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. 

!Palomino Horse by Deborah Butterfield

ARTS: A Reason to Survive and Barrio Logan College Institute Visit Art Farm

A wonderful group of San Diego 5th-graders from ARTS: A Reason to Survive and Barrio Logan College Institute visited Art Farm yesterday for an afternoon of painting animals with Art Farm instructor Kris Finch; making nature journals; hugging alpacas; feeding chickens, and enjoying a BBQ in the woods. Both non-profit organizations support at-risk kids by providing free art instruction and educational mentoring.

Here's a little history on both organizations:

ARTS: A Reason to Survive was founded in 2001 by artist Matt D'Arrigo based on his philosophy that the artistic process can change and heal lives. From this modest beginning, ARTS has grown into a much larger organization with eight full-time staff members and a $950,000 annual budget. Talk about one dreamer making a difference!

ARTS provides free arts-based education programs to thousands of children "facing many types of life challenges" throughout San Diego County and at the Pat D'Arrigo ARTS Center in San Diego. As the ARTS website notes, many of the children and families served are facing some of life's toughest challenges: terminal or chronic illness; abuse and neglect; parents in the military serving overseas; physical, mental, behavioral, or emotional disabilities; self-image or self-esteem issues; parental divorce; substance abuse and recovery; gay and lesbian issues; socio-economic challenges, homelessness, and others.

Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI), located in Barrio Logan, San Diego, is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children by helping those "with the will, passion, and talent" go to college. BLCI provides free after-school mentoring and academic enrichment programs. Qualifying students must be a first-generation college-bound student. The program starts in 3rd-grade and continues through high-school. The program's goals are to:

• develop the sense of pride, worth, and self-esteem students need to be successful.
• support parent involvement in their children's educations.
• motivate students to excel academically and give back to their communities.
• educate families on how to gain access to college.
• and to achieve 100 percent college enrollment among it's students.

BLCI was founded in 1996 by Harvard graduate student (and Princeton alumnus) Kenny Rogers, who discovered that most college-track programs begin in middle or high school, by which time "to many students of color lack the fundamental skills to benefit from such programs." BLCI now has an annual $400,000 budget, a full-time staff of four and a part-time staff of seven. Graduating BLCI students have attended many well regarded colleges and universities, including Yale. Again, it's nice to be reminded that one individual who acts on an idea can move mountains.

Law & Order: Special Doggy Crimes Unit

Here we feature our very own Hilda - protectress of all children and fuzzy green tennis balls - solving a crime scene in our drive way! (click image for larger view).

Hilda thinks the chickens may have done it; or perhaps the alpacas. Our mule, Picasso, could account for his whereabouts during the time-frame when the dastardly deed took place (he was guarding his hay rations from Kandinski, the goat).

Actually, this is a chalk outline of Hilda herself made while she was sleeping. The real crime is she was caught napping while she was on sentry duty. She'll be entering a flea bargain (feel free to groan at puns) with the mitigating circumstance that it was pretty darn hot that day and a nap was in order. As I'm the judge and jury on such matters - and a strong supporters of naps for everyone - Hilda's case was dismissed as a travesty of justice against all nappers.