Lobos Creek Valley / Ansel Adams Nature Walk

This evening, I went on a nature walk in the Presidio.  It was a guided hike by a Presidio Ranger named Jess.  We were learning about Ansel Adams and his connections with nature in the Presidio.  Ansel Adams was a famous photographer.  He loved beauty and nature and photographed what he saw.  He was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Richmond District, very near Baker Beach and the Lobos Creek Valley.  He played there every day and that helped develop his appreciation for nature.  When he was an adult, we was also an conservationist and environmentalist.  Here is photo of Ansel Adams in his older age, standing near Baker Beach, where he used to play, explore and take photos. 

On tonight's hike, we looked at Ansel Adams photos and then explored the environment and played a fun game. We hiked down into the valley and Jess opened a large container with hats and props that represented animals and plants in the Lobos Creek environment.  There was a Western Bluebird hat, a Gray Fox hat, a Xerces Butterfly, a yellow-eyed salamander, there was also lupine and an oak tree, plus sand dunes and an old-fashioned camera like Ansel's.  We wore the different "costumes" to act out the relationships of the different plants and animals in the dune habitat.  Here are photos of me wearing the gray fox and the Western Bluebird hats. 

We took a stroll into the valley and we talked about different roles of the animals and plants.  We also saw real lupine, and an endangered flower called the San Francisco Lessingia, which is coming back from near extinction. I learned that the Xerces Butterflies are officially extinct and the gray fox has not been seen in that ecosystem in a long time.  We talked about ways that kids can help protect the environment.  I suggested that we Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Jess added that it's import to also "Replenish."  Next summer, I hope to be in the Naturalist program for kids at Chrissy Field. 

The Raven's Quill - Literary Magazine Cover Drawing

The Raven's Quill is Rooftop School's student literary journal.  Every season, an edition is published.  For the first season, I was chosen to draw the cover.  My inspiration was Alaskan Native American art.  The raven is important to Alaskan culture and there are plenty of folk tales about them.  This raven is holding a quill and writing.

I also have a poem published in Volume 2.   The theme was "Celebrations" so I wrote a poem about Diwali, the Festival of Light from India. 

Here are links to the Raven's Quill from last year.

The Raven's Quill, Volume 1, Fall 2011

The Raven's Quill, Volume 2, Winter 2012

The Raven's Quill, Volume 3, Spring 2012

Periodic Table in Art - Nitrogen

Nitrogen is present in all living organisms.  The Nitrogen cycle is where an animal poops or dies and the nitrogen is absorbed into the ground.  The plants then use the nitrogen to grow.  Then, humans or other animals eat these plants and the cycle starts again.  If nitrogen cycle is badly disrupted, we will all die.

Nitrogen is also used to make fertilizers and explosives.  Nitrogen is also the 5th most abundant element in the universe.

In my art, I decided to represent the nitrogen cycle by showing poop, then plants, then humans.  I used marker on paper that has flowers embedded in the design, because plants are a major part of the nitrogen cycle. 

Bee Vision and Ultra Violet Photography

Today, I experimented with ultra violet light and learned about how bees see differently than humans.  When humans see, the objects we're looking at absorb and reflect different colors of light from our rainbow.  What we see is the reflected color.  Our vision is limited to seeing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet light.  When we see white, it's all the colors being reflected by the object.  When we see black, all the colors are being absorbed.

There are types of light that go beyond what we can see with our eyes as humans.  One is called ultraviolet light and it is just past violet on the light spectrum.  Bees can see ultraviolet light.  Here's an interesting video about how bees see:

I decided to try to photograph what a bee might see.  I followed the instructions from the Instructables website on how to build your own UV light filter for a digital camera.  You take a blacklight bulb and break it.  Tape a piece of the blacklight glass it to a bottlecap or ring that fits around the camera lens.  I used the lid to a sea salt grinder and black duct tape.  Here are the instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Photography-in-the-Ultraviolet-spectrum/

Here are some of the results of my photography in the community garden across the street from my house.  I found that the filter on the camera makes it necessary for a very long exposure.  To help solve that issue, I used a tripod, but the wind was blowing the plants and the sun wasn't that bright, so it hard to take the UV photos.  I'll try it again on a day when the conditions are better. If you want a closer view of the photos, just click on them to make them bigger.

Ratha Yatra, Chariot Festival, in Manipur, India

Here is a new video I made to share a special festival called Ratha Yatra that took place in my dad's hometown of Manipur.  We celebrated it when I was there in June.  It was the first time I experienced the holiday and my dad hadn't been in Manipur to celebrate it for more than 30 years.

4th Grade Biography Report - Pele

In 4th grade, my teacher assigned a biography report.  We could choose anyone we wanted to do, and I chose Pele.  I wrote a report and made a poster.  On my poster, I used color pencil, watercolor and sharpies.  In the middle is Pele's portrait wearing his Brazil national team jersey.  In the background are the different teams he played on and other facts about him.  

This is the report I wrote:  

Pele was the greatest soccer player the world has ever seen.  He is from Brazil and he is known for his speed, balance and his hard, accurate shots with both feet.  He is known around the world and he uses his fame for good causes.  I chose to do my report on Pele because I like soccer and I admire him.

Pele was born on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coracoes, a small town in Brazil.  His real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento.  Nobody knows how he got the name Pele, but it started when he was a kid playing soccer.  When he was young, he was poor.  He did not have money for shoes, so he played soccer barefoot.  His neighborhood team was nicknamed, "The Shoeless Ones." 

At age 17, he was the youngest player in World Cup history.  That year, Brazil won the World Cup.  They also won in 1962 and 1970 with Pele leading the team. 

In 1969, Pele scored his 1000th goal.  In the same year, he actually stopped a war!  He went to the Congo, a country in Africa, to play a tournament.  There was a civil war going on and the sides called a truce to see Pele play.  Unfortunately, the war continued after Pele left. 

In 1975, Pele signed a contract with the New York Cosmos for seven million dollars, making him the highest paid athlete in the world at that time.  He said that he did not do it for the money, he wanted to make soccer popular in the USA.  His last game was in 1977.  In his 21 year career, he played 1,363 matches, and scored 1,281 goals. 

After retirement, he used his fame for good reasons.  He became a UNICEF ambassador, helping children around the world.  In 1995, he became Minister of Sports in Brazil.  In 1998, the Pele Law was passed in Brazil, protecting the rights of professional athletes.  He received an International Peace Award in 1980.  In 2000, he was named FIFA Player of the Century. 

I admire Pele because he was an amazing soccer player.  He is also a good man with a good heart.  Pele changed the world by making soccer popular where it was not before.  He is a good role model for other athletes because he uses his fame for good causes.  He is a good role model for kids by being a good sport and playing his best. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Carbon

Carbon is naturally obtained from coal deposits, but is usually process for commercial use.  Two of the many allotropes (different forms) of carbon are graphite (used in pencils) and diamonds (used for fashion objects).  60-70 carbon atoms linked together forms a Buckminsterfullerene, or a "Buckyball.   Its structure looks like a soccer ball, it's made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, with a carbon atom at each point.  It's named after Buckminster Fuller because its structure looks like his famous geodesic domes. 

My idea for this element was to draw a buckyball, surrounded by the letter C, the abbreviation for Carbon.  The atomic number is surrounded by a diamond, an allotrope of carbon.  I used a graphite pencil to create the artwork, an allotrope of carbon.