Gift Experience

For the gift experience project, I wanted to emphasize both the "gift" and "experience" aspects. Prior to this assignment, I had just watched the Westmont production of She Kills Monsters, which is a Dungeons & Dragons based play. This unique storytelling format felt like a good starting point for my own adventure, which also had roots in "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. My older cousin would often improvise "Choose Your Own Adventure" storylines for us younger cousins when we were children, and we all loved to sit around a fireplace with our eyes closed and make decisions about which hallway we would choose, or whether we would fight or run from an imaginary enemy. We could be bank robbers, adventurers, princesses, or mere mortals, but we always felt the excitement of entering into this fantasy world. I wanted to share this joy with my classmates, and so I developed a basic storyline and expanded on potential paths the players could take based on two choices, which would affect later choices and the unique ending of their story. I also crafted individual characters for each player, and made a specific gift that corresponded with their character and storyline.

 - Hailey - a fairy with billowing blonde hair and a luminescent glow about her; she is the most optimistic of the group, and even in the most dire of situations she has been known to avoid perils with a mere smile and flutter of her wings. Her powers come from a magical purple pendant that glows when she is happy. GIFT: a piece of purple seaglass with a golden coil wound around it 

- Logan – a prehistoric bird with iridescent, indigo wings and a curved severe beak. despite his large stature and intimidating visage, he is very soft spoken and prefers to spend his time with his pet rock named Bob Rock, which he carries everywhere. GIFT: a small smooth rock with googly eyes painted onto it 

- Morgan – a centauress who is half western cowgirl, half chestnut horse; she often takes moments away from the group to wander in a flowered pasture and enjoy the wind on her face. GIFT: a bandanna with cowboy boots, horses, and cowgirls drawn on it 

- Ashley – a mountain spirit who wears a strange fabric bearing the name of an ancient spirit named Outdoor Voices. He is fabled to be the most agile of their kind and could climb any precipice, no matter how daunting; he was ashley’s great ancestor, and she determinately rock climbs every day to live up to his legacy. GIFT: a letter from Outdoor Voices to Ashley written on a leaf (the letter tells Ashley how proud O.V. is of her) 

- Callie, aka Cal-Dawg – a small skateboarding spotted dog who wears a beanie and is the toughest of her companions; although her cute appearance may seem the opposite of intimidating, both her bark and her bite will readily be used if her friends are threatened. GIFT: a small, hand-knit beanie 

- Nathan – a sentient rowboat who can stay steady even in the roughest seas; he is the leader of the group, often carrying them safely over treacherous waters and guiding their way. He proudly wears a well-loved tweed cap to distinguish himself from other boats (and to mark his bow from his stern for less sea-worthy passengers). GIFT: a ceramic frog wearing a tweed cap (one of the characters in the story) 

 Although I did not document all of the gifts, each of them was handmade with the unique person in mind, with connections tying back to earlier projects in the class. The script also correlated with our art, such as the rock Cyclops sculpture that Logan made for his "Portals" installation, or Ashley's frog stained-glass "Portals". I set the scene for the story by turning off the lights in the graphics lab and bringing pillows and blankets from home for a comfortable atmosphere, and greeted my classmates with a blanket-cloak over my head. Each of their gifts were presented throughout the reading of the adventure.