Courtesy photo.
CAMARILLO — During the challenge of COVID-19 and the recent Stay-at-Home order by the governor’s office, young and old alike are seeking ways to stave off cabin fever. To serve the community during this challenging time, Studio Channel Islands Art Center is launching several exciting online series on art education and art instruction for all ages.
SCIART artist Brian Engh will be presenting an online series describing his work building dinosaurs. Engh works with Natural History Museums to bring monsters back to life through models, films and storytelling. Over the next three months he will build a dinosaur from the bones out. Engh leads his audience through a fun hands-on workshop that has participants creating their own set of life-size dinosaur feet, fashioned from household items and recyclables. Following the dinosaur “tracks,” Engh leads students to create their own storytelling videos about the dinosaur in their backyard.
Award-winning SCIART artist Joe Cibere will be sharing free watercolor painting workshops through SCIART’s website. Cibere has been teaching watercolor painting for over 30 years and is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society. Cibere’s “abstract realism” paintings integrate strong design and balance with a sense of illusion, and his painting style reflects his love of nature and wilderness. His work has appeared in “Watercolor Magazine” and in the International Artists book “The Watercolor Sky and Cloud Techniques of 23 International Artists.”
SCIART artist and origami genius, Bijan Fan, will be making his Origami Math Genius (OMG) series of online learning available to the community. An internationally recognized artist, Fan holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mathematics and earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. After an accomplished career in biopharmaceutical research and development, Fan moved on to visual art and education, combining his math, science and art talents to create a unique learning program that integrates origami art and math for K-12 education.
While remaining safe-at-home, art enthusiasts can take a virtual gallery tour with SCIART’s Executive Director Peter Tyas and experience SCIART’s current exhibition, Collector’s Choice. Serving as docent, Tyas shares insight and understanding about the exhibition’s wide variety of art genres, mediums and techniques. The Collector’s Choice exhibition tour will be available online free of charge beginning March 28 at http://studiochannelislands.org/collectors-choice-2020-preview/
SCIART will also be presenting an online series of artist talks, beginning with acclaimed artist, curator and CLU art professor Michael Pearce’s overview of the “Illusionist” exhibition that took place at SCIART’s Blackboard Galley as part of The Representational Art Conference (TRAC) 2019, the premier international event focusing on cutting-edge representational art in the 21st century. Pearce shares his extensive knowledge about the renowned representational artists from around the world featured in the exhibition.
All of the above online learning series will be offered through SCIART’s website free of charge at https://studiochannelislands.org/stayhome/. SCIART is a non-profit arts education organization and depends on donations as its primary means of providing its high-quality arts education programming. People interested in supporting these online programs and future arts programming can donate directly on the SCIART website. Donations can also be made by contacting SCIART Executive Director Peter Tyas at 805-383-1368 or by email at info@studiochannelislands.org.