Jamie Searles - An Awesome ENC Junior Naturalist Gives Back

Jamison "Jamie" Searles began visiting the Environmental Nature Center (ENC) as a camper when she was in elementary school. Those fond memories and experiences made a huge impact on her.  Now, as a high schooler, Jamie has been an ENC Junior Naturalist for more than three years.  She donates her time to help further the ENC's mission of providing quality education through hands-on experience with nature.

Jamie recently completed another community service project, which she named "Fantastic Plastic," involving the recycling of used plastic bottles.

Over a period of three months, Jamie collected and recycled various used plastic bottles from friends, neighbors, and fellow students. She used the proceeds from that recycling to benefit her mission of serving the community. Most recently, she reached out to the ENC to assist with the purchasing of supplies for our Summer Nature Camp Program.

Through Jamie's "Fantastic Plastic" program, she was able to raise enough money to purchase 6 new musical instruments, 12 safety-scissors, 4 preschool nature books, 12 boxes of triangle-crayons and a fun ladybug play tent!  Jamie has also made contributions to other organizations: the donation of a check to The Red Cross, the purchasing of school supplies for Girls Inc., the purchasing of turkeys on Thanksgiving for the Soup Kitchen, and the purchasing of backpacks for students at the Mapalo Village School in Zambia.

The ENC would like to thank and congratulate Jamie on her tremendous contributions to the community. It is due to efforts like these that the ENC will continue to provide quality education through hands-on experience with nature for many years to come.

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Cheryl Ekstrom

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

CHERYL EKSTROM

View Cheryl's art here: http://cherylekstrom.com/

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Wally Pacholka

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

Wally Pacholka

Wally Pacholka was an accountant by day, but it's his moonlighting "job" where he's always shined. He's aglow in winning national awards for his pictures, lofty kudos for being in the right place in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night.

Pacholka shoots celestial events — comets, close visits by other planets, meteor showers and the occasional Milky Way cluster — with our national parks and other down-to-earth scenery gracing the foregrounds of his frames.

Ventura County Star Not exactly an original pursuit to anyone who recalls the 1960 Ansel Adams masterpiece "Moon and Half Dome," but the freelance astrophotographer does it well, too. Pacholka is a three-time "Picture of the Year" winner for Time and Life magazines' end-of-year photograph editions. Both magazines honored him in 2003 for shots he took when Mars made its closest pass to Earth in almost 60,000 years, and Time also tabbed him in 1997 for a picture he took of Comet Hale-Bopp above Joshua Tree National Park.

National Geographic also has used several of his shots, and NASA has shown more than two dozen of his images, including 22 of them as the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" on its Web site.

The 57-year-old Long Beach resident left accounting three years ago and now focuses full time on his passion — sayonara book ledgers and hello rocky ledges, the kind on which he can mount his camera tripod and await the majesty of the heavens.

View Wally's art here: http://www.astropics.com/

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Sama Wareh

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

SAMA WAREH 

Sama Wareh has a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Education and Communication from California State University Fullerton and a Bachelors Degree in Filmmaking and Art. During her seven years in the Environmental Education field, Sama has led hundreds of hikes, designed curriculum for hands-on environmental education programs, and has taught Art, Social Science, and Physical Science to Adults, Scouts, Students, Teachers, and the general public. She has been invited as a guest lecturer and workshop presenter at many Universities, Churches, and Institutes, where she focuses on Conservation, Water Issues, and Seeing Nature through Art.

Sama has participated in art shows all over the country, including the Bowers Museum, the Zeitgeist Multicultural Institute in New Orleans, has illustrated children’s books, and has sold art internationally for over ten years. Moved and constantly in awe of Nature, Sama's thirst for knowledge and getting acquainted with Nature, from the tiniest leaf to the jaguars of South America, is never ending, adding a constant stream of inspiration to her art.

View Sama's art here: www.warehart.com 

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Paul Marto

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

PAUL MARTO 

Paul has been passionate about photography since the early 80's. Nature, wildlife and action shots are his favorites. He loves the challenge that arises from the unpredictability of his subjects when he is trying to capture the perfect wildlife moment. He is a native of California and has spent the last 28 years in Orange County. Mr. Marto grew up in Carmel Valley, so it is no surprise that he gravitated towards wildlife photography. Mountain bike riding, hiking, tennis and playing the electric guitar round out the list of pursuits for this UC San Diego graduate. He has a beautiful wife and two adorable children. 

Paul’s work has recently been highlighted by National Geographic, The O.C. Register, Irvine World News, WildlifePhotographyNews.net, Irvine Valley College and Photo of the Day.com. He is a recent winner in the City of Irvine 40th Anniversary Photo Contest. Juried into a number of organizations including LagunaArt.com, AmericaFineArt.org, Artists of America, Gallery 104, RAWArtists.org and TurningArt.com. He is active within the Irvine Unified School District and gives presentations on wildlife photography.

View Paul's art here: http://martophotography.artistwebsites.com/index.html

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Haleh Mashian

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

HALEH MASHIAN

For over 17 years, the paintings of Santa Monica artist Haleh Mashian have colorfully illustrated her whimsical and astute view of the world. Both real and imagined. With layer upon layer of acrylic paint continually applied, scraped off and reapplied, her paintings reveal richly colored stratum of expressivity.

View Haleh's art here: http://halehstudio.com/

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Kristin Fritz

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

KRISTIN FRITZ

Brown paper grocery bags are collaged onto canvas, transforming trash to treasure in Kristin Fritz's current body of work. Her eco artworks are meditations in balance, relationship, choice and perception. Making something from nothing, Fritz seeks to present the familiar in an unfamiliar way. She draws inspiration from Eastern philosophy, quantum physics, and the ever-changing landscape of light and dark within.

View Kristin's art here: http://kristin.fritz.30art.com/

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Townley

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

TOWNLEY 

Shane Townley graduated from Platt College of Advertising and Design in 1993. Since Fine Art had always been a passion of his, he continued his schooling by studying with New York artists. After working for a New York newspaper, Townley was employed for 10 years by CNYdesigns, an advertising firm out of UpState New York. Townley's duties were creative advertising concepts from the small business to the large scale corporate identities. Townley returned to South Orange County in 2003 where he opened and directed a Fine Art Gallery in San Clemente which is still thriving today. For the past 9 years, he has been responsible for advertising and marketing as well as directing a new artist exhibit every month. In 2007 Townley opened and directed his second location , Townley Gallery in Downtown Laguna Beach. At this location he sets up a new artist exhibit every month rotating 12 different artists and various artists from the Festival of the Arts. Today, Townley currently exhibits at the Excel Gallery in New York City, and has bi-annual shows at the "Affaire In The Gardens" in Beverly Hils as well as the "Art Walk" in San Diego as well as multiple corporate collections world wide.

View Townley's art here: http://townleygallery.com/welcome/artists/shane-townley

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Joni Pakes

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

JONI PAKES 

The journey for emerging artist, Joni Pakes, started in the fifth grade with the showing of a mixed media piece, a crayon-resist watercolor, at the local Bank of America. She learned to experiment with various mediums, utilizing her father's vast garage storehouse of supplies. His skill as a woodworking craftsman and studio prop master influenced his daughter to integrate fine art with ordinary materials. She obtained a B.F.A. and secondary teaching credential in Art at CSUN studying with noted artists, Karen Carson and Bruce Everett. Joni lives in scenic Newport Beach, California, which inspires her everyday by its nature-infused landscape. Careers have come and gone for her, but the love for art, her work, has always been a constant.

View Jonie's art here: www.jonipakes.com

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Roger Webb

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

ROGER WEBB

Roger Webb is an award-winning animator, set designer and fine artist. Acclaimed studios such as Cartoon Network, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Brothers and Disney have all commissioned Roger’s brilliant color designs for hit shows: Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and Star War's animated miniseries Clone Wars.

While touring Europe, Roger designed sets exclusively for international Dance Choreographer, Jacque Heim and his modern, acrobatic dance company, Diavolo Dance Theater. Roger enhanced the show’s captivating brilliance by creating moving set pieces, such as a massive staircase for the dancers to display brazen choreography. This award-winning staircase contained hidden doors and hinged steps that opened like a live version of an Escher drawing. For this and other inspired designs, Roger won two consecutive Lester Horton Dance Awards.

The son of a Naval Officer, Roger grew up playing sports in San Diego, California. Art was always present in his life, but it wasn’t until he saw Walt Disney’s, Fantasia, that his mind was opened to art and animation as a way of life. Roger received his art education at California Institute of the Arts, and as a student in the School of Character Animation, he was continually driven by the impact of that first viewing of Disney's, Fantasia. While at Cal Arts, the lure of the paintbrush proved irresistible, and he proceeded to experiment with his chosen medium. A loose curriculum and an attentive mentor enabled him to learn techniques and skills that translate easily between animation and fine art.

As a painter, Roger Webb is an emerging force on the Los Angeles fine art scene, inspired by the native California experience and travels abroad. He has participated in numerous art auctions benefitting the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Burbank Family Services and CARE Cottages. And has progressed into bigger galleries such as M Modern in Palm Springs, California. He has also established a new Art show called, "Art Mitzvah" to promote fresh artists and their work to a community where they would otherwise be overlooked. This innovative young artist has already gained great praise for his long and colorful compositions, as well as his strong animated style. With his art, Roger intends to create a bridge between art as therapy for the artist, and art as therapy for the community.

View Roger's art here: www.Rogerwebb.com

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Daniel Oropeza

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

DANIEL OROPEZA 

Daniel's maverick style of thinking, working and creating has brought forth a new medium. As a master of creating textures Daniel's deeply moving soulful sense of beauty, combined with his scientific fascination, has taken this artist wherever his imagination could go. Welding and experimenting with the liquidity of steel is where his vision began. He said to himself " seemed like everything had to get hot first". Daniel was not interested in doing what others had done or, in his opinion, had already mastered. He was following a way of being inside his thread of interests, even his mistakes, for these too became paths to creative possibilities. Being told what couldn't and shouldn't be possible, fueled his focus to experiment. The addition of glass became his new frontier. How do you fuse glass to metal, shape it before it cools, weld all the pieces together with bronze, without cracking the glass and capturing the varying intense colors of red.

Daniel's imagination and talent resulted in yet another new technique. Even now seventeen years later, he is in his studio in Costa Mesa, California, imagining and creating his next self-imposed challenge.. He calls his artwork " Organic Elegance". While the photos of his sculptures are magnificent, they do not come close to the ineffable feeling of being in the presence of his art.

View Daniel's art here: danieloropeza.com 

Green Tie Affair - Art Exhibit Featured Artists - Dean Weygand

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Green Tie Affair in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. The art exhibit for the event will start May 21 and will conclude on June 2, the evening of the event. Many talented local artists will have their works on display.

DEAN WEYGAND

Born and raised on the Southern California Coast Dean Weygand’s influences come from living near and on water. His focus has always been on the world outside his front door through travel, reading and multiple forms of creative communications.

By trade he has been a Graphic Designer for over 16 years achieving Senior and Creative Director status in the past 5 years. Professional positions have also included Illustration, professional photography and is now the owner of DN (DEAN STATEMENT APPAREL).

All artwork is done from a mixed media of Inks and paints as well as various types of modeling mediums.

He believes in all forms of expression and respects and enjoys being a part of a creative heritage but will drop all artwork in a second for a day at the beach or road trip... “if art needs inspiration, what better way to get it?!”

He firmly believes that; “Art can be taught, but only one who truly loves the arts can appreciate that creative expression isn’t guided by lessons in a room, but by the experience of living, respect and a desire to communicate any particular environment”.

View Dean's art here: http://www.coroflot.com/deanw/art

Laguna Plein Air Painters Association to Exhibit at ENC's Spring Faire

The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) will be hosting its Spring Faire 2012 featuring many professional local artists, including many of those from the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA) that will be painting live at the Faire.

According to the Association’s website, “Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA) builds upon and promotes the renowned landscape painting heritage of Laguna Beach. LPAPA serves its members regionally, nationally and internationally through events, programs and education. LPAPA enhances the visibility and livelihoods of its artists through the prestigious Plein Air Invitational and other programs. LPAPA provides professional development and business management education to its members. LPAPA enhances its mission through alliances with complimentary arts organizations and provides mentoring and scholarships to emerging artists.”

The featured LPAPA artists who will be exhibiting their artwork at the ENC’s Spring Faire will be: Concetta Antico, John Eagle, Carol Nordman, Judith Redner, Rodolfo Rivademar, Cydette Vikander, and Sandra Wolfson.

The Spring Faire will include the ENC’s Butterfly House opening, the sale of handmade gifts from local artists, the sale of butterfly host and nectar plants, a children’s art juried exhibit, face painting, eco-games, as well as breakfast, lunch, dessert and beverages. There will also be live music performances throughout the day.

ENC Spring Faire 2012 Featured Artists - Susan Haldeman

Susan Haldeman is the owner of Lady BIM, artistically designed; one-of-a-kind products and art wear for Baby, Sun Safe and Home. All are consciously created, beautiful, healthful, and functional products that can be seen at www.ladybim.com.

A printmaker and textile designer that gains her inspiration from her love of color, texture, layering of material and patterns, as well as the beauty in nature's energy including, botanicals, sea life, butterflies and other creatures real and imagined.

Susan studied at the Massachusetts College of Art, and has a degree in marketing/business from Lasell College. After running successful textile and interior design companies in the Boston area, she moved to Denver, CO and founded The Creative Force Collaborative, a business resource center for artists that provided workshops, art openings and support for professional advancement. Now located in California, Susan brings over 20 years of experience as an innovative businesswoman and artist and has continued her work within the non-profit sector and the arts communities throughout Southern California with her business Art Biz Success.

Now enveloped in her new environment, years of creative ideas have risen to the surface leading to the new designs and products making up the Lady BIM line.