Art Docents of Los Gatos, Inc. The Palette

Volume: XXIX Issue: 20 February 2016

Guest Speaker: Sinem Banna We have a guest speaker at our General Meeting, February 9: Sinem Banna. http://www.sinembanna.com/ Please join us in welcoming artist Sinem Banna to our February Inside this meeting. She will be discussing her art and process focusing on her site-specific public art and assemblages. "Sinem Banna received a BFA issue: from the Mimar Sinan University in , and an MFA both in

ceramics-sculpture from the Art Institute. From 1990 to President’s Message 1992 she first went to Villa Arson Academy in Nice and then to to continue studying art. After she moved to San Francisco, she started to Guest Artist Update experiment with second hand objects to emphasize her ideas conceptually with less aesthetical worries. The contours of her multicultural distinctiveness started to appear in almost all of her Membership update artworks as layers of self-identity, inviting the viewers to instinctually find their own autobiographies in them and reminding them that our existence is temporary." Classroom update

President’s Message

FEBRUARY 2014

Thank you for the LOVE. As we head into February 2016, and celebrate Valentine's month, we also celebrate the love and admiration we have for Los Gatos and each other. In the words of Bob Marley, "One love. One heart. Let's get together and feel alright." And that is exactly what we do every day: teaching our love of learning through art print presentations, special guest artists and creative workshops. Our luncheon theme this month was "The Art of Love and Friendship". Over 40 Art Docents and supporters gathered to enjoy a spectacular feast at Nick's Next Door complete with excellent food, wine and chocolatey truffle dessert. Inspiring creative thinkers and artists who desire to change the world for the better — John Lennon of the Beatles, said it best, "All you need is love, love. Love is all you need". Our art docents, family and friends showed their love on Saturday last month when they lent a hand to remodel our Art Docent Office, transforming it into a productive, beautiful work space. Please come by anytime to check it out. Thank u All for showing the love!... for our town, community, and children by supporting our events, purchasing event tickets and sharing your valuable time. Allow me to bid you goodbye with words by Selena Gomez, who said, "You are magical, lyrical, beautiful. You are, and I want you to know baby, I, I love u like a love song baby!"

Michelle President – 2015-2017

Membership Update

SHARE THE LOAD.

We are looking for more volunteers for many of our hands-on workshops/print presentations. In the past Docents would share the workshop class. One Docent would pick up the portfolio and equipment and commence the art appreciation print presentation. The 2nd Docent would arrive and complete the activity part and return the equipment. Work in teams. The 1st grade print class is a good example. Docents alternate between demonstrating and assisting students. When you see that a class is of a longer duration please enquire if it would be helpful if you attended for part of the session (we are talking 40 minutes to an hour in time) you may find you enjoy yourself and stay longer. Some people feel they are being observed by fellow docents, try not to think that way. Think of it as collaboration. We can all learn from someone else presentations. Make contact with other Art Docents and suggest you share a class, if you are hesitant about running the whole class. Most of all take a deep breath and sign-up, you never know you might enjoy yourself.

Continuing Education

Tour at the NuMu - "More than My Selfie" - February 25 - 11:00am NuMu Curator, Marianne McGrath, will be giving us a free private tour of the current exhibit, "More Than My Selfie," which explores the enduring tradition for humans to create self-portraits. Featuring artists from the Bay Area and beyond, this exhibit examines art, history, psychology, culture, identity and community. In addition, the exhibit incorporates opportunities for creative and interactive visitor experiences. For more information on this and other exhibits, please visit the NuMu website at http://www.numulosgatos.org/

Continuing Education , continued… Beach Retreat Day: January 19 A group of Docents spent a fun and relaxing day at Michelle’s beautiful beach house in Santa Cruz. The weather outside was stormy so we gathered around the large dining table by the fire and got creative. Our first project was trying our hand at the new adult coloring book craze. We used coloring pages from published books as well as designs created by a few of our docents! Our next project was exploring the art of doodle embroidery. We learned a few simple stitches to turn our own doodles into personalized embroidered hoop art.

Classroom Updates

In the classroom…

Docents, when you attend the General Meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9th you will find our March Print Presentation schedules ready for you to choose your classes. Our March lessons are the last of this kind this school year and include our 2nd Grade Romare Bearden workshops. However, we also have openings for 5th Grade Photography and Spanish Art History – the schedules are here in the office. And, we are gearing up for our Annual Student Art Show. There will be a variety of things for people to pitch in and do before, during, and after.

And of course… Guest Artist visits and Art Show!

Guest Artist: Jennifer Kretschmer is scheduled at all the schools. Please sign-up to help with classroom management during the day.

March 7: Fisher Middle School March 10: Blossom Hill March 15: Lexington March 22: Van Meter March 28: Daves

ART SHOW: In office set up: April 11 – April 28 Art Show set up at Fisher and General Meeting: Friday, April 29 Art Show Dates: May 2-6 Art Show Tear Down: Friday, May 6 Starting at 1:00pm

Guest Artist

We are so proud to announce that our very own Jennifer Kretschmer will be the Guest Artist for this year!

Jennifer has studied art and architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She has exhibited her paintings in local and national venues and has walked away with awards that include: Blossom 2 - The Art of Flowers at the Naples Museum of Art, the 2010 LGAA Open Juried Show, and "Going Mobile" 2014 at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.

Jennifer's presentation to the children will be called "Everyone is an Artist." She will be sharing with our children some of the different types of media that she likes to use. Her presentation will include media of watercolor, torn up magazine paper and an iPad. We've never before had an artist showing an iPad as a painting tool!

"I'm here to tell you that everyone is and can be an artist. It is part of the creative spirit that makes humans so unique on our planet. And our education system needs to recognize this so that future generations can excel and meet their true potential." Jennifer Kretschmer

Programs Update IT COMMITTEE

We are excited to announce that our new IT Committee has met for the first time this past month. Our committee will be working on supporting the Art Docents with our Website and online presence as well as supporting our program in regards to our equipment we use. Thanks to Lisa M., Nick M., Stacey C. and Ellen O. for stepping up to help out with this new committee that is much needed.

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE

New Updates: As we work through edits, updates and changes on the curriculum, we want to find the best way to bring that information to all our docents. Please look for these updates at our general meetings, in small “office hour” workshops you can sign up for, and on our website where we update our changes as we go. Due to speakers and time constraints, we cannot always use the general meeting to cover all our updates.

Feedback: If you have an issue with something in the curriculum, please fill out our form in the office so we have a record of what you feel needs addressing. Remember that feedback is important to us; however it needs to be constructive. So please give specific examples and even a sample suggestion of how you see if could be improved.

Latest Curriculum Edits: Please refer to our website where the latest updated lessons are posted.

MARCH - 5th Grade Lesson 5 “Site Specific Artists/Personal Responses”

We will hold “office hours” to share with those whom are planning to present this lesson. There will be a sign-up sheet in the office and at the general meeting so we know who would like to attend.

FEBRUARY ♥ 4th Grade Lesson 3 - Digital “California Architecture” ♥ 3rd Grade Lesson 4 - “Intro to Abstract Art” (workshop) ♥ 5th Grade Lesson 3 - “American Art 1900-1960”

Workshop Assistants: I just want to remind everyone that if you sign up as an assistant for a workshop there are some very important items to remember: ♥ Please be on time and dependable: we have had a few instances of a lead docent who had to run the workshop single handedly...and that is not good. Just imagine if it was you who was the lead docent...how would that work for you? ♥ Ask the lead docent how can you help: give the lead docent your full attention...no phone calls or texting please...and yes this has happened. ♥ Phones should definitely be silenced during a presentation.

Julie F.,

Curriculum & IT Committee Chair

17000 Roberts Road Los Gatos, CA 95032

Important Dates

February General Meeting - Tuesday, February 9

Executive Board Meeting - Tuesday, March 1 - 10:00am

Board of Directors Meeting - Wednesday, February 24 - 4:30 – 6:00 pm - Docent Office

Palette – March Deadline Thursday, March 2 - - 5 pm

Student Art Show - Set up Friday April 29 - Show: May 2-6 Art Work from Annual Student Art Show 2010 - Tear down: May 6 at 1:00pm

Louise Millman: editor

Art Docents of Los Gatos, Inc. Phone: (408) 335-2366 17000 Roberts Road E-mail: [email protected] Los Gatos, CA 95032 Website: www.artdocents.com

Art Docents of Los Gatos, Inc., founded in 1973, is a 501(c) (3) non-profit, volunteer organization. Our mission is to expand a child’s educational and cultural experiences in order to foster the development of more flexible, innovative and creative individuals.

Funded in part by LGEF, LGUSD, H&S Clubs, Town of Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, & Members of the Community and a grant from Silicon Valley Creates.