Hello everyone, my name is Yarmiler Lopez. I'm a student at UCAP. I'm doing an internship at AS220 Youth in both photo mem and fabertory.

Today I walked around the block of AS220 and took pictures of the city. Miguel showed me how to take pictures using shallow depth of field. When you make a picture with shallow depth of field, you are focusing on one part of the whole picture, making the rest blurry! I always wanted to take pictures like this but never knew how. These are some samples of shallow depth of field that I took. CHECK EM OUT!

If you haven't checked it out already "5th Moon," a show of artwork by AS220 Youth members Eugene Petty and Kenneth Norman is up at the AS220 Youth Gallery on the second floor of 115 Empire. These two dudes have been busting their behinds all year in Visuals, Photo, and Fabratory classes and have a ton of 2D and 3D artwork to show for it.Eugene's scenes of the natural world will meet Kenneth's alien beings from dark regions of space!

This week in AS220 game design news, Kenneth Norman has some amazing concept artwork up in the Youth Gallery. His opening was Sunday the 6th, and if you weren't there then you missed out on a great time. Eugene Petty was also there. He's not that into game design so he doesn't count. Nice kid though. :)

Over at the RBC we're still making a new WW II boardgame in which the players escape from a concentration camp. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the game turns out.

Downtown classes were a hoot. We're getting into overdrive on projects. I also found out halfway through the term that our kids from Juanita Sanchez who are here as part of the HUB ELO program are going to present their work in front of a panel including myself, their teacher of record, and people from the community. The kids have to show what they've done, talk about it, and also teach it in front of this panel. This came as a surprise to both me and the kids. Its a neat plot twist to the overall game.

-Matt

Not too long ago Nick's drawing class went to one of the coolest places in Providence, RISD's Nature Lab, to check out its of thousands of taxidermy animals and weird specimens in jars. Raul finally got to draw from a real skeleton instead of taking favorite-artist OG Abel's word for how they look; Sasha and Sharon drew exotic feathers; Kiara drew weird seed pods in beautiful jars; Patricio drew a crow to match his look; Janayzia drew a coy fish, a swan, and some weird bacteria under a microscope; and last but not least Simcha drew a very impressive rendering of a red fox's skull.

These sketches will serve as a great resource for future drawings, cause nothing compares to drawing from life! Get off the computer, go draw something!

AS220 Youth invites you to join RI Kids Count for a community presentation of 'Data in Your Backyard' exploring Juvenile Justice in Rhode Island. Discussed will be information that reflects the recent and rapid move towards community-based correction. As a dramatic drop in the number of incarcerated youth has been seen in the state, there has been increased numbers of youth referred to residential placements and probation. While data suggests that community-based corrections benefit youth and improve long-term outcomes, local providers are challenged to provide the intensive services that many of these young people require.

A panel discussion will follow. Probation officers, community providers, youth, and families will come together to discuss their experiences with residential programs, probation, court-mandated treatment, and transitioning back to school or work.

Time: Thursday, May 3rd, from 3pm - 5pm Place: AS220 at 115 Empire Street, first floor

Presented in partnership with RI Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).

For more information, contact Anne Kugler.

Naruto Generations is a fighting game that is suitable for anyone, especially for anime lovers. It is a multi-player game that gives you a variety of characters to choose from. You can vary because each character has its own unique moves and specials. Not only that but unlike other fighting games, you can move around and you don't have to wait for your turn to attack. The backgrounds are detailed, and look like they were illustrated using a medium such as, water colors.

Naruto Generations is a good game that brings out your competitive edge and allows you to have fun. You can play against each other in a team or, if you just feel like playing by yourself you can just put single player. Don't know how to play? Don't worry, you can practice before you actually fight against another player or the computer. There is also story mode or free mode to choose from; depending on which character you choose, you'll unlock different rewards. Naruto Generations came out of the creators imagination, which also happens to be a Japanese TV show.

-Kenya

For the past few weeks, students in my 3d Modeling class have been working on modeling their own heads in Blender. This started with a collaboration with Scott Lapham's photo class, taking front, side and back photos of our student's heads. These photos were then aligned in Photoshop and imported into Blender as background reference to model from. This week we took a trip over to the Fab Lab where Josh, one of the Fab Lab students did 3d scans with some bleeding edge technology. We had an XBox Kinect hooked up to Josh's laptop and used a program called Reconstructme to generate high poly models of everyone's heads. These models aren't entirely perfect and they're a very high poly count, so in the coming weeks the 3d class will learn a technique called retopology, which involves reorganizing 3d geometry into a cleaner and more manageable mesh. The end goal of this is two-fold. Students will hopefully walk away with their own video game avatar in Unreal Development Kit. They will also be able to return to the Fab Lab and print their heads on the 3d printer and take home their own likenesses immortalized in ABS plastic.

For the last six months, AS220 Youth has been offering IC3 digital literacy classes to high school graduates at the Rhode Island Training School. The classes cover the basic foundations of computers including hardware, software, and networking. We are so proud to congratulate the latest group of students who have passed their certification tests in Microsoft Office! Not only did they pass, but they are the first people to take the exams at the Training School AND they received the highest test scores that we have ever had. Big ups, no doubt.

TAKE A PRACTICE TEST HERE! SEE HOW WELL YOU DO!

Jesen Tenadi, a local artist and printshop key member, is teaching the Youth Studios' screen printing class about drypoint. We have learned how there are many different ways to print more possibilities on printing. We learned the basic methods of dry point on Plexi glass and how much labor and patience you need to have. Something that really impressed me about the class doing something completely new is that we finally get to print in a different style. I would have never Known that you can print such a beautiful picture from just scratches on a piece of Plexi glass. This new collaboration between the Youth Studio and the AS220 Community Printshop has just been pretty spectacular because we are actually seeing how our lives is going to change right after we graduate from the Youth Studio and off to our journey called life with a bigger knowledge on printing.

Oh Yes, it is true! One of the rights of passage of a RI Artist is the annual application for to the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts individual Fellowship award. This award is meant to support the best work of RI artists in the visual, performing and written arts with a first and second place designations. Winning this fellowship provides artists with cash awards that help support their art practice. This year we are proud that Norlan Olivo, Miguel Rosario and James Sawyer will be applying for the Photography fellowship for the first time. Each of these students have worked to produce strong photographic portfolios in AS220's youth photography program called Photo Mem. Their portfolios show more than simply a collection of photographs, they show engaged young people with a point of view, young people who have reflected on their experiences and their community.

Congrats Norlan, Miguel and James!

Once hearing that the dish of the day was greek salad with pan seared Tilapia ( a mild white fish) two of our students turned their noses up saying "No Fish!". Nicole Sanchez said " I thought it would be nasty, cause I never tried it (it being fish)". Kassy Cardona said " I thought it would just be ok but not great." This kind of skepticism is common at the start of cooking class, but this does not deter our master chef Ricardo Ferrer (aka Dingo). He routinely changes hearts and minds with his flavorful cooking.

What did Nicole have to say about the fish? " I liked it a lot!" When asked if she would recommend it to a friend she definitively said "YUP!". Kassy said " I didn't think I 'd go for seconds, cause the salad had olives and I don't like olives. There were other weird ingredients, like mustard in the salad dressing and capers on the fish, but I would give this meal an eight or a nine out of ten. I would cook this at home, I hope I don't burn it!" Well......it doesn't get much better than that. My stomach can't wait for our next cooking class.

ZUOLOGY HIP HOP SHOWCASE hosted by DJ ShureLive is poppin off next *THURSDAY April 26TH from 7-10PM (doors open at 6PM) *

AS220 Youth 115 Empire Street Downtown Providence

This show is going to be LIVE! We have a Live Band, MC Battles, Dance Cyphers, Live Beat Construction and featured performances by Milez Grimez, Chris DaGreat, Fa Raw, and many others like Project 401, the Boys and Girls Club of Pawtucket, 2Legit Dance Crew and more!!!!

For more information about this show or if you'de like to enter the MC Battle, hit me up!!

Anjel@as220.org

This week we tried something a little different at the training school. We played Candyland. And it was awesome. Up to this point we've been trying different things like designing characters and 2d sprites on paper for video games. But once I finally realized the location we were working at didn't have access to enough laptops, the video game plan got scrapped. The backup plan was to redesign a deck of cards. The interesting thing about modern playing cards is that they're derived from Tarot cards. So the idea was to take their own symbols of power for the four suits, design the numbers, the royalty, and the pattern on the back of the cards. They would have ended up with everything they needed for their own custom deck of cards. I thought it was a cool project but I'm not a kid in the training school. That plan eventually failed as well.

Race to the End Game. That's what this exercise is called. Its a little less incendiary than Race Game. 2-4 players get from Point A to Point B, just like Candyland. It seemed like a good idea when I was looking at it in Wal-Mart. Back in the studio it slowly started to sink in I might just get laughed out of the RITS. The tension built.

All of those nerves were for nothing. This is the power of games and why game design is worth teaching and learning. Something as simple as Candyland provided a momentary escape from the quotidian. One kid said it was stupid and didn't want to play. Eventually even he joined in and got as competitive as the rest of them. I don't think Candyland was ever played with so many F bombs.

There was a point to all of this. I wanted to get them to design their own Race to the End Game. So we brainstormed, drew and made lists until we ran out of time. Some of them worked alone, while others actually teamed up and collaborated. Hasbro had better watch out because these kids are good. We'll see how the rest of the plan comes together.

-Matt

For four weeks our photography students at the RI Training School created this car race demolition animation. First they split into two teams to create the competing vehicles. Once the each car was properly detailed ( with rear view mirrors, shift sticks and speed gauges) the race was on. Once started no one knew who was going to cross the finnish line first. Our normally super competitive students worked not just to win, but to entertain. Each car crashing incident and pit stop was brainstormed while photographing for comic effect. Please picture the Benny Hill them song while watching this, and enjoy!

Thursday, April 26, 2012 AS220 Youth 115 Empire Street Providence, RI 02903

Zuology Showcase is a Hip-Hop Show and Open Mic Dedicated to getting young performers on stage. We want everyone to get up and have a chance to Rock-Da-Mic. Come Early as the list fills up quick! Also open to b-girls, djs, producers, poets or any one else who has a talent they would like to share.

For information about this event or if you'd like to be added to our list of performers, please contact me, Anjel Newmann at 1-401-467-0701 or at anjel@as220.org

" Rap is something you do, hip hop is something you live" - KRS- One

March 26 was the first day and the last day of my coaching career, COACH RAY. I coached AS220 Youths boys basketball team, The Hustle and ran them through their first game against Casey Family Services. It was a very exciting game. All of our team members were screaming and shouting for whoever was on the court and we had a blast.

There was definitely a lot of team support that day. Especially when one of Casey's players had to make a free throw. We did not win the game but I think the experience was great and we all had a good time.

CHECK OUT THESE PHOTOS. STAY TUNED FOR MORE GAMES AND CHECK US OUT!

Ninja Gaiden 3 boasts amazing graphics, lots of action, but not much more. Coming from a family of 2 really amazing story based adventure games (Ninja Gaiden 1-2), it is super disappointing to play this game. A lot of the game play doesn't seem like something a ninja would do, I found it to be more along the lines of the God of War series games. This game had so much potential and it seems the game designers dropped the ball.

When I first started playing the game it seem really interesting, but after awhile it started to get very repetitive. The very first part of the game was nothing but fighting, it didn't seem like there was any story line. Which was strange because the Gaiden series is all about story lines! The cinematic parts of the game were very short and didn't give as much information as it should of to allow comprehend what the game objective was.

The game is very well designed and the graphics are insane! But beware, it is a very gory game and I wouldn't advise a kid under the age of 18 to play.

(AS22O Youth's game night is an ALL AGES event. We played this a week in advance to make sure it was ok. IT IS NOT. So we won't :)

-Dontay

This past Sunday the Youth Gallery opened its May show, featuring the work of Kanema Miller and Roberto Perez. There was awesome homemade food, brightly colored beverages, and both artists sold work! The show will be up all month so come by and check out their vinyl graphics, vector illustrations, screen-printed T-shirts, and paintings:

115 Empire St, 2nd Floor Monday - Friday 11am-7pm Sat 12 - 5pm

GREAT JOB KANEMA & BERTO, CONGRATS!

About three months ago Miguel and Scott from AS220's youth photography program called Photo Mem wondered what it would look like to take the famous drawing exercise commonly called "Exquisite Corpse" and transfer it the photographic medium. To do this we traced three life size figures, one from each of our teaching sites at the RI Training School, UCAP Middle School and our downtown location at AS220. Then we had students work in teams to recreate the face & body of the figure from the hundreds of photographs the students had taken of each other days before. All three of our new photo collaged Exquisite Corpse creations share photographs from all the other teaching sites. Kanema Miller from UCAP Middle school said "The fun part was putting it all together, we would look at a photo of a body part and think, where would it be funny to put this? We were all laughing. When we were working together I didn't think the finished Exquisite Corpse would look that crazy, it looked better than we thought it would! "

THIS SUNDAY -- while you're perusing all the wonderful AS220 openings stop by the Youth Gallery Opening of Berto Perez & Kanema Miller

They're two very dedicated Youth Studio members, and they've have produced a ton of work in the Fabratory as well as the other programs.

The opening is:

*Sunday April 1st 4 - 7 PM *

and the show will be up all month.

COME THROUGH!!!!!!!!!

What is a camera obscura? Go into a very dark room on a bright day. Make a small hole in a window cover and look at the opposite wall. What do you see? Magic! There in full color and movement will be the world outside the window -- upside down! This magic is explained by a simple law of the physical world. Light travels in a straight line and when some of the rays reflected from a bright subject pass through a small hole in thin material they do not scatter but cross and reform as an upside down image on a flat surface held parallel to the hole. This law of optics was known in ancient times.

Over February school vacation Photographic Memory, AS220's youth photography program scheduled a special week long extravaganza creating Camera Obscuras in rooms in Providence and NewPort RI. We would like to thank Michelle Le Brun and Neil Klein of Harken Video Productions, Norlan Olivo, The Steel Yard, Friedrich ESt Florian Architects and Jim Egan of the Newport Tower Museum for allowing us the invade their work and living spaces to create our one day Camera Obscuras. In addition to the use of their rooms, our hosts also gave our students tours and explanations of their careers and programming.

Photo Mem student Sashalee remarked" as we entered The Studio of Harken Productions I looked at the trash bags we were using to cover the windows and darken the room and I thought to myself ,how is this going to work? I thought it wasn't going to turn out . So guess what?! It did turn out and it was awesome! It was the first time I experienced a camera obscura and that first time was amazing. What I saw projected on the walls were the buildings from across the street. Not only that, but everything was upside down. Just through a little hole, we saw so much. Across the street, there was a flag blowing. On the wall, we saw the flag blowing... upside down. The cars were upside down and we even saw the cars moving, from one side of the ceiling to the other. We saw people walking. The smaller we made the hole, the sharper the image on the walls became. The camera obscura was a great experience to learn on my February Vacation."

Thank you again to all our hosts, we couldn't have done it without you!

After Scott over heard me talking about how odd I thought my photo looked, he introduced me to a new artist. This artist's name is Aaron Siskind. I really enjoyed Siskind's work. His photography style is very abstract. He photographs a lot of interesting textures and patterns. His work interested me not only because it was pleasing to look at, but because he photographed a lot of things that interested me. Things like the staples on telephone poles and graffiti. He photographs a lot of things we see everyday and just ignore. He creates a new world of textures and abstract composition with his photography.

I decided to try and take some photos inspired by his work. And what resulted was this photograph of a concrete wall with a faded stencil of "Art" spray painted on it. To see more of my work you can check out my portfolio HERE!

TONIGHT!!! FRIDAY MARCH 9, 2012

See all the work that we have done over the past semester! Invite your friends and family for fun, food and art!

Name: Nick Ferreira

Occupation: Librarian/Artist

1. Why have you decided to become a mentor with AS220?

At the time, I was not working much and I had always thought that mentoring in some capacity would be a great experience. I knew of the Broad Street Studio and really felt connected to the way it weaves art into the process. I met with Anne and here we are!

2. What are some things that you love about your mentee?(personality/character traits, her talent/gifts/hobbies, etc.)

The thing I absolutely love about my mentee is that he isn't jaded; everything is a wonderful experience: a rainstorm while on a bike ride, paddling kayaks against a hard river current, etc. While occurrences like that may (and did) annoy me, he had a smile the whole time. Not to sound cheesy, but it can really make you realize just what is important.

3. How have you found mentoring to assist you in professional/personal growth and development? Have you had any networking opportunities?

For sure! It's been a great way to meet other artists and interesting individuals in town.

4. Any advice for individuals interested in mentoring?

I would make sure that you are ready to commit, because they are going to be committed. And, of course, if you are interested, do it. Or at least get in touch to learn more!

5. What are some things that you love to do with your mentee when meeting with her?

I really dig just hanging out with my mentee. He's great to talk to and his perspective is pretty enlightening. He's got a thirst for knowledge and experiences that is very inspiring. With that said, going for bike rides and hiking are my favorite. My all time favorite thing we did was a day trip to Block Island last summer. We both had never been and it was incredible. It was a great day riding bikes, swimming and being totally blown away by how amazing that place is.

Name: Erin Marie Briskie

Occupation: Sales Rep for New England Eye Doctors/Opticians and Loving Owner of Miles Dog Briskie

1. Why have you decided to volunteer with AS220?

I was always attracted to AS220 because of the music venue, bar, and restaurant on the first level. Locally sourced food, art and music is a passion of mine, and AS220 was always on my radar. I forgot why I was browsing on the AS220 website, but I stumbled across the need for an AS220 Youth tutor / mentor. Since I do not contribute artistically to the community, it was a way to get involved with AS220 and appreciate art from another angle.

2. What are some things that you love about working with our youth?

The reasons why I love working with AS220 youth are the kids are hilarious and working/hanging with AS220 Youth is a nice way to shake things up from the corporate 9 - 5. Also, they are incredibly talented and hard working. Just imagine... all this extra energy focused into a painting, song, photograph, or computer game design combined with perception and experiences of a teen, the results are incredible! It is fun to be at the beginning of a career with the kids.

3. How have you found volunteering with AS220 has assisted you in professional/personal growth and development? Have you had any networking opportunities?

As cheesy as this sounds, AS220 has totally filled a void in my life. I am originally from Texas, and the studio has allowed me to immerse myself into the fabric of Providence. I feel more connected to the community which has inspired me to create my own passion projects (i.e. Local Mixed Tape). I have met many local musicians through AS220, and noticed that there was a lack of Artist representation. I started my website, www.LocalMixedTape.com to help build an online community and scaffolding for the musicians to climb. I then let the AS220 Youth book photo shoots with the artists so my website gets professional pictures, the kids get the opportunity to work with clients and beef up their portfolios, and the musicians get a free professional photo shoot. Everyone wins!!!

4. Any advice for individuals interested in working with AS220 kids? One line of advice: If you are at all interested, definitely email AS220 Youth for more information. Curiosity can lead you places never imagined.

5. What are some of your favorite things to do when volunteering?

Favorite things to do while volunteering... hmmm, that is tough. I love to sit and chill with the kids, seeing how their day was, and just listening to anything they want to say. Also, my dog, Miles, usually tags along with me, roaming the halls while I am working with the kids. The kids refer to him as the AS220 Youth Studio dog. Miles is a trained therapy dog, and can often be seen performing tricks in front of new friends or sleeping, taking up way too much space on the floor. He is usually wearing a red bandana while in the studio because he is a hipster and loves to dress like a cowboy.

On Presidents Day, the Visuals program went on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts!

We checked out the "Paper Zoo" exhibit, a collection of animal drawings, prints and photographs!

While we were there we also went to the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art to see pictures of businessmen dancing and strange bottle cap sculptures (see below)! This is just one of many Visuals field trips to come!

On Friday 2/17, AS220 hosted its winter showcase at the Training School. About 40 youth who participate in our art and music groups came up to the Cafeteria to share their work. As they entered, they got to rock to a new track by the PS students, called "Paper." The song was written, recorded and produced in a D mod classroom, and it features verses by Justin and Shaq.

Gianna and her Visuals students presented their AWESOME new paintings, including some powerful self-portraits. Many of the students in class had never painted before, but so they get serious props for trying out realistic portrait painting. (include images from Zach, Jose, River, Shaquille)

Photo students have been learning how to use the digital camera to produce animations in iMovie. Scott and Miguel taught youth how to manipulate exposure time and create "xrays" with multiple exposures.

New staff members Justin Holland and Carter Lee have been teaching F mod residents how to make beats in Fruityloops. Now, the mod is like a beatmaking factory, and residents had about 20 new beats to present at the Showcase.

Jeremy teaches a core computer competence class at the RITS and has several dedicated students. He gave out 8 certificates to youth for attaining new computer skills.

RITS Emcees DL and Justin showed off their skills with a romantic love song that celebrated the virtues of the ladies they love.

We wrapped up Showcase by giving out the Getting It In awards to the most positive, productive students. One went to Asia for her work in all our groups, including our current Radio Journalism class. The second went to Zach because he's been getting it in in our visuals and computer classes.... in particular, he's figured out how to use Powerpoint to make funny animations of men wearing cone hats who fall into holes.

All in all, it was a great afternoon, with the RITS' youth showing off their creative genius and all around swag.