Last spring a friend and fellow art
teacher sent me a link to a You Tube video entitled, Caine's Arcade.
It features a nine year old boy named Caine and the fabulous
cardboard arcade he built over the summer in his father's auto-parts
store in east Los Angeles.
The story is told by Nirvan Mullick, an
independent film-maker who was his first customer. The detail,
dedication and ingenuity in the cardboard arcade are remarkable as is
Caine's dedication to his project in spite of initially having very
little audience for his work. The film features the flash-mob event
organized by Mullick to suprise Caine as well as interviews with his
dad about the building of the arcade and images of his many game
creations.
What really excited me about the
project was how accessible it is to kids and families. Cardboard and
tape seem to be universal building blocks of childhood. In his
interview Caine's father said he was glad the arcade kept his son
busy and engaged during the long summer days. He encouraged and
supported the project without getting too involved. When Caine
wanted to go buy a special part for a particular game, his father
challenged him to make one and was surprised and delighted by Caine's
inventive solution.
Watch the origial Caine's Arcade video
for yourself here:
Then move on to the second video:
Anyone can participate and it is a
great reminder of ingenuity and creativity that can be found by
building with simple everyday materials.
During classes at Art at the Center we
have been building and experimenting with ways to create with
cardboard and some of our discoveries are pictured below.
We encourage you to gather your boxes
this weekend and enjoy some time over the 3 day weekend creating with
cardboard with your children, family, friends and neighbors.
Email us photos of your creations and we will post them to inspire other builders!
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