Educational Lineage Project

I recall when I was handed my educational file back from the entirety of my K-12 experience during my senior year of high school; One mark on my first-grade report card made me smile at the time, and I remembered it once again when I started to work on this project:

"Deena has taken a great interest in, and displays exceptional knowledge of the color wheel," signed my art teacher at the time. It's true that I always was, and am still fascinated by both the structure and magic of the color wheel; How every color plays its part, how many different ways they complement each other and transform. When exploring this idea for my educational lineage, I began to think of the lunar phases as well, given the circular, cyclical, and profoundly transformative nature they share with the color wheel. 

Rather than presenting my educational lineage as a literal timeline or tree, I chose to use both the phases of the moon and the color wheel to represent how learning is cumulative, fragmented, and interconnected. This approach reflects my belief that teaching identities are shaped by both formal instruction and informal lived experiences.

The lunar phases represent moments of concealment, partial visibility, and full illumination within my educational development. The color shifts correspond to different types of influence: some teachers amplified skills and let them shine, others muted them, and some experiences led to entirely new ways of thinking. 

     When I first began to visualize a lunar color wheel, I quickly realized it would not fit the same structure as a traditional one. Basic color wheels with 3 primary and 3 secondary colors each total 6 spots, and if you include intermediates, it jumps to a dozen. However, there are 8 total moon phases, which initially caused a bit of a dilemma as I had to decide which colors would be included on the wheel. 

     I knew that  I wanted to begin with a blue New Moon at the top, as well as a Full Moon in it's contrasting color of orange. I added the primaries and ensured they also each had a contrasting color, then simply plugged in the rest of them in from there. I drew lines to connect the contrasting colors, primary colors, and secondary colors; I then observed that, unlike a traditional color wheel, the lines that met in the middle were not symmetrical by any means, yet it was somehow fitting.

     This led me to imagine an eclipse in the center, which I later included in my animation as a way to depict the culmination of all these crossing paths. 

     Before adding the dark side of the moon to each phase, I wanted to include all of the unseen layers of the colors of the past you take with you every step of the way, how you carry them, and how they evolve continuously.  This felt more representative of a cumulative educational experience than my initial color wheel made of solid colors did. I still wanted phases that were distinct from each other, but also showed evidence and remnants from before. 

     The new moon reflects periods where my creative voice was suppressed under rigid instructional models, as well as the years I lived in the dark before the support of my very first teachers. I have bits of colors peeking from behind it at first to show how the colors were always there, but unexpressed and lost. 

The full moon represents moments of affirmation and expansion through supportive mentors and teachers who truly let me shine by embracing my colors. 

     I also chose to use this metaphor because while the moon exists on its own, its light comes from the sun reflecting on it, also referencing the different ways teachers have (or have not) illuminated me. 

     I tightened up the distinct colors, but was happy to see the blends peeking through. When animating, I had to prioritize the blending of the dominant color that came before the next one, which proved to be tedious. I  chose to animate this piece to depict change over time, and how these phases are not always linear. I originally started animating this digital illustration as a prototype for my stop motion, but realized that with such a diverse and quickly changing set of colors, this idea was better suited for digital media, where I can cleanly alter frame by frame.

     The other pro that arose from the medium was my ability to layer different opacities atop one another, over and over again, at different paces--further pushing the idea of transference and interconnectedness.  I ultimately wanted to maintain a "stop-motion look" that wasn't very smooth, in order to make this appear as though it were a raw, living, and breathing concept with a sense of newness in it's universe. 

It is my philosophy that light and dark are both needed to tell the whole story. The glow of the tiniest sliver of crescent moon is only amplified by the night around it. It is often in challenging situations that we are allowed to shine. Sometimes there are setbacks, and sometimes we need time to recharge before moving onto the next phase, but the cycle always continues. 

Rubric: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1el7N9HeqYa8-BWKIl1TcnC7ZzqdVrWKK/edit