Discovery Center Workshop in Tennessee

Arriving in the South on March 20th was like driving into summer. Somewhere in southern Illinois we went under a bridge and passed over to a whole new world of green grass and flowering trees.

Enjoying the feel of windows rolled down, we made our way through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, to find Murfreesboro. We will spend the next week working with a group of 4th through 6th graders along with some Middle Tennessee State University students to create the History of Music.



We are all excited to see what the week will hold, and look forward to the upcoming workdays. Music!

New Orleans

Tiny Circus finally landed in New Orleans - we're setting up in the 9th ward to make a promotional animation for Common Ground Relief.


The levee between the industrial canal and the Ninth Ward is just down the street. This broke during hurricane Katrina, flooding the entire area.


Above is the airstream parked in front of a model home - it is used by Common Ground for volunteer housing and education. Common Ground builds similar homes in the area to replace those lost by homeowners during Katrina.

The blue house to the left is one of the few houses that was still standing after the hurricane - also the main headquarters for Common Ground.



Because of the dramatic incline of the driveway, the airstream had be jacked up in the front to make the floor level inside. Good thing there are handy building materials spread around the site. Coming soon, more New Orleans...

The Great Drive South

Sunday, January 27th -- Tiny Circus heads down South to begin Spring tour. Tour destinations -- New Orleans, LA -- Atlanta, GA -- Murfreesburo, TN -- Tampa, FL -- then back to Grinnell, IA for a animation festival in mid-April.


After packing the van and hooking up the airstream (complete with all necessary equipment for a month long adventure) we were ready to leave snowy Iowa. The Circus is excited to visit old friends on our route and do work down in New Orleans at Common Ground Relief.


Van, packed.




We made our first above-freezing stop in Troy, Missouri to change the headlight in the van, fill the airstream with water, and enjoy a quick road-side snack break.

Landing for the night in Perryville, Missouri, we found our temporary home in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Shortly after bed, we were awakened by a tornado warning that yielded heavy rain for a short time. The heavy winds came in handy during our next day's ride, enabling us reach 21 MPG on our route to Hammond, Louisiana. In Hammond, home to SELU (and the history of adaptation) we visited some circus-member friends and then moved on to our destination of New Orleans.

Gearing up for our Sping Tour

We're getting anxious for the spring tour, and at the Circus house this means cleaning and re-stocking our traveling animation kit. Re-labeling the boxes and a Wal-Mart run to pick up the bare essentials - double sided sticky tape, duct tape, and other sticky supplies - to get our kit back to full speed.


New box labels. Oooooh they look good!


Our daily bread. This helps with breakfast and lunch. Add a little peanut butter and that's all this Circus really needs.

Storyboard, Animate, Edit--One Hour--READY, SET, GO!

Its time to take a break from working on the new studio and we decided to set up a little competition with ourselves: Let's make an animation in only one hour.

We selected the newly made sheep and a few army figures as our protagonists.



Storyboard drawn on wall for easy viewing purposes.







Carlos, Maggie and Kyle animate in the new studio.

Making the TINY Tiny Circus

We are beginning work on the Tiny Tiny Circus, a new component to the circus show. The Tiny Tiny Circus will be a complete (and tiny, of course) version of a circus. Core circus members and workshop participants will create stop-motion animations with these new props as well as animate them in real-time at our shows. The Tiny Tiny Circus might also function as a "Do It Yourself Animation Station" at large events - we'll figure all of this out during the summer session.


The beginning stages of the roller coaster are being laid out above


Sheep all made, baked, and ready to be animated

The Circus House gets a studio

We returned home to Tiny Circus House and began work on our new studio in January. Zero degree Iowa winter weather does not stop Circus members from knocking down walls of the house. Upon completion, the upper level of the studio will be used as a work space, complete with an digital projector, tons of editing space, and built-in storage cabinets for materials. The lower level has plywood walls and ceiling so animators can hang heavy lights and objects. The lower level also has a separate entry door, 11' ceilings, and wiring for a disco ball, spotlights, and speakers. It will be the ultimate animation/dance party space, perfect for the Tiny Circus!

Day one: a wall was torn out between a bedroom and the garage and the old lath and plaster were removed to create a large space.

This is the view looking east where the garage use to be. The floor was rotten and weak, so it was torn out and replaced with sturdy new floor joists.

The ceiling was sagging a bit in one spot, so we jacked it up and sistered on new stronger joists next to the old saggy ones.

An average workday: Emily models her Hello Kitty suit while Carlos relaxes in fashionable orange.