Activities 2009 – 2010

Programming Year Annual Report Outline

Annual Theme: Health and Healing

PEOPLE

  • Board of Directors: Edna Arterberry, Bayview Hunters Point Community Liaison; Matthew Boriskin, President; James Joves, Financial Planning & Marketing Officer; Marissa Kunz, Founding Artist/Educator, Secretary, Program Officer; Kevin Quan, Treasurer; Bonnie Milstein, Poverty Law and Civil Rights Attorney; Josefa Vaughan, Founding Artist/Educator Executive Director
  • Most Active Advisors: Arwen & Heather Vaughan, Leo Steinberg, David Hollands, William Scott, Michelle Vignes, Charles Boone; Accounting: Allerton Steel, Joan Nelson
  • Mentoring Artists: Charles “Trey” Houston, film-maker (Sydney Van Bueren), Charles Boone, composer (Sasha Kharag); Josefa Vaughan (Dina Kharag); Chris Treggiari (09-10 Mentor for Vicente)
  • Teaching, Presenting and Assisting Artists: Marissa Kunz and Jessica Robin; Josefa Vaughan with Manon Bogerd-Wada and Richard Cheung, Kenneth Kolevzon, Veronica and Alexandra Bastias and Yvel Sagaille, Jen Bloomer, Jeff Van Bueren, Brad Justice, Trey Houston, Peter Mann, Esther Rogers, Reyna Kontos
  • Exhibited Artists: Peter Mann, Marissa Kunz, Manon Bogerd-Wada, Josefa Vaughan, Catie O’Leary, Brad Justice, Meegan Barns, Jen Bloomer, Patricia Warren, Melanie Stewart
  • Youth: Idanna  Zharzhauskaya Anton Belov (office interns), (Summer Intensive); Youth Advisors to the Board:  Sydney Van Bueren, Daria Baydina, (Woodside International School Intern) Dina Kharag
  • New Board Member: Edna Arterberry; Retiring Board Member: Bonnie Milstein; Prospective Nominees for Board/Advisor roles: Maria Palmo, Ed.D.; Robert Rathmel, Susan Flaskerud-Rathmel
  • New/Core Volunteers: Karly Mossberg and Nina Zurier, Graphic Design; Dave Parker, IT;  Katie Vater, Stephanie Burns, Lindsay Collingwood, Julie Cowley (Art Jam); Reyna Kontos, administrative assistance; Charles Boone, publicity; Yolanda Garcia and Jeff Grubler, Meegan Barnes, Diana Banh, Steven Chin
  • Parents: Keith & Velvet Van Bueren and Ludmila Turok
  • Staff: Josefa Vaughan, Marissa Kunz, Allison Kraus, Luned Palmer, Trey Houston

EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

  • Annual Exhibition Opening Receptions, Annual Theme – Health and Healing curated by Josefa Vaughan and Marissa Kunz, Thoreau Center Main Gallery, June 4 and August 12
  • Burnett Child Development Center Community Portrait Project by Patricia Warren. February 27, 2010 the school cafeteria was transformed into a professional photography studio and families were invited to come have their portrait made for free. On March 25 fifteen families received one framed 8”x10” portraits with a dozen snap shots of other studio poses for their photo albums at home. A second set of these portraits was put on display in the school cafeteria.
  • Hearth Community Art Garden Project in partnership with Lincoln Elementary Manon Bogerd-Wada, teaching artist sponsored by ArtSeed with a grant from Open Circle Foundation, June 16, 2010
  • The Art Run Fun Run organized by Kevin Quan, home brew by James Joves, baked goods & cake decorating by Steve Funk & Lauren Korshal. Event sponsored by Fleet Feet  Sports Store owners Brett Lamb & Kim Holt, Sept. 3, 2009
  • Summer Arts, Collaboration with Betty Skwarek, Unitarian Universalist Society and Sequoias, July 11-Aug. 29
  • Summer Resource Fair, Concourse Center, March 14, SF Department of Children, Youth, and their Families
  • Fall Open Studios, Hunters Point Shipyard, Manon Bogerd-Wada, Nov. 1-2
  • Spring Open Studios, Hunters Point Shipyard, Featured Artist: Melanie Stewart, May 2-3
  • ArtSeed Summer Intensive at the Bay School of San Francisco, Marissa Kunz and Peter Mann, lead artists Aug. 5-12
  • Earth Week Art-a-thon, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, 10 hour art-making fundraiser, April 17
  • Burnett CDC Field trip to the Thoreau Center, Teacher Tamera M. Edmond and sixteen 4th & 5th-graders
  • Bayview Hunters Point African Market presentation
  • Shipyard Trust for the Arts Art Auction
  • Board Meetings: 1/27/09; 3/24/09; 5/12/09; 7/7/09; 9/8/09; 11/13/09; 1/22/10; 3/5/10; 5/28/10; 7/30/10

WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES

  • Sherman Elementary School, arts integration K-5 classes all students, every week with  Marissa Kunz
  • Burnett Child Development Center, arts integration two weekly Pre-K classes with Josefa Vaughan & Manon Bogerd-Wada
  • ArtSeed College Grant-writing Workshop for Parents and Teens, July 10, 2010
  • Free Application for Federal Student Aid ArtSeed Pell Grant College Application Workshop taught by Reyna Kontos at Burnett CDC with a Quick Guide to Financial Aid for College, a self published booklet designed by Reyna Kontos, workshop leader (with Spanish translations)
  • Private lessons: Students Janette Salcedo and Jade Kikuchi
  • Apprenticeship: Weekly meetings at Burnett between Mentoring Artists and upper  elementary students were interrupted by building renovation. However meetings continued between three pairs of participants with Field Trips, Studio and  HouseCall sessions by filmmaker Trey Houston with Sydney Van Bueren, painter Josefa Vaughan with Dina Kharag and composer Charles Boone with Sasha Kharag. Apprenticeships culminated in a video presented at Fall Open Studio, a PowerPoint presented at ArtSeed’s Baker Beach Holiday Party and an exhibition at Theatre unlimited in response to the play, The Rainbow Room by Sara Kumar in West Hollywood, LA, CA.
  • Buriram, Thailand Still-life. Marissa Kunz and Peter Mann organized a three-hour workshop for forty elementary to high school age children in a rural community who worked for the first time with conte crayon, watercolor and acrylic, July 2010
  • Charles Boone served as a short-term mentor to Cambodian dancer Prumsodun Ok. Prumsodun had been a student of Charles’ at the San Francisco Art Institute and wished to continue their work together. The mentorship was facilitated by San Francisco’s CounterPulse organization and took place the end of 2010.

FIELD TRIPS:

  • Gallery Paule Anglim, Rena Bransten, The Art Exchange,
  • San Francisco Art Institute
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
  • Fine Arts Museums, Palace of the Legion of Honor
    San Francisco Ballet (Petruska and Rite of Spring, Charles Boone & Sasha Kharag Apprenticeship)
  • Hunter’s Point Open Studios, Golden Gate Park, Sutro Park/Baths, Ocean Beach, Presidio + Golden Gate Bridge, Pine Methodist for audio recording. Apprentice Sydney Van Bueren also went on a Green Screen shoot with Mentoring Artist Trey Houston and another video professional Vanessa Workman to work the a dog training video, Oh Behave!

PUBLICITY

  • New ArtSeed poster/ brochure designed by Nina Zurier and coordinated by Charles Boone
  • Spanish translations: ArtSeed Pell Grant College Application Workshop booklet also designed and taught by Reyna Kontos at Burnett CDC (she also wrote the Summer Intensive application and letters to parents)
  • Pamakid Runners Club ArtSeed Presentation by Josefa Vaughan
  • DVD Summer Intensive 2010 Participant Keepsake
  • Quick Guide to Financial Aid for College, self published by Reyna Kontos, workshop leader
  • San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com, 96 Hours, Jelly Fish Gallery Exhibition Opening

OPERATIONS, FACILITIES & CAPACITY BUILDING

  • New professionally designed brochure (ArtSeed’s first! Nina Zurier was the designer). The production and printing was coordinated by Charles Boone who also compiled a list of outlets for ArtSeed news releases, wrote and had printed the tenth anniversary letter of appeal along with new return envelopes (another first!)
  • Cultural Data Project updates by bookkeeper Joan Nelson
  • State of California, Registry of Charitable Trusts compliance updated
  • New Flat Files at Burnett CDC studio
  • National Endowment for the Arts Grants Workshop & Conversation, SF May 20
  • Grant applications: California Arts Council Artists in Schools Program ($10,200 Marissa); Open Circle Foundation ($5,000, Manon); Sustainable Arts Foundation ($3,000 Tony & Caroline Grant); Voluntary Arts Contribution, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Fund ($3,150); Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, Inc ($3,414); Pamakid Runners ($3,000)
  • Total Revenue for 2009: $74,361 Total Expenses: $72,530
  • Renovations of ArtSeed Studio at Burnett Complete (Thanks to a 2006 Prop. A Lopez Compliance School Repair Bond Project)
  • New ArtSeed Studio Affiliate Program Awardee: Melanie Stewart
  • California Arts Council grants workshop, Berkeley Reparatory Theater, Berkeley

NEW AWARDS, FUNDRAISERS, AND MAJOR GIFTS

  • Macy’s West Community Shopping Day with ArtSeed Fairies-making Station by Keith & Sydney Van Bueren, May 15, 2010
  • ArtSeed Raffle at Joxer’s Daly by Jeff Grubler with dinner by Yolanda Garcia, July 11, 2010
  • California Arts Council Artists in Schools Program (fourth year), second year to receive highest possible points and invited to apply for a 2-year grant next year.
  • Matching Grant from Sherman Elementary PTA
  • Philanthropic Ventures Foundation  Affinity Fund Summer Intensive scholarships for Christine Le
  • Perforce Foundation, gift in honor of employee Hamish Reid
  • Sustainable Arts Foundation, Tony and Caroline Grant major gifts
  • ArtSeed Art Jam, 111 Minna Street, an evening of finger painting, henna and raffle organized by Julie Cowley

PARTNERSHIPS AND OUTREACH

  • Unitarian Universalist Society & The Faithful Fools, Summer Arts Project
  • Burnett Child Development Center seventh year of programming, fifth year that ArtSeed Apprenticeship Program has a dedicated art studio. Pre-K classroom teachers Lupe Navarro and Nancy Boyle
  • Sherman Elementary School, fifth year that ArtSeed has had a dedicated art studio for teaching artist Marissa Kunz
  • Thoreau Center Macy’s Fundraising tables & exhibitions in Gallery Thoreau
  • ArtSeed Internships: Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University (Reyna Kontos); Japanese Community Youth Council (Idanna Zharzhauskaya and Anton Belov)
  • NTM Support Group started for consultants to Health & Healing art project organized by Josefa Vaughan
  • Marissa Kunz, ArtCrit Parties
  • Marissa Kunz and Josefa Vaughan, Sherman Elementary Carnival Face Painting
  • Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco

ART-A-THON COMMITTEE/LEAD ARTISTS (with individual redeemed pledge totals):

Coordinators-Marissa Kunz & Peter Mann $5,626.31; Luned Palmer& Brett Engard $901; Julia Doctoroff $595; Kevin Quan $515; Esther Rogers $460; Josefa Vaughan $460; Meegan Barnes $460; Jana Cook: $375; Alexandra, Bastias:$331; Kerrie Paussa: $320; Manon Bogerd-Wada: $245; Sydney Van Bueren: $230; Sue Laurita: $220; Vincent Kukua $130; John Scheib: $125; Cheyenne Kelsey: $100; Matt Boris: $100 – GRAND TOTAL: $12,214.81

TESTIMONIES:

“My ArtSeed Apprenticeship with Josefa Vaughan was a great, fun, and inspirational experience. She taught me ways of looking at artwork, painting it, and using these techniques in everyday life. I now have more fun at museums than ever before because of her, and this was only a portion of what she taught me in the wonderful world of art. Josefa didn’t only teach me about painting, pastels and working with watercolors, but also some business aspect of the nonprofit organization. In my apprenticeship, I did lots of stuffing envelopes, working with computers, printing flyers, and having my say at the board meetings. It was, for me, a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at ArtSeed (the name of the nonprofit). I would always cherish my memories and time that I spent with Josefa.

“The things I did with Josefa were all over the place and not just in the office. We went to museums such as the SF MOMA, de Young, and Legion of Honor. We also went to different places in Presidio Park and the Burnett school. In the school was my studio. It was a great moment for me and was almost life changing. For the whole year, we were focusing on doing three portraits of the Van Bueren family (Keith, Velvet and Sydney). Before we started to paint their portraits, we went to the park and took pictures of them. The pictures that they liked the best we used to put on the canvas. We took three blank canvases and used charcoal to help us draw the surroundings. Josefa told me not to focus on details and not to be afraid to make things bigger that they appeared.  It took me longer then I thought it would be to finish these paintings. I had to add layers of all sorts, make new colors each time on my palate, set my palate in a proper way by separating the dark colors from the light and learn to hold off the urge to do details. While doing these paintings, I learned so much from Josefa about colors, brushes, art history, and many more.

“The paintings of Keith, Velvet and Sydney were probably the major project that we did together, but I also made a painting for a play bill in Los Angeles. Josefa gave a script of a play for me to read and it inspired me to make a picture for the play bill. Josefa loved my picture and decided to show it to the play director. The director liked my picture and said it would be a part of the play bill. That made me feel proud and I felt like a real artist!

“So the apprenticeship brought me a good experience that was fun, yet sometimes a little difficult. However, I will say that it would be something that I would look back upon and feel great about. Thank you, Josefa.”

– Dina Kharag, ArtSeed Apprentice 2009


“I got the idea of doing something with Sasha Kharag when I heard him articulate the idea that an artist’s relationship with what has come before must play a notable role in what that artist thinks and makes. Having dealt with historical matters during my teaching years at the San Francisco Art Institute, a place where fresh ideas are everyday matters, I proposed to Sasha that we do something that could combine a search for what he questioned, allied with my own interest in the subject and experience in explaining it. It was his idea that a PowerPoint presentation might be a good final result of our collective investigations. This old/new proposition seemed to be a particularly interesting launching point when combined with his Russian parentage. Our primary motto came from the Soviet artist Varvara Stepanova: ‘Study the old, but make the new.’ We took the innovative Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky as a key figure with whom to begin. We listened to excerpts of his three early ballets, Firebird, Petrouchka, and The Rite of Spring,observed the influence of Russian folk culture and music on both the stories and music of these works, looked at a video in which Stravinsky explained the origin of The Rite, saw a live performance of Petrouchka with the original choreography, and finally, heard a live performance of The Rite of Spring. After this latter, we went backstage to greet Michael Tilson Thomas, who conducted the work and to collect his autograph on Sasha’s program. We made a tour of public art in San Francisco’s downtown during which we encountered the concept of site-specific works through sculptures by Richard Serra and Claes Oldenbueg/Koosje van Bruggen. We inspected a small building by Frank Lloyd Wright that was a prototype for his later, much larger Guggenheim Museum in New York. We saw kinetic sculpture by George Rickey along with conceptually conceived work by Sol LeWitt. What we observed about all of these art pieces fed in directly to what we produced some months down the line. I prepared an outline of ideas: Many ways Stepanova’s dictum had been realized over time, specifically, how memory plays a role in the conception of art, how commemoration of things past has been accomplished in a variety of media (painting, music, literature, and architecture, among them), and how artists (LeCorbusier, Picasso, and Palladio, to name but three) took aspects both of their own heritages as well as aspects of exotic cultures to make powerful, fresh statements. The idea, for example, that van Gogh copied a woodcut of Hiroshigi was a stunning revelation, as was the idea that LeCorbusier’s chapel at Ronchamp, wildly modern in its execution, retained important aspects of churches from Renaissance and Gothic times. The idea of studying the old but making the new — sometimes the radically new — is something that was stressed over and over in what we ended up making together. Sasha has considerable skill in the technical aspects of PowerPoint-making. We spent many hours together gathering images from the Internet and elsewhere, and I prepared a text that we read as a dialog. The whole presentation took forty-five minutes and was, obviously, by no means any sort of five-minute high school oral report. Our public presentation of this finished collaboration took place seven days before Sasha turned fourteen. It was a treat working with this fine young colleague.”

— Charles Boone, Composer and ArtSeed Apprenticeship Mentor