The Anderson family has put together a show of contemporary surf art, which opens at the end of the month. The opening reception is an all day party from 10am to 10pm on June 27th. This is another great chance to see their beautiful new space in Carpinteria. This is also the last weekend to see the Anderson Art Collective’s inaugural show. For more information about either show, check out their website by clicking here.

Everybody Wants Everything

Media Arts and Technology University of California Santa Barbara

Please join us for an evening of installations, interactive presentations and performances showcasing work by Masters and Doctoral Students in the Media Arts & Technology Program (MAT) at UCSB.

Located in the California Nanosystems Institute, MAT is a transdisciplinary graduate program that fuses emergent media, computer science, engineering, electronic music and digital art research, practice, production, and theory.

Monday June 8 from 6pm to 9pm. Performances start at 8pm.

Free parking permits available on arrival.

Media Arts & Technology at UCSB
http://www.mat.ucsb.edu

Map to California Nanosystems Institute, Elings Hall
http://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/visitor/

Tonight when I checked my email I found the April Newsletter from Art From Scrap. I’ve made it pretty clear that I am a huge fan, and think the organization is pretty amazing on many different levels. So, I  thought I’d repost the news letter here. Some highlights are and Assemblage show “Call to Artists”, the art workshop with international artist Dianna Cohen (which was last Saturday) and the upcoming Earth Day events. Check out the events and make sure to get in touch with them if you are interested. 

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April 2009 Newsletter 

The mission of Art From Scrap is to promote a greater understanding of environmental issues

 while also encouraging creative exploration and expression in the arts.

1. Thanks to All the Children Who Help the Environment

2.  A Thank You Letter from AFS Flows to the Ocean Student

3. AFS Community Art Events

4. Watershed Resource Center Events

5. Dianna Cohen Saturday Art Workshop & Photos

6. Take Action – Ban Styrofoam

7. Assemblage Show Call to Artists

8. Summer Camp

http://www.artfromscrap.org/makeadonation.html

Please click on the link above to make a contribution to AFS

1. THANKS TO ALL THE CHILDREN WHO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT

Each year AFS Green Schools educates over 18,000 students about waste reduction, water quality and organic gardening. Each one of them leaves with a greater understanding of their responsibility to our earth. We thank them for their creativity, innovation and future stewardship of our shared planet!GREAT JOB!

2.  THANK YOU LETTER FROM AFS FLOWS TO THE OCEAN STUDENT

Wyatt Maphis                                                        1,102,042 Bottle Caps

Washington School 5^th Grade                            found since 1985 at

AFS Flows to the Ocean project                        California Coastal Cleanup Day

Dear Jill,                                                           

Thank you for teaching our class about trash and pollution. It really inspired me. I think our class learned a lot.

Some things that I learned was that right now there is forty-six times more plastic than plankton in some parts of the ocean. I think that it helps a lot if people even only pick up trash for one minute a day. If you did that for a whole month you would help a huge amount of animal life in the sea. We would stop killing a huge number of animals like fish, dolphins, sharks and turtles.

They are eating a lot of our trash out of the ocean. The thing that kind of disturbed me was in the video when that man was dissecting a bird and there was a bunch of plastic. The thing that shocked me was that there was a wire with a bulb in it. The video made me learn a lot though.

One of the most fun things we did with you was the field trip and the trash pick-up today. It was incredible that our class picked up 892 pieces of trash today on the pick up. I think the game was a good idea so now us kids know how it is being like a fish because we didn’t know what we were getting. I died because I had more plastic than plankton. I had two plankton and eight plastic pieces.

Our class now is going to pick up trash for a minute every single day for I think the rest of the year and it only takes one kid to make a difference.

Thank you so much for teaching us about trash and how we can change the world. Now I know that I’m going to do way more.

Sincerely,

Wyatt Maphis

3. AFS COMMUNITY ART EVENTS

Join Art From Scrap for free art activities at these community events!

• Goleta Earth Day 
  Saturday, April 11, 11am-4pm
  Stow Grove Park
  580 N. La Patera Lane
• South Coast Earth Day Festival  
  Sunday, April 19, 10:30am-5pm
  Alameda Park
• Santa Barbara Fair and Expo  
  Wednesday, April 22 – Friday 24, 4-8pm
  Saturday April 25 – Sunday 26, 12-8pm

     Earl Warren Showgrounds

• Y.E.S.! Fair 
  Saturday, May 2, 11am-4pm

     La Cumbre Jr. High 2255 Modock Road

• Children’s Festival 
  Saturday, May 16, 10am-4pm

     Alameda Park

• Solstice 
  Saturday, June 20, 12-6pm

     Alameda Park

4. WATERSHED RESOURCE CENTER EVENTS

Located at Arroyo Burro Beach, 2981 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara

Plastics Awareness - Thursday, April 16, 7pm

Presented by Santa Barbara Surfrider Foundation

Guest Speakers: Andrea Neal, Ocean Futures Society and

Das WIlliams, Santa Barbara City Council

For additional information go to SB CHAPTER SURFRIDER SOCIAL

Earth Day at WRC - Wednesday, April 22, 4-6pm

Help us clean up Arroyo Burro Beach and then make art using interesting items from the beach, watch the video Our Synthetic Seas: Plastic in the Open Ocean, and share refreshments.  Knowledgeable staff will answer your questions concerning our local creeks, watersheds and marine environments. 

SB Flyfishers Free Fly Tying Class – Tuesday, April 21, 7-9pm

Join members of the Santa Barbara Flyfishers to learn techniques and gain skill in tying your own flies for Fly Fishing.  Materials will be provided for first time visitors, with guidance in what you need to collect for future gatherings.

For more information go to: http://www.sbflyfishers.com/

Friday, May 1, 1-5pm

Engaging Your Community in Coastal Restoration

This workshop teaches the basics of restoration and how to start volunteer-based projects. Attendees receive a free copy of the California Coastal Commission’s new how-to manual, Digging In: A Guide to Community Based Habitat Restoration.

Space is limited. To reserve a space, email Kristina Finstad at kfinstad@hotmail.com or call (831) 464-1527.

The Watershed Resource Center - Sundays 10am-4pm

Drop in to see what is going on at one of Santa Barbara’s most eco-friendly buildings - or for more community programming information go to: http://www.artfromscrap.org/pdfs/wrc_events.pdf

5. DIANNA COHEN SATURDAY ART WORKSHOP & PHOTOS

Reinventing Plastic Bags

Guest Artist: Dianna Cohen

Saturday, April 11 from 10am-12pm

For more information about Art From Scrap’s Saturday Art Workshops go to:

http://www.artfromscrap.org/pdfs/AFSArtWorkshopSchedule.pdf

What a great crew turned up to celebrate Dianna Cohen’s opening at the AFS Gallery! Thank you Dianna for your inspiring work and for bringing such a cool bunch of family and friends to AFS!

To see more photos from the opening or images of Cohen’s work visit http://www.artfromscrap.org/gallery.php?Exhibit=59

6. TAKE ACTION – BAN STYROFOAM

Nothing that is used once should remain hanging around for 500 years. Yet this is how long it takes for Styrofoam to break down — and at sea it may never biodegrade. 

There is measure in Legislature right now to ban single-use Styrofoam containers. Click here to e-mail the governor today and tell him to help pass the bill.

7. ASSEMBLAGE SHOW CALL TO ARTISTS

Participate in Art From Scrap’s 8th Annual Assemblage Art Show!

Cash Prizes for First, Second & Third Place Winners

THIS YEAR’S CHALLENGE: Create a piece of assemblage art using…

CIRCLES! O  o  o  o  o  o 

For more information: http://www.artfromscrap.org/pdfs/CalltoArtists.pdf

8. SUMMER CAMP

Green Kids Summer Camp lets children experience the environment in fun, creative, and interactive ways!  Camp is held at the Watershed Resource Center at Arroyo Burro Beach and at Art From Scrap.

Session Dates:  June 8-12, July 27-31, and August 10-14, 2009

Monday through Friday from 9am – 3pm.  Cost is $220 per session.

To register, download the e-mail Parent Information Packet at: http://www.artfromscrap.org/pdfs/SummerCampPacket.pdf

Holly Mackay

Development Associate/Artistic Director

Art From Scrap

302 East Cota Street

Santa Barbara, CA  93101

805.884.0459 ext. 15

Fax 805.884.1879

art@artfromscrap.org

Learn more about our programs at www.artfromscrap.org

Just yesterday I bumped into the new blog by the collaborative group known as “Think Tank”. Think Tank was one of the many artists who showed their work in last month’s “Against the Wall: Layers Revealed” show at the Arts Fund Gallery. It was a wonderful show for a wonderful cause and the work by Think Tank was especially good.  From their blog I learned that just last week they were part of a panel discussion on aerosol art at the Faulkner Gallery in the public library, which I am very sad that I didn’t know about. The relatively conservative values and artistic tastes of much of Santa Barbara’s population in combination with the ever growing population of youths looking for a way to be heard means that this kind of discussion is going to become increasingly important. I would have loved to have been there. 

I can’t say I know much about Think Tank, but when I asked Laura Inks, who put together the “Against the Wall” show, she said that they were a duo working in collaboration. To learn more and to keep up with Think Tank’s newest projects make sure to check out Think Tank’s Blog. I know I will.  If you made it to the show at the Art Fund Gallery, please let us know what you thought.