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Art is life, it is beauty, it is emotion, it is you, it is me, it is everything. Art defines all that we are, and all that we could become. Art is of the past and of the future, of the influences of our daily lives, of our pasts combined with who we are today. Art is an indescribable joy, an expansion of the mind, body and soul. We are art, every last individual of the human race. Art comes in the form of music, dance, theater, painting, drawing, blowing, throwing, and even in the math equations or scientific experiments of the right brained population. Art is feeling, seeing, smelling, tasting and hearing. Art is here to titillate our senses, to create emotional and physical reactions to the viewer. Art is healing. Art is loving. Art is… everything. 

Art is life. Art is visual sensual spatial. It is motion and stillness in
harmony with negative space full of sound and light. It is beauty, which
as Rilke said, is only the beginning of terror. it is an abyss and the
thing that catches us when we fall. It is god and it is good. Art is the
thing you view hear feel sense that makes you wish to go on living. It is
tenderness mercy grace and wrenching pain. It is severing, emotional,
visceral, ethereal, implacable and honorable. Art is everywhere in
everything like air invisible essential apparent ever present never
absent. It is paint poetry dance song swim flow motion locomotion and
standing still silhouetted against a red sky. It is shadow and dream and
the way the light falls and pattern and inexplicable. It is natural and

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Artist and SDFAS Mentor Program participant Rae Barney has announced
the opening of Fire and Mud Studios in Escondido, where she is teaching
clay workshops starting December 1, 2009. SDFAS applauds her hard work
and bravery as she finds and shares her bliss.

She studied raku, saggar, and pit fire techniques under Rico Piper,
renowned potter and raku master. She studied sculpture and three
dimensional design under sculptor Dick Marcusen.

"Sculpture is my passion. As I strive for the most effective way to
express my vision, I am continually pushin the limits of my media. As a
result, I am continually broadening the realm of possibility. Life is
art. Dare to sculpt your dreams." 

Looking for an innovative and fun way to support the Mentor Program?
Take a class or a workshop from Ms. Barney and let her help you release
your own creative spirit through working with clay.

Techniques you can explore:

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A talented team of staff and volunteers has been working to install the second annual "Sculpture in the Gardens" exhibition at Quail Botanical Gardens. This morning (August 19th, 2009) Kent Kraber and his glorious 2009 Urban Tree "Imagine if there were dragons" was installed into a beautiful leavy gardenscape just across from the Bamboo Garden. The 9' tall copper dragon has a swiveling head and golden eyes, beautifully wrought and bursting with character. The dragon and the Garden transformed when the piece was set into the ground in that setting. The following are a few photos of the installation. For more information on the exhibition, click here.

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Have you ever asked yourself the question“what is art?” I mean have you really sat down and pondered this question thathas occupied the attention of thinkers for thousands of years? If you’re like me, you may have spent many hours debating the definition with friends, drinking beers, raising your voice, even crying. But, perhaps I simply disclose too much about my own personal tendencies. Nevertheless, I’m not the only one who obsesses on this and, if you are reading our website, it’s likely you atleast have formed some opinions on the subject.

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What makes art important? Why do we do it? Why do we look at it? What happens when time passes, times change, life moves on... what remains to remind us of what came before?

I am a believer in the value and importance or art because it is what makes us human. Like fish swimming through water, we swim through the culture of our time and place without being aware we are doing it. The art history of our particular moment is being created around us. Like the fish in water, it is sometimes difficult to be aware of and to respect the importance of what is happening around us.