A Summer Camp You’ll Remember

Originally from York, Pennsylvania, Maggie attended the University of Arizona to graduate with a cum laude BFA and then went on to attain her MFA [...]]]> Carlsbad Art Farm is very excited to welcome 2013 Summer Camp Art Director, Margaret Chiaro. Maggie comes to Art Farm with a solid background as a working artist and instructor.

Originally from York, Pennsylvania, Maggie attended the University of Arizona to graduate with a cum laude BFA and then went on to attain her MFA from the New York Academy of Art, a graduate school of figurative art. She has exhibited nationally in a variety of galleries in New York City, Hudson, NY, Hoboken, NJ, Tucson, AZ, Carlsbad, CA, Oceanside, CA, Vista, CA, Hanover, PA, and York, PA.

Margaret Chiaro, 2013 Art Farm Summer Camp Director

Carlsbad Art Farm has a well-deserved reputation for offering students a memorable summer camp week of extraordinary encounters with animals, art, and nature, which all takes place in our “living classrooms” on 10 acres of woodland habitat.

Our award-winning summer camp program is successful because we are committed to working with talented local artists who are very involved in helping shape our summer curriculum each year. Important to that process is the summer camp Art Director who helps develop curriculum and coordinates our teaching staff. Last summer’s camp director, Gaul Cully, a master printmaker, helped enrich our summer program through teaching students techniques in printmaking without a press, helping to launch our creekside native species mural walk,  and by lifting origami boat-making to high art which resulted with a weekly student “Pageant of the Boats” and our wildely popular “Sunny Creek Origami Student Boat races” each Friday (a tradition we will continue!) Gaul has since moved to Washington State, where she is currently spearheading a public works project (again having to do with boats): “Remembering History: Sammamish River Slough Boat Races (1933-1976)”, which you can read about here.

Maggie is already at work designing our program for this year and early drafts of lesson plans are looking very exciting indeed.

What makes our art program so valued by Art Farm students and parents is our commitment to teaching core skills using a traditional atelier approach to teaching drawing, painting, and other art forms. Students work with highly skilled local teaching artists, many of whom come back to teach at our summer camps annually because they love our commitment to small, age-appropriate classes and the concept of teaching outdoors, where students have the opportunity to learn time-honored tips and technique. Perhaps the greatest compliment comes from students who begin their summer camp week at Art Farm saying, “I’m no good at art”, but whom, by week’s end, are proudly displaying their work at the Friday Student Show. What we tell them is they can do it. They just need a good teacher. Camps are enrolling now and through the summer on a space available basis. Also, take a moment to checkout our donkey, Georgia, painting on our FaceBook Page.

For in this world they have no voice

They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children

For the world can never be

The world they see

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them

Give them love

Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and [...]]]> Bless the beasts and the children

An Art Farm Student Haiku

For in this world they have no voice

They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children

For the world can never be

The world they see

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them

Give them love

Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children

Give them shelter from the storm

Keep them safe

Keep them warm

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them

Give them love

Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children

Give them shelter from the storm

Keep them safe, Keep them warm

The children The children The children

-The Carpenters

Pictured here is Art Farm’s resident donkey, Georgia, trying her hand (or should we say teeth?) at painting. Using operant conditioning, Encinitas-based animal trainer Marilisa Markey worked with Art Farm students this summer, showing them techniques using positive reinforcement to teach animals to do tricks. Marilisa has trained wild [...]]]> Why should people have all the fun!

Pictured here is Art Farm’s resident donkey, Georgia, trying her hand (or should we say teeth?) at painting. Using operant conditioning, Encinitas-based animal trainer Marilisa Markey worked with Art Farm students this summer, showing them techniques using positive reinforcement to teach animals to do tricks. Marilisa has trained wild animals from tigers to baboons at the San Diego Zoo, among many other places, so gett

ing Georgia to paint was comparatively, speaking, a cake walk. Using a clicker and a treat of sweet grain as incentive, Georgia was first taught to simply hold the handle of a brush pre-loaded with paint. Each time she accomplished this, she received a reward. Through a process of steps, Georgia eventually figured out that if she swiped the paint onto a canvas, she would get a BIG reward. By the end of summer, she was filling canvases with her colorful swipes of paint. She also sprayed grain into the wet paint, which became embedded and dried into the finished work.

In other words, she’s a mixed media artist. Hope you enjoy! For more Art Farm happenings, visit our Facebook Page.

Marilisa has a highly recommended dog training school, Doggywood,  in Encinitas. She has also trained animal actors, hence the name. If she can train a tiger, chances are she can help you with almost any dog behavior issue. Let Marilisa know that Carlsbad Art Farm sent you!

Brian grew up east of Fallbrook, in a rural area of North County, where [...]]]> Art Farm has an amazing line-up of instructors for our camps this summer (read our previous blog posts to learn more!) This summer we are excited to be adding San Diego County native Brian Daniel Kinneman to our instruction staff.

Brian grew up east of Fallbrook, in a rural area of North County, where he, says, “I was lucky to pass my childhood beneath the huge oaks and sycamores that dotted the landscape around my home.” It was there he learned a love for nature that has carried over into the rest of his life, and later grew into an interest in native plants and animals. Brian’s background makes Art Farm’s natural riparian/woodland habitat very familiar to him, and he will be integrating this knowledge into his art lesson plans this summer.

Brian’s interest in anthropology as applied to art also includes a keen interest in the cultural history of animals as they are depicted in art and story-telling, such as Native American “trickster” stories. A trickster is generally a mischievous or roguish animal in myth or folklore who typically makes up for physical weakness with cunning and humor. Wednesday’s at Art Farm summer camp will be devoted to exploring the cultural history of animals in art and storytelling, with students making art based on this theme.

Brian received his AA at Palomar College in 2009, then transferred to California State University, Long Beach, where he is currently working on a BFA, focused on painting/drawing, with a minor in anthropology. In addition to this, he has also studied at the Laguna College of Art and Design, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Burren College of Art in Ireland, and the Pont-Aven School of Art in western France.

Brian is also an avid writer, both of fiction and non-fiction. He currently is working on a book that examines the role of idealization in art across cultures. He lives in Fallbrook, with his wife and their one-year-old daughter.

Art Farm Summer Camps are one week, Monday through Friday, 9 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. Camps start June 11 and continue through the third week in August on a space-available basis. You may register and pay online. For more information, rates, dates, online enrollment, and more, visit our Registration Page now. To contact director/owner Perrin Weston Coman with any questions, click here.

See you this summer!

Summer is a great time to take children to art museums, and San Diego County families have many exhibits from which to choose in the coming months. Here are just a few compiled by Art Farm Summer Camp Director Gaul Culley, representing multiple art forms from Gothic tapestries to a photographic exhibit that focuses [...]]]>  

Summer is a great time to take children to art museums, and San Diego County families have many exhibits from which to choose in the coming months. Here are just a few compiled by Art Farm Summer Camp Director Gaul Culley, representing multiple art forms from Gothic tapestries to a photographic exhibit that focuses on domestic life within the walls we call home, to a magnificent sculptural installation of Zodiac animal heads.

SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF ART (IN BALBOA PARK)

June 09, 2012 through September 16, 2012

The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries

The Pastrana Tapestries, coming to the San Diego Museum of Art, are among the finest surviving Gothic tapestries. The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries will feature the recently restored set of four monumental tapestries that commemorate the deeds of Afonso V, King of Portugal.

Woven in the late 1400s, these monumental tapestries, each measuring 12 by 36 feet, depict Afonso V’s conquest in 1471 of the Moroccan cities of Asilah and Tangier, located near the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. They are among the rarest and earliest examples of tapestries created to celebrate what were then contemporary events, instead of allegorical or religious subjects. The designer minimized the misery of warfare, reinventing the event with the heroic image of Afonso and the ideals of chivalry in mind. Exquisitely rendered in wool and silk threads by Flemish weavers in Tournai, Belgium, the tapestries teem with vivid and colorful images of knights, ships, and military paraphernalia set against a backdrop of maritime and urban landscapes.

Since the 17th century the tapestries have been the property of the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Pastrana, Spain, 50 miles east of Madrid. Because of their outstanding quality and historical significance, the Spanish government listed them as cultural patrimony to be safeguarded during the Spanish Civil War. Only one of the four tapestries has previously travelled to the U.S.

The conservation of these tapestries received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards 2011.

MOPA (MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS IN BALBOA PARK)

THREE STORY HOUSE

12 May, 2012 – 30 Sep, 2012

Drawn from MOPA’s photography collection of more than 7000 images, Three Story House traces how photographers have captured the familiarity of the domestic environment to tell stories of how we live and where we live, as well as transforming it into a creative space to make art. With the inception of photography in 1839, photographers began to explore the importance of domesticity in our everyday lives, offering insight into the home as a nucleus for daily growth and renewal. Like a treasured heirloom, these photographs from MOPA’s collection are a pleasure to share with you here, in our house.

MINGEI MUSEUM (IN BALBOA PARK): NATURE, TRADITION AND INNOVATION

CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE CERAMICS FROM THE COLLECTION OF GORDON BRODFUEHRER

Jun 2, 2012 – Jan 6, 2013

Collection Source: Collection of Gordon Brodfuehrer

This exhibition at the Mingei explores the evolution of contemporary Japanese ceramics through the work of many artists and a variety of forms, from tea bowls and noodle cups to stunning vases and robust platters.  Strong and sculptural, these ceramic pieces also reveal an earthy beauty through abstract forms, soft colors and pools of glaze.  These organic objects come from kilns throughout the regions of Japan, and their clear connection to nature will be enhanced with large scale photographs of Japanese landscapes and natural elements.

FOLK FESTIVALS AND TRADITIONAL CRAFTS: JAPANESE PRINTS FROM THE COLLECTION OF MAURICE KAWASHIMA

Jun 2, 2012 – Jan 6, 2013

Collection Source: Collection of Maurice Kawashima
Location: Balboa Park

This exhibition, also at the Mengei, features prints by two Japanese artists: Yoshitoshi Mori (1898-1992) and Masaaki Tanaka (b. 1947). Both graphic and figurative, they depict cultural festivals, scenes from daily life and archetypal characters such as warriors and actors. Created with stencils, woodblocks and silk screens, the prints will be displayed alongside a selection of beautiful mingei – objects of use – from the Museum’s permanent collection, including a diverse range of historical and contemporary objects: pottery, kimono and other textiles, lacquer, metal, baskets and toys.

STUART COLLECTION, UCSD CAMPUS, LA JOLLA, CA

The Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego seeks to enrich the cultural, intellectual, and scholarly life of the UCSD campus and of the San Diego community by building and maintaining a unique collection of site-specific works by leading artists of our time. It has been inventive in both its curatorial point of view and its working processes. The collection results from an innovative partnership between the university and the Stuart Collection. Under an agreement forged in 1982 (and renewed in 2003), the entire campus may be considered as sites for commissioned sculpture. It is further distinguished from a traditional sculpture garden by integration of some of the projects with university buildings. With the enthusiastic cooperation of the UCSD Department of Visual Arts, and financial support from the Stuart Foundation, the Friends of the Stuart Collection, the National Endowment for the Arts, and many other organizations, foundations and individuals, the collection has initiated and completed an impressive range of projects. The selection of artists for commissions is based on the advice of the Stuart Collection Advisory Board, which is composed of art professionals of international stature. Artists are invited to conceive and develop proposals with the assistance of the Stuart Collection staff.

SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: AI WEI WEI:  ZODIAC HEADS:  CIRCLE OF ANIMALS: GOLD

FEB. 23-JULY 29^TH, 2012

MCASD is honored to present the U.S. museum debut of Ai Weiwei’s topical and sumptuous Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold (2010). This gallery-sized installation is comprised of twelve animal heads, each depicting a segment of the ancient Chinese zodiac. The recent works by artist and activist Ai Weiwei reference a European version of the Chinese zodiac designed by Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione. The original sculptures, with their international connections, were built for an elaborate water-clock fountain at the imperial summer home of Emperor Qianlong, just outside of Beijing. In 1860 during the Second Opium War, the imperial gardens were ransacked, displacing the twelve zodiac heads. To this date only seven have been recovered. Continuing his work of re-interpreting cultural objects from his own fantasy and historical knowledge, Ai revisions all twelve zodiac heads. His work comments on the tension between what is “fake,” what is a “copy,” and what may constitute the better of the two.

Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and AW Asia, New York.

Art Farm Summer Camps

For information about Carlsbad Art Farm Summer Camps starting June 11, visit our website. Camps enroll all summer on a space-available basis. Art Farm is located on 10-acres of private woodland habitat in north coastal San Diego County near the Village of Carlsbad. Camp sessions are one-week, Mon-Fri, 9 A.M.-3:30 P.M. Classes are in our outdoor studios, where we teach students to draw and paint from our farm animal models. Programs also include natural science enrichment and an introduction to animal training. Students must be entering Grades 2-8 in the fall to attend. To contact us by email, go to director@CarlsbadArtFarm.com.