Buy Tickets
Donate

Remixing Shadows

Tinkering Studio's Sketchpad
 Sebastian Sebastian
May 5, 2020
Calculating...
Remixing Shadows
replace this text
replace this text
 

What do YOU see? - A shadow of a basketball hoop alongside whimsical shadow remixes. 

“Remix a shadow” is an invitation to take a photo of an evocative shadow, reimagine it by working it into a drawing, and invite friends to join the fun by sharing their own reimagined shadow photo on social media tagged with #LightUpOurDays.

This playful challenge emerged from our online invitation to educators and like minded tinkerers to play with light and shadows at home (more on this project in another post) and was inspired by the amazing art of Vincent Bal (google “shadowology”). Over the last couple of days, we were delighted to see more and more in our online community pick it up and share what they made.

We found that the simple provocation to observe an everyday phenomenon such as light and shadow and make personal meaning of what they see allows learners to engage with the topic following their own interests. Learners can quickly express and share their ideas through creating a drawing while exploring the fundamental and more intricate aspects of shadows and light along the way.  I especially love when unique and surprising aspects of a shadow image get incorporated in a drawing as the investigation of a shadow deepens, such as turning the bright spots created by the holes in a kitchen colander into a solar system.

Most of all I am struck by how easy this generative and open ended prompt has made it for learners to jump into the exploration. Over just a couple of days we’ve seen more and more people on social media join, share their shady sketches and remix and comment on others. The shape of a shadow inspires ideas, drawing is quick and forgiving (especially on a digital device), and sharing and building on others' creations adds a collaborative aspect that allows to connect with people around the world over a meaningful project.

We always enjoy seeing educators tinker with and build on activity ideas and we are looking forward to seeing different flavors of this activity emerge as the community continues to adapt and re-invent it in their different settings. The game of generating many ideas from one shadow is as interesting as is inviting kids to make shadows with their bodies and hands and bring them to life by drawing on them, or arranging objects to create shadow silhouettes. I am sure we will continue to be inspired and surprised by what we will see posted at #LightUpOurDays on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.