It was first screened at the North Star Project showcase at Rooftop School.  It was also selected for the Media Arts category at the SFUSD Youth Arts Festival.  The screening was at the main library of the SF Public Library.  They also had it on display on a little screen in the gallery at the exhibit.