Ben Lim
Inspired by Ben Lim's sketches, one of the projects the curator and I discussed was having the kids create a zine in pen and ink using the artwork in the exhibit as inspiration.
Little did we know what a great insight it would be for us as adults of how the kids process the information we were giving them and their perspective of the exhibit.
But as far as the kids were concerned, they really enjoyed creating the books and I think of all the projects they were quite excited to share this one with their family and friends.
The books are quite easy to make and you can find clear and easy instructions here on Experiment with Nature's blog. I went through the steps with the kids using copy paper, but because it was a large group of children of different ages, I did go ahead and create the final books prior to class using a nicer paper.
The first thing the kids did was review Ben Lim's sketchbooks and then they spent time creating sketches of the different artworks that they felt a connection too.
With clipboard, paper and pencil in hand, each child got lost in the relaxing process of just observing Ben's work and sketching the things they found most interesting inspired by the processes they had seen in Lim's own sketches.
I did stress to the kids that these were their rough sketches, not finished drawings and that to think of them as just notes on the different things they wanted to spend time further exploring and finessing in their final books.
However that being said, there are some really wonderful drawings in their rough sketches.
Once they felt they had enough material from the exhibit sketched to create a zine book, they began using pen and ink to work directly on their final papers. I had them write in light pencil with an arrow pointing up on each page (you'll notice in some of the final drawings the kids went ahead and inked this in) so if they wanted, they could unfold the book and work on it as one large piece of paper- knowing where each page was on the paper and which direction they needed to draw.
Because what the kids discovered once the paper was unfolded was the fact that all the page numbers were not in order nor were they all facing the same direction.
I'm not sure what it is about pen and ink, but kids love it.
Every. single. time I introduce this medium, you can hear a pin drop in the room as the kids get lost in creating with them. For most of the children, this project was something they enjoyed so much that they spent several days working on them.
There were some pretty wonderful books once they were all completed, many of them melted your heart while reading.
Like this six year old's book called, "Jack's Stuff". After going through the gallery he asked if he had to sketch the items from Ben's exhibit. I told him that at the end of the day, he should draw and create the book that he wanted first and foremost and so here's a book full of what I can only assume are the most important possessions to him at the ripe ol' age of six.
age 6
Along with his bookcase and bed, his stuffy, table, home and cat were what was most important to him. I thought this was such a precious keepsake for him to look back on years from now and when finished, this little zine truly touched my heart.
And then there was this zine created by a twelve year old called, "Birdie Friendship"
age 12
She processed and interpreted Lim's exhibit in the most interesting way, using the kimono works to dress the bird and picked up on a lot of the line work she saw in his sketches. But the dedication is what made me get a little teary.
"To my dad who loves ducks, my mom who loves hummingbirds and little Cameron who loves Pheonexes. Illustrations inspired by Ben Lim" Just typing this makes me catch my breath, what a thoughtful girl to create something so touching for her family.
pages from 7 year old zine
I encouraged the kids to try to tell a story by creating the narrative with pictures instead of words so they didn't get overwhelmed with things taking so long. Did Ben Lim have Pokemon in the exhibit? No. However the bird flying in the sky is very reminiscent of some of the clay birds in the gallery, which for me was extremely interesting to see how he used Ben Lim's artwork as a jumping off point to tell a story he had a personal connection too.
This child's illustrations were heavily influenced by the works within the exhibition. And she also had to work within an "oops" when she forgot to pay attention to the arrows she had made herself as a reminder to which way was up in her book while she had the paper all spread out as one sheet.
So she embraced the "upside down kimono" with full gusto and created them flying in the wind amongst the clouds.
zine created by 9 year old
I purposely did not correct any spelling mistakes. At the beginning of the project, I presented any writing to be viewed as artwork, not traditional writing like they did in school. Therefore, spelling, capital and small letters, and spacing no longer were confined by rules. Misspellings, mismatched letters and wonky spacing were all opportunities to enhance artwork.
And to be really honest, I find the spelling mistakes add to the charm and know when I look back on my own childhood works my mother saved, the ones me and my family enjoy the most are those with my spelling errors. Somehow they capture the innocence of my youth.
I love how some of the artist decided to make their drawings bleed over more than one page.
This twelve year old artist even had the wind and water lines connect and continue throughout the book. It looked wonderful!
It was very interesting to see which works of art in the gallery really resonated with the kids. I was quite surprised to see how many of the kids were drawn to the kimono pieces in the exhibit and absolutely no one focused on the dinosaurs! If you had asked me, I would of thought that would of been the exact opposite.
And finally, there was this sweet book which gives you a tour around the gallery through her drawings. For me and the curator, it was extremely enlightening to see what information had been retained and was important to her from the gallery tour.
As a retired Art Director and a typography geek I absolutely love the writing in this work of art, but it is the message that made it difficult to maintain composure when stopping by to observe her work in progress and for the curator when she was taking some photographs.
This flock of flying birds greeted guest as they walked into the exhibit, birds that were left unfinished at Ben's death and completed by family, friends, colleagues, and members of the community in a collaboration put together by Seymour Art Gallery prior to the opening as a way to remember Ben and honor his work. This particular installation was one the kids were drawn to all week and had obviously touched the above artist enough that she dedicated two pages of her zine to the story.
It was a real learning experience for me to read her book when finished as it gave me great insight into what parts of presentations really resonate with children.
For something so simple, this project was one the kids put a lot of time into, for them it was quite special and important. They seemed to really enjoy the idea of creating an art zine they could go back and read at later dates.
And as always, the kids really enjoyed working with just the pens and ink.
What a wonderful keepsake to remember a week at the gallery and Ben Lim.
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