Monday, May 14, 2012

Carlsbad Art Farm Blog Has Moved

Carlsbad Art Farm has a new blog address! Same blog, just a different Url. This site will no longer be updated, so please follow this link to find our relocated, updated blog. If you are a follower, you will need to visit the new site and click "follow" again. You may also keep up with what's happening at Art Farm by "liking" our Art Farm Facebook page, becoming a follower on the Art Farm Twitter Page, and a follower on our Child and Nature Network blog page. If you REALLY like us, we welcome your support through visiting our Yelp page and writing a positive review.

Check out the recent Art Farm review at San Diego Bargain Mama blog (a great site for local families looking for quality family venues at affordable prices)

Carlsbad Art Farm Summer Camp 2012 will continue to enroll throughout the season starting June 11 and continuing through the third week in August on a space available basis. We did sell out last summer so early reservation are recommended. Camps are one-week long, Monday-Friday, 9 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. Students must be entering grades 2-8 in fall 2012 to attend.

New this year, all forms may be submitted online and you may now pay by credit card or through a PayPal account. For more information, email us at director@carlsbadartfarm.com .

You may email us at any time with questions at director@CarlsbadArtFarm.com.

One last thing: this cute little guy munching on orchard hay is Calvin, one of our many animal art models at Art Farm. Calvin and his brother, Hobbes, would love to meet you and perhaps nibble on your shoes. So don't delay, enroll today!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Mallards Enjoying a Winter Day Along Art Farm's Sunny Creek

Mallards at Carlsbad Art Farm's Sunny Creek
Pictured here are four mallard ducks swimming at Sunny Creek (aka Agua Hedionda Creek) at Carlsbad Art Farm yesterday. To get this shot I had to sit down on our trail with a long-range lens on motor-drive, and be very quiet and patient for a good long time, while I waited for them to swim by.


At one time I raised rescued orphaned mallards as a licenced California Wildlife Rehabilitator through the wonderful San Diego-based nonprofit Project Wildlife. Project Wildlife trains teams of volunteers to rescue many dozens of species of local birds and animals that are brought into their care center after being found injured or orphaned. Each team specializes in an animal. In my case I chose ducks because we had the outdoor space for a pre-release flight cage, and also because I had a young child and didn't want to risk injury by rescuing an animal that might bite, scratch, or carry disease. Rehabilitators learn to care for and feed the wildlife that come into our care without taming them as the goal is to release them back into the wild. The less human contact the better. Our ducks, sometimes 30 at a time, were raised in the pre-release flight cage until their flight feathers matured. We then maneuvered them into large dog carriers and trucked them to Whelan Lake, a 73-acres bird sanctuary in Oceanside. I like to think these birds might be the offspring of some of the birds I raised, as ducks will come back to their breeding ground. Art Farm wasn't where my rescued ducks were born, but it is where they were raised from chicks to adulthood.


Now I'm looking forward to seeing the spring ducklings navigating our creek!

Monday, January 2, 2012

January 2012 Classes and More at Carlsbad Art Farm


Happy New Year!


Our Carlsbad Art Farm staff and animals had a nice winter break and are now ready to get back to work. There is never a lack of things to do around here as we prepare for winter. Picasso the mini-mule and the alpacas are ready for rain (if we get rain!) in the comfort of their new corral finished last spring. Our four Nigerian Dwarf goats - Calvin, Hobbes, Zeus, and Buffy - have now taken up full-time residence in the old alpaca/mule pen, which is slated for improvements this coming spring. Calvin, pictured here, is helping my husband, Chase, with a small roofing job on a kennel, which keeps our goats secure from predators and warm at night.
Calvin inspects progress on his new kennel roof


Thanks to all the families who turned out for our first annual Art Farm for the Holidays events in December! Students had a great time making unique gifts for family and friends while enjoying fresh-baked gingerbread and Art Farm brownies, warm spiced pear cider, and spending free time with our animals. We will be offering this again in December 2012.


Our Saturday morning art class resumes Jan. 7, 2012, from 10 A.M to 1 P.M.


Students currently enrolled in Grades 2-8 are eligible to attend. Classes are $30 per session, purchased in monthly blocks. Classes are taught in our outdoor studios, often using our farm animals as models to teach authentic technique in a variety of dry and wet media. New students are welcome to audit one class for $30. Art Farm Saturday class is primarily a studio drawing and painting class, although we do work in high-end craft projects.  Art Farm classes include a visual literacy program which complements the studio art class. Students are also provided with supervised "free time" to visit with our animals, take hikes down to our creek, and to generally enjoy our 10-acres riparian habitat in north coastal San Diego County.


We are open to opening a second Saturday art class in the afternoon if there is sufficient interest, so let us know. Usually there is interest, but conflicts with sports.


Art Farm for the Holidays students making gifts
Art Farm is located on a private property on Sunny Creek Road near the Village of Carlsbad. Visitors are by appointment only. Art Farm's entry gate is closed and locked unless class is in session. To arrange a visit, please contact Perrin Weston Coman at director@CarlsbadArtFarm.com.


In addition to our academic school year classes, Art Farm is a unique destination for local school field trips, scout outings, birthday parties, and more. Kelly Elementary school second-graders visited Art Farm this fall as part of their "pond life" studies. At Art Farm, they took a tour of our creek where they tested water and learned about our 10-acre woodland riparian habitat, and why a healthy creek is so important to maintaining this habitat.


We also post about events and happenings at Art Farm on our Carlsbad Art Farm Facebook Page. "Liking" our Facebook page is a great way to keep up with Art Farm updates. We are too busy taking care of all of our critters to post too frequently, so we won't inundate you with updates. Plus, our updates usually feature a picture of a really cute animal doing something charming, so what's not to like?


Week-long summer camps at Art Farm begin in June and continue to mid-August. Enrollment begins March 1. Camps sellout early, so if you wish to be added to our mailing list for updates please click director and provide a contact email and phone number. Please include in the subject line "Camp Inquiry".





Monday, November 21, 2011

Win a Week at Summer Camp While Making Great Gifts for the Holidays!

Arctic Fox at the San Diego Zoo, Sun., Nov.20, 2011
Photo by Perrin Weston Coman
I enjoyed another awesome animal drawing class at the San Diego Zoo Sunday with Watts Atelier Instructor Tom Babbey. This gorgeous little Arctic Fox lives in his enclosure near the Polar Bears.

As a reminder, Carlsbad Art Farm is holding Art Farm for the Holidays during the first three weekends in December for students currently enrolled in Grades 2-8.

Students are invited to come to Art Farm to make gifts for the holidays, visit with our farm animals, indulge in sugary holiday treats and hot cider, and enjoy being at Art Farm during this beautiful season of the year. The recent rains have brought much greenery to our 10-acre woodland preserve making it a perfect holiday setting.

All paid students attending Art Farm for the Holidays open studio sessions will be put in a drawing for a chance to win a week at Carlsbad Art Farm Summer Camp 2012 (value $400). Camps begin in June and continue through mid-August. Camps are one-week, Monday through Friday, 9 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. The drawing will follow the last open-house session the third weekend in December. Note: Students must be entering grades 2 or higher in fall 2012 to attend summer camp.
Polar Bear at the San Diego Zoo, Sun., Nov. 12, 2011
Photo by Perrin Weston Coman




Carlsbad Art Farm is located on Sunny Creek Road near the Village of Carlsbad. We are known for our wonderful sold-out summer camps and year-round studio art, visual literacy and natural science enrichment classes for youth Grades 2-8. Students study drawing and painting technique in our outdoor studios, often using our farm animals as live models. Our habitat is riparian, with a year-round running creek which we use to educate students about conservation and respect for the natural world. This November, we welcomed two wonderful groups of Kelly Elementary School second-graders who came to Art Farm for a field trip to study pond life.

Art Farm for the Holidays open studio times and dates are detailed in our previous post (see "Art Farm for the Holidays" below). RSVPs are mandatory. The fee is $40 per 4-hour session per student. An additional fee of $5-$15 per gift made (cost depends on materials used) applies. Payment is by cash or check payable to Carlsbad Art Farm on the day of the event. We anticipate that students will be able to complete 2-3 projects per visit depending on what projects they choose and how long it takes to complete the project.

To RSVP for Art Farm for the Holidays, check dates and times on our previous post and follow link for contacting us. Questions may be directed to Owner/Director Perrin Weston Coman at director@CarlsbadArtFarm.com. Please type "Art Farm Holiday" in the subject head so we don't delete your email as spam.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Art Farm for the Holidays

An Indonesian Eclectus Parrot, right, and his unidentified
friend enjoy their lunch at the San Diego Zoo yesterday.
(Photo by Perrin Weston)
Carlsbad Art Farm is hosting six open house studio events for students Grades 2-8 over the first three weekends in December. Students are invited to come to Art Farm  to make presents for family and friends for the holidays while enjoying our 10-acres preserve in central Carlsbad. Please look at our schedule below for event dates and times (click headline for complete post). Attendance is by RSVP only. Space is limited so early reservations are recommended. Fee is $40 per student per session date, plus and additional $5-$15 per project completed. Parents enrolling siblings concurrently will receive a discount enrollment rate of $25 per each additional child. The per project fee remains the same. Depending on the projects selected, students will have time to finish 1-3 projects per visit.

In addition to making holiday gifts for friends and family, students will have time to simply enjoy Art Farm. Visits with our farm animals, time on our tire swing, walks down the creek-side trail (weather permitting), and sinfully delicious holiday treats are all part of the fun. And naturally, it's always fun to come with friends so don't be shy about getting the word out for us.

For more information and to make your reservation, please click here. In the subject heading, please type "Art Farm for the Holidays" (so we don't delete your email as spam). Provide the first names and current grade level of your student(s), and your preferred open house session date. Payment is by check or cash only on the day of the event.

In the event of rain, we will cancel or postpone an open house on any given date. We will email you prior to any cancellation so if the weather looks iffy check your email prior to coming out the day of your  reservation.

Open House Dates: Sat, Dec. 3, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM; Sun, Dec. 4, 11 AM-3 PM; Sat, Dec. 10, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM; Sun, Dec. 11, 11 AM-3 PM; Sat, Dec17, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM; Sun, Dec. 18, 11 AM-3 PM.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Drawing at the San Diego Zoo

I'm enjoying a 10-week San Diego Zoo drawing drawing class for adults with Instructor Tom Babbey through Watts Atelier (based in Encinitas). Tom is an awesome animal artist (link to his sketch blog at bottom of post). If you can find a class offered by him jump at the opportunity. Tips for Young students: Animal models generally move a lot (even the Galapagos tortoise pictured here), so animal artists have to develop a visual memory of their subjects so they can keep drawing while waiting for their subjects to strike a similar pose. 
One week we were drawing Grevy's Zebras (also pictured here), and for almost three hours these animals conspired against us artists by keeping their faces obscured in troughs of hay. Much of my zebra's head that day was drawn using my "visual memory" of what a zebra's head looks like.
If you are serious about learning to draw animals well, it helps to have a good camera with zoom lens and fast shutter speed so you can develop your own image library. If you don't have a camera or can't get to the zoo, visit the San Diego Zoo website and find an image there to draw. The images here were taken by me over a period of several weeks at the San Diego Zoo. I also took many close-up "detail shots" of different parts of the animal such as legs, hoofs, eyes, muzzles, ears, etc.

Tips for Young Students: Make a habit of keeping a daily sketchbook where you practice, practice, practice! When you go to the zoo or any other place where you can view animals, practice drawing them from life in your sketchbook. Over time, as you flip through your book, you will be amazed at your improvements. 

You are welcome to print out these zoo pictures and sketch them.

Students: With parent permission, we invite you to send a scanned image of artwork made by you of one of the pictures in this blog post. Send your image file to us at director@carlsbadartfarm.com. We just might exhibit your art on our blog! Remember to include your first name only and your age.





Tom Babbey Animal Sketch Blog

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Wire Sculpting

Students at the Carlsbad ArtFarm were asked to express their favorite animals through abstract wire form.  Having many favorites, students decided to combine them together to create a new breed.  Instructor Andrew Sinclair discusses how to explain form through abstract thought and reasoning.  Students formulated explanations behind the metamorphosis of their new animal to express themselves during critic.  The term that were used throughout the class relating to, structure, abstract form, and artistic influences. 
based upon its form this student titled her sculpture
Dr. Seuss
The combination of a duck and horse influenced the birth of
Doris
  

Earth Energy



Earth energy is an installation done by the alpaca students of the Carlsbad ArtFarm.  The intentions from the students was to expose the aura’s of the earth and understand conceptual cycles from where we, as humans, gain our power and strength.  Students used minimal materials to create bursts of earth energy shooting out of the ground to represent the different emotional auras of the earth.  After the installation was complete students discussed the powers of the earth and how we benefit from its different cycles of energy.

Human Goat Project

The Human Goat Project is a collaborative effort of over 100 Art Farm students who experimented with the up and coming idea of street art.  Using different colored string to create graffiti, students express their own style and unique ability to work together to color the walls of the new sanctuary for Picasso, the resident miniature mule of the Art Farm.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Art Farm Sculptures Inspired by Deborah Butterfield



Art Farm Summer Camp Season is off to a great start! Last week our middle school-age students studied Deborah Butterfield, an American artist known for her larger-than-life-sized sculptures of horses made from found objects such as metal and wood. Students watched a short video of her work, in which Butterfield talks about her technique and her life as an artist.

Following the video, students set about collaboratively creating primitive, larger-than-life sized sculptures of Art Farm's very own alpacas, Harry Potter and Mr. Weasley. The goal was to use as few tools as possible. Other than a ball of twine, all materials were found within Art Farm's habitat. Art Farm Instructor Andrew Sinclair, an accomplished sculptor himself, used the lesson to teach art concepts including the roles of negative space, tension, and texture in creating a 3-dimensional work of art.

Pictured here is a Butterfield sculpture (top) and the alpaca sculptures (bottom). Click on the images to see a larger view. 

Deborah Kay Butterfield
!Palomino Horse by Deborah Butterfield




Saturday, April 23, 2011

Great Friends

Picasso, Art Farm's resident mini-mule, was great friends with our wonderful German Shepherd Hilda, who passed away too young in 2010. I had forgotten about this video, which captures Picasso doing his best to get Hilda to play with him, but she would have none of it. At other times she was game. It was clear  after Hilda died that Picasso missed her. He stood in his corral with his head hung low and was not much interested in his food (highly unusual for him). Picasso is not one to wear his heart on his sleeve, so it was touching.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Meet Art Farm's Newest Arrivals!

Meet Carlsbad Art Farm's newest arrivals, Zeus and Hobbes. Zeus and Hobbes are baby Nigerian dwarf goats. Zeus is just over 2-months old and little Hobbes (the black & white one) is just 5-days old. Both are bottle babies. Students coming to Art Farm summer camp are encouraged to help in the care and feeding of our animals, so if you've never bottle-fed a baby goat before, now's your chance. Nigerian dwarf goats are a small dairy breed known as great producers of milk for their size. The sweetish milk is high in butterfat. A full-grown Nigerian dwarf goat is equivalent to a medium-sized dog, with adult weight topping out at between 40-60 pounds. They are extremely people friendly and inquisitive. They come in a wide range of colors and fur patterns. At Art Farm, we use our animals as art models, so it is nice to have a variety of looks. In early May we will be welcoming another newborn, to be named Calvin.

Art Farm's weekly summer day camps enroll throughout the summer season, starting June 13 and continuing through mid-August. All the information and registration forms are available on our website. For Session 1 only, we will be enrolling students entering Grade 1 in fall 2011. During all other sessions, students must be entering Grades 2-8 in the fall.

If you simply can't make summer camp, we have a year-round Saturday morning art drawing class from 10:30 A.M to Noon. For more information, contact Director/Owner Perrin Weston Coman. Oh, and if you think Calvin and Hobbes are funny, cool, interesting, or any of the other options listed below, please let us know.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Mighty Zeus and Why Students Should Learn to Draw With Charcoal


At the college-level, studio art students learn to draw and paint from life using human models. At Carlsbad Art Farm, we use farm animals as our models and each year we acquire new animals for this purpose. We strive for a variety, and when possible, we like to rescue animals.

My first goat, a Nubian mix, was bought for $20 at the local humane society. We now have alpacas, a mini-mule, a variety of chickens, two dogs, and others. Here is our most recent arrival, a baby Nigerian Dwarf Goat named Zeus. Zeus came to us at less than a week old as a bottle baby (for some reason his mom wasn't letting him nurse), requiring six bottle feedings daily, each bottle containing 2-ounces of milk.

Zeus is now six-weeks old and drinks four bottles of 8-ounces daily, supplemented with goat feed, orchard hay, and alfalfa. He is full of himself. He loves playing with our rescue shepherd, going for walks on a leash, and practicing his head butting on our ankles. He has already started modeling for students.

Wolf in charcoal by Rose, Age 11
One of the challenges for students drawing animals from life is that animals move, unlike human art models who are paid to pose absolutely still. It's an interesting challenge. So what do you do? Well, animal artists develop visual memories of the animals they draw. Once the initial gesture line is committed to paper, and if they have an understanding of the animal's anatomy and how it moves, then they work from both the living model and memory. Additionally, they can use photographs as visual aides. Most animal artists have a library of books on animal anatomy. As with any discipline, the more you practice, the better you get.

The wolf drawing above (be sure to click on images to get their full effect), by Rose, Grade 5, started out as a drawing from a black-and-white photograph of a wolf. She then used our German Shepherd as a live model (alas, we do not have an actual wolf at Art Farm), as a source for more realistic hair texturing, rendering of volume, and rendering of detail in the eyes, muzzle, and so on. The animal really lifts off the page.

So why not just work off of photographs exclusively and skip the problems inherent in drawing an animal from life? For one, photographs flatten 3-dimensional objects and this shows in drawings made exclusively from photos. Also, the drawings look static, as if you were drawing something with no life in it. This is fine for buildings, but undesirable in an animal drawing where the goal is to render a flesh-and-blood creature. Obviously not everyone has a farm full of animal models, so working from photos is certainly a good option. But almost everyone has access to a dog, or cat, or zoo. My daughter, 12, and I have visited the zoo for years just to park in front of an animal and draw. She gets lots of compliments from passersby, and this encourages her as an artist.

Wolf Head in charcoal by Brian, Age 9
In my experience teaching children, the best medium for learning to draw animals is charcoal. It is fun to use, very forgiving, and "painterly." It gets students away from working in sharpie and pencil, which are not "loose" mediums. A good animal drawing avoids being wooden and instead captures a sense of the animal's movement, making it appear more life-like.

Charcoal is an excellent medium for doing precisely this. It encourages experimentation with texture, smudges, and line quality. It is great for creating atmosphere around the animals. Smudges and lines can be used to create a sense that the animal is in a woods, or that the time of day is early morning or dusk, without literally drawing a coloring book-style tree next to the animal with a cartoon-ish sun in the sky. These effects can be used to create perspective to great effect.

Rabbit in charcoal by Samantha, Age 9
Like no other medium, charcoal is very helpful for teaching the concept of value in drawing and painting. Understanding value and it's uses is the gateway to more sophisticated drawing and painting

For example, the bunny at left has a sense of volume, created by how the charcoal is laid down on the paper. The shifts in value are subtle in the dark and light areas of the animals body, but those shifts are why the animal seems three dimensional. Also, the animal's form is not completely encased in a hard, dark line all around the contours of the body. The line width and value alters, sometimes disappears, and this is what makes the image exciting to look at. Also, the shadow thrown by the bunny's ear lets the viewer know there is a sun in the sky, slightly off center of the animal, without drawing a distracting circle with squiggly lines depicting rays of light. While this is wonderful in a preschool or early primary school drawing, it is empowering for a developing young artist to tap into more complex "artist's tricks."

Moose Walking, Charcoal, by Canadian Artist Geordie Millar
At right is an outstanding example of an animal rendered in charcoal by Canadian artist and art professor Geordie Millar.

The drawing, from a series titled "Moose Walking", is huge (76X60). The image beautifully showcases the artist's understanding of the animal he was drawing, from life, in the Canadian wilderness. It also showcases the great versatility of charcoal as a medium: the velvety textures juxtaposed against hard lines to suggest the softness of the animal's fur while clearly showing the hard lines of its underlying anatomy; the smudging to create atmosphere and a sense that the animal is moving through space; the rich blacks that pencil cannot match; and again, the "painterly" quality of the image. This moose, to me, looks like a living, breathing, entity. When I view the student charcoal drawings above, I can see they are starting to pick-up on the concepts that Millar, as a mature artist, exhibits so masterfully. Imagine what might happen if these young students kept at it!

The "Moose Walking" series, and an equally breathtaking study of two horses by Millar titled "Procession", are nicely presented as a slide show on Millar's website.

Carlsbad Art Farm is now enrolling for summer camp 2011. Visit our website today for information and enrollment forms. And while your visiting our website, click our Facebook Page icon, and then click "like" to become a fan of our Facebook Page. As a fan, you will receive notifications of classes, seminars, discounts,  Art Farm BBQs, and such. We don't post all that much (we, at Art Farm, are too busy taking care of all the critters to post too much and, when we do, we usually include cute pictures of animal models - like Zeus!)



For questions about Art Farm, send us an email and we will get back to you shortly.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Get Connected to Carlsbad Art Farm Events!

Carlsbad Art Farm summer art and natural science camp enrollment is underway! For information and registration, visit our website or contact us.

Student Drawing, Grade 5
Whether you are new to Art Farm, or one of our many fans, or a teacher, we recommend that you become a follower on our blog (click icon, lower left) to receive kid-friendly postings about our animal friends at Art Farm and information about great websites and blogs by artists, museums, and other Internet resources, for kids, teens, and adults. We sift through what's out there so you don't have to.

Art Farm Outdoor Studio Drawing Class
If you are on Facebook, we also recommend that you visit our Art Farm Facebook Page and click the "Like" icon. Art Farm Facebook Page members will receive notifications of discounts, ongoing and new art classes, special events such as the Spring Art Farm Family BBQ, and other animal/art oriented postings. Art Farm won't annoy you with overly frequent posts. We just want to get occasional info to you and delight you with short missives and animal pictures from the Art Farm front. Give it try. You can always Unlike us.

To sign-up for the Art Farm Facebook Page, visit our website, click the Facebook icon, and then click the "Like" Icon. That's all there is to it.

Girl Scout getting kiss from Art Farm's Hairy Potter
At this time, we do plan to continue our Saturday morning Art class during the summer. Art class is from 9:30 A.M to Noon. Instruction makes use of live animal farm models to teach traditional drawing technique. Class is open to students in Grades 2-8. If you are not certain your child would like our class, we allow one-time class audits for $25.

Carlsbad Art Farm, recently featured in Carlsbad Magazine, Ranch & Coast Magazine, The Coast News, and the La Jolla Patch, as a premier destination for summer camp-bound youth,  is proud to be a 2010 Nickelodeon Parents' Pick Nominee. We are also proud of supporting local schools and organizations, such as Rady's Children Hospital, through our annual silent Auction donations of a week at Carlsbad Art Farm Summer Camp.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Second Annual Project Wildlife Baby Shower Event


If you enjoy cute baby animals and birds, and supporting wildlife rescue and conservation, don't miss Project Wildlife's Second Annual Wildlife Baby Shower this coming Saturday, March 19, 2011. The event begins at 10 A.M. and continues to 4 P.M.

Project Wildlife, a non-profit dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned and injured wildlife, is located in San Diego at 887-1/2 Sherman Street, just off Sea World Drive Exit 21, toward Tecolote Road.

The event is free to the public and no reservations are necessary. Visitors will be treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Project Wildlife's intake center, meet many of Project Wildlife's animal ambassadors, enter drawings for great prizes, sample cuisine from the Cohn restaurant group's mobile food truck, "Ms. Patty Melt," and shop for arts and crafts all hand-made by Project Wildlife's army of dedicated volunteers.

Carlsbad Art Farm Owner/Director Perrin Weston Coman is a former Project Wildlife home rehabilitator on the duck team.

Care Center tours are not recommended for pregnant women or immune compromised individuals. For all the information you need to attend the event, or about Project Wildlife, click here.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Art Farm Now Enrolling for Summer Camp 2011


It's been a busy year at Art Farm, and it's hard to believe that we've allowed so much time to pass without posting. But now we're ready to rock and roll. Art Farm is gearing up for our Summer Camp 2011 Season. The big news this summer is we are going full day. Weekly camp are Monday through Friday, 9:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. We have an early drop-off and late pick-up option for busy families.

We are also welcoming some new animal models this summer: three baby Nigerian Dwarf Goats and a new crop of spring chicks. One goat, a bottle-baby named Zeus, is already here and causing all sorts of mischief (pictures of Zeus coming soon!). To enroll in camp, visit our website at www.CarlsbadArtFarm.com. Become a fan at our Carlsbad Art Farm Facebook page to receive special offers, discounts, invites to our locally famous Art Farm BBQ, open houses, and whatever other fun stuff we dream up.

Also, consider becoming a fan of this blog. We keep it youth friendly and it's our way of sharing with you the goings on with our Art Farm critters and introducing young students to great website pages about art and natural science.

We hope to see you all soon at Art Farm.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Art Farm Preparing for Fall Line-Up of Classes


Art Farm's summer camp season 2010 came to a nice closing Aug. 15 with a great group of students. Thanks again to my wonderful staff: painting instructor Kris Finch; natural sciences instructor Jennifer Stowe; camp aides Emerson Coman, Max Giffen; AnneMarie Delfino; Erica Barrett, and Rachel Mehrberg. Thanks also to the San Diego Humane Society for bringing an array of animal ambassadors to share with students.

I enjoyed teaching introduction to charcoal teaching. At right is a fine drawing by Rose Wilkinson, age 11.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Molasses the Desert Tortoise Visits Art Farm


We get a number of interesting guest animals at Art Farm each summer. This week, Camp Aide Erica Barrett brought her 3-year-old desert Tortoise, Molasses, to visit with students in Science Lab class.

Molasses is an inspired name for a tortoise (you know, "slow as molasses . . ."), so I was surprised to see how fast this little guy (gal?) can scoot around. While Erica provided information about the care and feeding of a desert tortoise, Molasses made several laps around the table to check out the in-progress drawings students were sketching of him in their nature journals. Molasses mostly eats lettuce, and lots of it.

Later this week, Persephone, the flying squirrel, will be returning to Art Farm for another guest appearance.

Next week is the last camp for the summer season. There is still time to enroll. For more information, call 760-688-6147 or email us at director@CarlsbadArtFarm.com. Information about camp and printable forms are available at our website under the "Camp" tab.

Monday, August 2, 2010

One Last Chance for Summer Camp this Season


We are nearing the end of another great summer camp season at Art Farm with one more session to go starting next week on Aug. 9. There are still a few spaces left. To enroll visit our website, click on the camp tab, and scroll down to the bottom for enrollment forms. Or call 760-688-6147.

At right is a wonderful charcoal drawing of a baboon by Sarah Bauer, who is entering Grade 6 this fall. She attended camp last week.

Students in drawing class learn to use value (lights and darks) and look for shapes within the animal. This is different and much more sophisticated then simply drawing the contour of an object and then filling in the color. Charcoal is a wonderful medium for young students as it forces them to get away from hard-line drawing in favor of a style that has a more "painterly" feel. The smudginess combined with line drawing is what gives it life. Here the drawing is on a "toned" paper, meaning it has a color, in this case a sort of felt gray. The nice quality of the paper -- which grabs the charcoal and allows the paper texture to become an important element in the drawing -- also helps students be more successful.

Perhaps we'll see you this summer. If not, visit our blog often to see offerings during the school year for young students and adults. Currently, we offer our ongoing Saturday morning art class for students in Grades 2 through 8.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Flying Squirrel Visits Carlsbad Art Farm


Art Farm Summer Camp Aide Max Giffen delighted campers recently by bringing an unusual visitor to natural science class -- her pet flying squirrel Persephone. If you click on the picture, you can catch a glimpse of Persephone at the bottom of her travel cage.

One surprise about flying squirrels is that they're pretty small compared to the more robust ground and tree squirrels we're accustomed to in California. Max noted that to be aerodynamic, flying squirrels need to be small enough to glide from destination to destination. Persephone is a variety found in North America (there are two). In all, world wide, there are 44 known species.

Flying squirrels are not capable of sustained flight. Instead they glide between trees, with flights recorded up to 295 ft. The direction and speed of the animal in midair is varied by changing the positions of its two arms and legs, largely controlled by small wrist bones. This changes the tautness of a furry parachute-like membrane that stretches from wrist to ankle. It has a fluffy tail that stabilizes in flight. The tail also works as an airbreak before landing.

Also, unlike other squirrels, flying squirrels are nocturnal. Their large eyes indicate the importance of vision as they navigate and forage at night. Because of their small size and elusive behavior, flying squirrels are difficult to observe, which is why this class felt very fortunate to observe a tame one up close. Students took notes and drew pictures of Persephone in their nature journal.

For more information about flying squirrels, visit www.flyingsquirrels.com, the only website dedicated to these fascinating creatures. Art Farm weekly summer camps still open for enrollment are Sessions 7, 8, and 9, starting the last week in July and continuing through mid-August. For more information and registration materials, visit our website at www.CarlsbadArtFarm.com and click on the "Camp" tab. If you wish to make a reservation today, email the director at director@carlsbadartfarm.com or call 760-688-6147.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Art Farm Camp Students Show Off Their Work


These session three campers display paintings completed on the last day of camp last week (click image for a larger view). During the week, students learn to sketch animals; color mix using a limited pallet; how to block in their subject for a painting; a little about animal anatomy, and then use the colors they create on their own pallet to render their subject (in this case: a bunny, chickens and a mouse on a wheel). These students will be entering Grade 4 this fall. First row center is Emerson Coman, who will be starting Grade 6 this fall, and whose mother, Perrin, owns and directs Art Farm. Directly behind Emerson is Kris Finch, who teaches painting at Art Farm.

For more on camp life, read previous recent posts on this blog and visit our website. Art Farm has several sessions still open for enrollment (see previous post) and our Saturday morning art class continues through the summer and year-round. Adults interested in taking classes this coming fall at Art Farm should email the director at CarlsbadArtFarm.com. Please indicate your level of experience and what type of classes you are interested in taking. Also, please type "Art Farm Classes" in the subject line so we don't delete your message as potential spam.

All registration forms for camp are available on our website under the "Camp" tab. When sessions fill, we post that information on our blog immediately. For more information, contact the director at www.CarlsbadArtFarm.com or call 760-688-6147.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Science Lab Students Taking Notes on Adaptation

Art Farm is a living classroom in so many aspects. Summer camp students work in outdoor studios, where they interact with our farm animals while learning to draw and paint them. We make nature journals unlike any others, and art boxes based on the assemblage tradition first introduced by Joseph Cornell in the early 20th Century.

New this year is the Art Farm Science Lab, taught by biologist Jennifer Stowe. Our science lab makes brilliant use of our natural riparian habitat -- and its year-round running creek -- to introduce students to hands-on natural science disciplines, including the importance of keeping a naturalist's journal for chronicling their discoveries. Today, these students, who will be entering Grade 4 this fall, hiked down our trail, journals in hand, with Jennifer on a "Scientific Scavenger Hunt". Their assignment was to (1) find 10 examples of plants or animals changing the environment, and (2) to find 10 things in the environment that would harm the habitat if they were removed and to list why. The students were so engaged in their work that several dropped their journals into the creek while trying to get a better view. Earlier this week, they all took water samples from the creek to view under a microscope.

Following lunch, this same class studied the horse sketching book of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to see how artists develop their sketching skills. So many times students see only finished work in museums, which can be daunting to the beginning artist. It is empowering for them to see that even the greatest artists had to work out exactly how to draw a horse through constant trial-and-error. Working off sheets depicting anatomy and bone structure of the horse, these students practiced charcoal drawing skills in preparation for doing a finished study by camp week's end.

Art Farm Summer Camps that are still open for enrollment this season are Sessions 7, 8, and 9, beginning the last week in July and continuing through mid-August. For information, enrollment forms, and session dates, visit our website and click the "Camp" tab. If you would like to make a reservation today, email the director at director@carlsbadartfarm.com. Specify what session date you would like to reserve and we will get back to you shortly. Camp is open to students entering Grades 2 through 8 this fall. Classes are grouped by age and are age appropriate.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Art Farm Camp Sessions Update


Art Farm Summer Camp 2010 morning into afternoon sessions that are now closed are as follows:
  • Session 4 (July 5-9)
  • Session 5 (July 12-16)
  • Session 6 (July 19-23)
  • All late afternoon sessions (2 PM to 5 PM)
There is still time to enroll in all other sessions including Session 3, beginning next week, Monday, June 28. Sessions are one week and continue through mid-August. For information and enrollment forms, visit our website and click on the "Camp" tab.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Art Farm Enrollment Continues as Summer Season Begins


Our first summer camp session is off to a great start this week with lunch-time hikes down to the creek with alpacas Harry Potter and Mr. Weasley; getting to know our 44 baby chicks; a goat washing lesson; ice cream making; science and nature journaling classes with Jennifer Stowe (see previous post below to learn more about Jennifer); drawing and painting classes with our talented instructor Kris Finch; and multi-media class with Perrin, Art Farm's director and owner.

To answer your many questions: Yes, there is still time to enroll at Art Farm this summer. We enroll all summer on a space-available basis. When Sessions are full we post that information immediately on this blog. At this time Session Two is nearly full. Other classes are filling quickly. If you want to reserve a date, email us at director@CarlsbadArtFarm.com or call 760-688-6147. Tell us what session you want to reserve, and for how many students. We will get back to you very shortly with a confirmation email. We can hold your reservation for a few days pending arrival of your registration papers and payment (see our website under the "Camp" tab for camp dates and to download registration papers).

We offer nine week-long sessions each summer. Sessions are open to students entering Grades 2-8 in the fall. Sessions are 9 AM to 1 PM. On Fridays, at 1 PM, we have our popular All Camp Family BBQ featuring Jumbo Hebrew National Hotdogs and veggie burgers. Yum, yum!

Don't let your art and animal-loving nature enthusiast get left standing in the barn this summer. Enroll today.