Introduction

My teachers warned me before this unit that it was one of the most difficult ones of the year, and I completely agree. The documentary unit centers around one big project, which you’ve probably guessed by now – a documentary. We were prompted with the task of truthfully portraying a person, place, or issue in our community. I was intrigued with the concept of exploring a local business, but I also wanted a more widespread audience than just the Bay Area. I chose to write about art colleges, and whether they are beneficial or detrimental to art students. The main focus of my documentary is Suha Suha Art Studios, as well as some local art teachers from both the studio and MVHS. This topic means a lot to me as a student who wants to pursue an art education, as I’ve had many hesitations in the past about whether or not an art career is a liable path to follow.

Intro video

Reflection

I’ve never written an essay over 4 pages, nonetheless a whole book. However, this unit pushed me to write a 13 page paper, with paragraphs within chapters within sections. When I first started off, I thought I wouldn’t make it to the point of having a complete book, and I assumed I’d crumble and give up before crossing the finish line. And although there were a few times in the process where I got close to that point, I made it!! This project took up all my time in Freestyle, in all three of my classes. At first we started off slow, with just a few brainstorming sessions in English, but we picked up speed very quickly. If I could do it again, I’d focus more on organizing and managing my time (if I’m honest, there was a lot of cramming being done near the final days before the deadline). Even so, I’m proud of myself for never letting up and for creating the best product I could.

Design production

For Design, our assignment was to design a documentary book around the paper that we wrote in English. Now, writing the paper itself was a mammoth of its own, but designing the book? Woowee. We learned how to use Adobe InDesign for this project, which took a bit of getting used to. I had some InDesign experience from MV SLAM, the school magazine, but this book was a deep dive into what you can do with the program. I learned to place photos in frames, import PSD’s and graphics that I made in Illustrator, and text wrap. This book sucked some of the life force out of me – many hours were spent late in the Design and Digital Media room hunched over the computer – but I am so so happy with the final outcome.

here are some profile photos and progress pics!

In addition to the book, I created a condensed version as a magazine for Digital Media. This version was a lot easier for me to make as I could use the book as a base, and I wasn’t so stressed about making every little detail perfect. I decided to be a lot looser with my designs, and I had fun with this magazine.

interviewee bios

Haelee CHoi

Haelee Choi is an art teacher at Suha Suha Studios, as well as the co-founder of the institution. She has a BFA from Sookmyung University in Korea as well as a Masters from the Academy of Arts in San Fransisco. In school she studied illustration and animation, as well as character and background design. She continues to teach students of all ages.

Lori Nock

Lori Nock is an art educator at Mountain View High School, most known for teaching photography. She has a background of foundation art at Columbus College of Art and Design, as well as a bachelor’s in art education from Ohio State University. In addition she has two Masters, instructional tech I.T. and School Leadership from San Jose State. She emphasizes the importance of culture creators in her interview.

Samuel Kim

Samuel Kim is an art teacher at Suha Suha Studios. He is usually with the younger students, patiently guiding them through art lessons. Samuel graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a major in illustration. He explains that he chose to teach as a way to pass back what he learned in school to younger art students.

{ Thank you! {

I’d like to thank my fantastic interviewees, Haelee Choi, Lori Nock, Blaise Wang, and Samuel Kim (and Mr. Bang for all the questions I bothered him with). Thank you for some wonderful conversations and for giving me a glimpse into your lives. I’d also like to thank Mr. Greco, for helping me work through this documentary when it was just scraps of an idea. And, of course, Ms. Parkinson and my design classmates, for such an eccentric class environment. Last but not least, my SLAM Design team, for introducing me to Adobe InDesign and giving me a head start on this book. This project wouldn’t have been possible without you!