Media Art: The Coded Messages on the NASA Mars Perseverance Parachute

 

The parachute that helped land the NASA Mars Perseverance spacecraft held a secret message- where would you begin trying to decode it? Here it is seen from an upward-looking camera during landing on Feb. 18. Within hours of this image’s release on Monday, people figured out the message hidden in its pattern working together on social media- the message states:"DARE MIGHTY THINGS"

Another part of the rover has small material swatches mounted to the front of the vehicle to help validate NASA's fabric choices for future Mars-bound astronaut spacesuits. These swatches also help keep one of Perseverance's science instrument, SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), fine tuned as it investigates the dry river basin in Mars' Jezero Crater. It has another hidden Easter egg embedded in it as a reference to it's name, can you find it?

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Media Art Honor Society/Film Club: Freakonomics

Our first screening of 2021 will be the documentary Freakonomics today in Media Art Honor Society/Film Club. The film is based on the best-selling non-fiction book and radio show by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. It features segments directed by: Seth Gordon, Morgan Spurlock, Alex Gibney, Eugene Jarecki, Rachel Grady, and Heidi Ewing (a who's who of contemporary documentary filmmakers) and was released in major cities with a pay what you want pricing offer for selected preview showings.

We'll watch segments of the movie and how the approach different directors approached telling the stories and conveying the data which made Freakonomics so popular.

National Art Honor Society- Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

 
The National Art Honor Society will begin work on our 2021 Rube Goldberg Machine for this year's contest which requires us to shake and pour a box of nerds as the last step in out machine. We'll finish our registration for the team and watch some inspirational examples of Rube Goldberg machines such as the one OKgo created below.

Shanti Peace Poster Design: Shepard Fairey

 
We are beginning our Peace Poster designs today for the Shanti Contest so I'll share a favorite of mine from artist Shepard Fairey better known by his street art name OBEY. He has created a number of variations based on the poster above that he designed including a mural in Los Angeles and another in Berlin (both pictured below).

The artist first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" images and still incorporates Andre into his current work. He was was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina and  currently lives in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. He continues to create posters, murals, stickers, and prints as well as book covers, clothing design, album designs, and films. 

The Mars Perseverance Rover Landing

Welcome back from Winter Break, while we were away the Mars Perseverance Rover had a successful landing and the helicopter has begun charging. 

 

Above and below you can see some photographs from the event and a link to a team update later today. 

Busy, busy. What I’ve been up to since landing, you ask? Well, quite a bit. On Feb. 22 at 11am PT (2pm ET/1900 GMT, hear my team back on Earth discuss the data I’ve sent them so far and what I’ll be doing these upcoming days. https://t.co/gx7ChsBy7k #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/aXnrmwM0Il

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 20, 2021

Film: Self Portrait Film

This week we learned about Adobe Spark, a tool we'll use to create films this year and our first assignment was to make a short film introducing yourself to the class. The film should answer the following 3 questions

1. Who are you? 2. Why are you here? 3. What is something that is important to you? Today we will watch the films and critique them together, above is a short professional example as a comparison.

Studio Art: Our Countdown To Mars Rover Landing

 

This week we are designing and creating social media posts incorporating interesting aspects of the Mars Rover landing next week using any of the tools we learned in class such as: Sumo Paint, Brush Ninja, and Adobe Spark. The live rover landing will be live streamed on YouTube on Feb. 18, 2021 at 2:15 p.m. EST during our winter break as we #CountdownToMars together with a live watch party for the event.

Photography: Found Classic Photography Studio

 A classic photography studio was found in Geneva, New York after being long forgotten in an attic. It contained a number of treasures, most importantly a portrait and glass negative of Susan B. Anthony. Check out the story here for more details: Hidden Studio.

Film: Exploring the Art of Storytelling

 
We are beginning to examine how to structure a story in film with our first assignment which uses Adobe Spark. There are a multitude of approaches but a few things that are consistent among them that we will look at in class. Our first assignment is to tell a story about yourself.

AP Art: Goals Project

 
We are beginning our work on the Goals Project this month and posted our introductory video last week to the partner classes around the world including students from India, Taiwan, Greece, and Moldova. we'll check in with our partners and brainstorm for our goal 17 project.

Extra Credit: OKgo Art Together Now

Last week we created our own short animations for OKgo's All Together Now video project on OKgo Sandbox and this week we have a chance to take it a step further and work with the band on a music video. The Art Together Now project is a collaborative animation which allows anyone to participate and record part of the song as well as color in a frame of the animation (which will be a postcard). This project will count as extra credit if you want to participate and I can help you to sign up or you can do it yourself on the OKgo Sandbox page. You do need to sign up before February 20 so be sure to do it before winter break to receive your postcard which will need to be returned to them digitally by March 10 in order to complete the video for it's premiere on Yuri's Night on April 10.

 

Studio Art: Google 4 Doodle

In Studio Art class we are taking on the annual Google 4 Doodle contest and designing a Google doodle for the theme  "I am strong because..." The video below gives some insight into the contest and we'll view more resources in class then have some time to brainstorm and think of 5-10 different ideas before we choose one to proceed with.

 

Film Class: Welcome

 
Today we begin out filmmaking class with a very quick look at the history of film for some context. We'll also discuss some of the work we'll be doing and get to know some of the equipment we'll be using.