The Sketchbook Project

https://www.brooklynartlibrary.com/sbp

This could be a really fun summer project for kids! 

"Sign up, receive a blank sketchbook, fill it up and submit it to the world's largest collection of sketchbooks. Your book will become part of Brooklyn Art Library's permanent collection and will travel as part of our nationwide art exhibitions!"

Discover and Go: Free and Discounted Admissions to Many Bay Area Museums

As mentioned in the last post, something that I just stumbled upon this summer (and many of you may have already known about) is the use of the San Jose Public Library's Discover and Go program which gives you free and/or discounted admissions to many family activities and museums around the Bay Area.  And many of them are Art museums!!!!

Tickets are first come/first serve but you can reserve them weeks in advance!  All you need is a library card to reserve the tickets.  https://sjpl.discoverandgo.net


Some of the locations offering free passes are:

-Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito:  free family pass:  AWESOME museum and beautiful location if you have never been!  
-Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley:  free chid pass
-Exploratorium, San Francisco:  free pass (2 people)
-San Jose Museum of Art:  free family pass
-deYoung Museum, San Francisco:  free family pass
-Seymour Discovery and Marine Center, Santa Cruz:  free family pass
-California Academy of Science, San Francisco:  free family pass
-UC Botanical Garden, Berkeley:  free family pass
-CuriOdyssey, San Mateo:  free child pass
-Legion of Honor, San Francisco:  free family pass
-Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco:  free family pass


Locations offering discounted tickets are:

-Madame Tussauds, San Francisco
-Napa Valley Wine Train
-The Presidential Yacht, USS Potomac, Oakland
-Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose
-USS Hornet Museum, Alameda
-Golden State Model Railroad Museum, Point Richmond


The complete list of locations offered:  https://sjpl.discoverandgo.net/?method=Venues


Happy Exploring!!!!!

Art and Mindfulness

Chris Fraser
Emmanuelle, 2013
Glass microspheres, plate glass, alu2minum disc, and LED light
24 × 1 ¼ inches
Museum purchase with funds contributed by the Council of 100

The San Jose Museum of Art currently has an exhibit that will be on display throughout summer and closing on August 27th 2017, titled Your Mind, This Moment: Art and the Practice of Attention that makes the connection between mindfulness and art; focusing on observing with "patient awareness."  

It uses art as the focus of meditation and is guided by audio meditations created by Bay Area mindfulness teachers to lead you through the exhibit.

As the students of SFC are so fortunate to have mindfulness incorporated into their weekly schedules, this could be a wonderful opportunity to let them make the connection between mindfulness and how they view things in the world, including art.  

As the exhibit states, they can "explore the intersection between the practice of looking and the increasingly widespread practice of mindfulness meditation."  

I plan to check it out sometime this week (and hopefully get Ms. Filice to tag along with me).  I'll report back and blog about the experience.  

Here is the link for more information on the exhibit:  http://sjmusart.org/exhibition/your-mind-moment-art-and-practice-attention

I highly recommend using the San Jose Public Library's Discover and Go program. Discover & Go offers free or reduced price tickets to local museums for Bay Area library cardholders. There are a limited number of passes for each day on a first come, first serve basis, but many times you can find and get a family pass to the San Jose Museum of Art for a family of 4 for free.  
It's wonderful for a variety of other Bay Area art and family venues as well.  Here is the link to the San Jose public library's Discover and Go:  https://sjpl.discoverandgo.net

Hours and Ticket prices for the San Jose Museum of Art:  http://sjmusart.org/hours-and-admission

Video Post: A Busy Year in Art: 2016-2017

https://quik.gopro.com/v/7AuZaihGII/