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About EcoArts of Lake County: |
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EcoArts of Lake County is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting visual art, visual art education, and ecological stewardship to the public and educational institutions within Lake County California. Lake County California is located about 100 miles north east of San Francisco. Despite its proximity to a culturally rich city, Lake County is an isolated rural county with very few opportunities for the public to view art, and a public school system forced to under-fund the visual arts. The primary venue EcoArts of Lake County uses to promote visual art, visual art education and ecological stewardship, is the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk. |
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The Beginning |
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In May, 2003 Lake County provided to Karen Turcotte Williams the areas either side of the central trail of the Middletown County Trailside Park (1.7 miles from Middletown, California on route 175 at the Dry Creek Cutoff) for EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk. With support from the Lake County Arts Council and the County of Lake, four volunteer artists erected temporary, environmentally friendly sculptures to initiate a public dialog with nature. The 2003 exhibit consisted of eight sculptural pieces derived from natural materials, or speaking to the context of nature in the human environment. Images of EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk were placed on the Lake County Arts Council website, www.lakecountyartscouncil.com. |
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The 2003 EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk |
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The 2003 exhibit opened to the public on July 14, 2003. This was the only free public sculptural exhibit in Lake County at the time. The public response was overwhelmingly positive. At the Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting of August 19, 2003 the Board voted 5-0 to allow the sculpture walk through the 2003 season and they gave permission for a second season commencing in May, 2004 and ending in October, 2004. The Board scheduled a further review of the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk for their fall, 2004 agenda.
We were especially impressed by the reaction of school-age children to the sculptures, and for the 2004 season we began contacting local schools to coordinate some kind of participation.
The 2003 exhibit was dismantled the week of October 15, 2003 (the dry season in Northern California is generally between late May and late October). The environmental impact of the sculptural works was mitigated by raking and spreading of local grass seeds. |
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The 2004 EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk |
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The 2004 season of EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk included 12 volunteer artists and 1 volunteer artists' cooperative erecting 17 sculptures along the Central Trail between May 8 and May 16, 2004.
Most artists were local to Lake County and the Bay Area of San Francisco, several are nationally known. Participating artists for the 2004 season were (in order of appearance): Karen Turcotte Williams, Chuck Williams (no relation), Paul de Jong, Julia Regina, Eve S. Mosher, Menthe Wells, Meadowsweet Dairy (a cooperative of three environmental sculptors), Deidre DeFranceaux, Janet Grace Riehl, Lawrence Lauterborn, Mary Mattlage, Don Ross and Iouri Pestov.
A Guide book with a self guided map of the Walk, images of each sculpture with a short narrative, and artist information were designed by John Randall Williams and 500 copies were produced commercially with funds supplied by Lake County Administrative Services. Guides were kept in a holder at the central trailhead for the public to take free of charge.
On October 19, 2004, the Lake County Board of Supervisors heard a report on the success of EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk from Karen Turcotte Williams, John Randall Williams, Rolf Kriken and Xian Yeagan. The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to continue support of the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk and allow EcoArts of Lake County to continue annual use of the central trail of the Middletown County Trailside Park.
The week of October 16 -24, 2004 the sculptures were removed from the park by the volunteer artists and their friends. Any impact on the environment was mitigated by raking and spreading local grasses. For the 2004 mitigation plan a volunteer botanist was consulted to help plan the eradication of noxious and imported plants in the Park and encourage the growth of native plants. |
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Public Schools Participate |
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On May 13, 2004 two field trips of 60 children each from the fourth and fifth grades of the Middletown Middle school and their teachers were each conducted on a one hour tour by Sophie Lauterborn, an art educator volunteer, Karen Turcotte Williams, and Janet Grace Riehl, an art educator volunteer and participating artist. The response of the students was extremely positive and the field trip was followed-up with drawing and writing exercises in the classroom. |
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The Girl Scouts of America |
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Last August the Konocti Girl Scouts and their chaperones were conducted on a one hour tour by Karen Turcotte Williams. The girls loved it. We are currently coordinating more visual art experiences for Girl Scout troops. |
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Free Public Reception |
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On May 22, 2004, The EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk opened to the public with a free reception in the park. Green Circus, an environmental education troupe was present to entertain the kids and educate them in environmental stewardship. Lake County poets had a poetry reading. A blue grass band supplied music and Students for Sober Graduation Night from Middletown High School supplied food and drinks. Lake County officials attending were: Kim Clymire, Public Services Director; Kelly Cox, County Administrator; and Ed Robey, District 1 County Supervisor for Middletown. |
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EcoArts of Lake County |
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On June 22, 2004, EcoArts of Lake County, a Non-profit California Corporation was formed. Our Board of Directors (in alphabetical order):
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Calpine Geothermal Vistors Center |
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EcoArts of Lake County has teamed up with the Calpine Geothermal Visitor's Center to produce seasonal art exhibits for the artists participating in EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk. Each seasonal show will commence with a free reception for the public. Other local artists are invited to show their works at the Receptions. The first show, the Fall 2004 exhibit, opened with a reception on Saturday, November 6, 2004. Participating artists were Lawrence Lauterborn, Mary Mattlage, Eve S. Mosher, Iouri Pestov, Julia Regina, Janet Grace Riehl, and Karen Turcotte. The next show, Winter 2005, will kick off with a reception on January 29, 2005. |
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The Future of EcoArts of Lake County |
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EcoArts of Lake County has filed for State and Federal tax exemptions as a Public Charity. We will pursue funding to expand this website to include interactive comment sections, environmental stewardship pages, student information pages, and an email list. We will pursue funding and volunteers to create a botanical map of the Middletown County Trailside Park (a 107 acre county park) and story boards to discuss how invasive plants can change an ecosystem with tips on how to retard invasive non-natives and encourage native populations. The 2005 environmental mitigation plan includes situating sculptures in patches of "Yellow Star Thistle" a noxious, non-native plant that has a foothold in the park, and then replanting with local grasses upon removal of the sculptures. And we will continue to work with the Calpine Geothermal Visitor's Center in Middletown, California to promote the visual arts, visual art education, ecological stewardship and the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk through free shows and free receptions open to the public. We will continue to involve public school students in the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk with the goal to greatly expand their participation.
We are currently coordinating Environmental Art education opportunities with the local Girl Scouts.
We are currently pursuing an Artist in Residence program at a Lake County Resort.
Beyond 2005, in addition to improving and expanding EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk, we will pursue funding to expand EcoArts beyond the Middletown area and into the north of the county. Possible sites are: Rodman Slough, another county park outside Lakeport; and a Recyclable Sculpture Walk at the county recycling center in Clearlake. |
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