Where: Calaveras County Arts Council Gallery Store, 22 Main St., San Andreas
When: April 2, 2017, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We hope to see all interested artists, writers, and musicians—and especially Veterans—at the gallery in San Andreas on Sunday for a day of creating around the theme of homecoming. 

This will be the  first of five vignettes saluting our Veterans—and their loved ones. We draw our inspiration from Norman Rockwell's poignant homecoming portraits of veterans, but we in no way seek to copy or infringe on his work. Hence, our vignettes seek to be unique. To set the scene of we'll be decorating the stairway in the rear of the gallery, and we'll have models for part of the day.

As part of the project, Veterans will have access to free drawing supplies. All others, please bring your own materials. We will have tables and chairs if you need them.

Here are a few points to remember.

• Our models will remain as still as possible for a maximum of 20 minutes at each setting. Thank you in advance for your understanding. Also, our models are all volunteers, here for the love of the arts. There is a tip jar and we hope you can help us say "thank you" to them.
• We are working in partnership with the Calaveras County Museum, adjacent to the Gallery. The museum houses some war-time memorabilia you might find helpful. For example, a Blue Star Flag hangs in their lobby beside a vintage photograph of an unknown WWI soldier. They have also allowed us to use a very fragile 48 star US flag for authenticity.
• While we provide the vignette, your portrayal is entirely up to you and your vision. You may include as many or as few of the models as you want. This will become increasingly important as we move forward through the decades. All wars have their share of controversy but conflicts such as Viet Nam even more so. Your art should reflect you...your heart, your vision, your beliefs. We do not expect it to be all sunshine and rainbows. For example, some soldiers in every war never made it home or came home injured. We wish to honor our history while recognizing that it can be complicated. History is a tapestry.

We look forward to creating with you!

At Ride & Walk4Art 2017 we walked, biked, and ate for arts in education. It was a beautiful, if slightly overcast day, but that didn’t stop the fun. 

The day started with balloons to mark the path for our walking participants. Madison P. helped tie them along the route.

Emily and Eleanor D. helped with the balloons. We looked forward to eating JoMa’s wonderful ice cream at the end of the day. They were our dessert sponsors, providing ice cream for all, for which we all did a little dance and sang thank you!

Cole Przybyla lit the flames to barbecue the chickens. Cole Video in Sonora was one of our sponsors, not just doing the cooking, but creating and managing the event website. Thank you Cole! 

​We also want to thank Mar-Val in Valley Springs for donating all the food for lunch: Chicken, bread, salad, pasta. and pesto, as well as bottled water and other drinks. We couldn’t have done this without them, and we so appreciate their support of the arts in Calaveras County.

Thanks to Rob Williams (second from left), who coordinated Ride & Bike4Art, and the Stockton Bike Club,  one of our sponsors, who helped with roadside assistance along the ride. Here they are, fresh and ready to bike.

Eric Olson of Mountain Pedaler was on hand to offer mechanical help in case of of loose chains and sprockets, or any other bicycle mishaps.

 Allison P. takes a break at stop #6 and enjoys an energy bar from one of our sponsors, Nature’s Bakery. We thank them for providing treats for our athletes.

Those who walked to Turner Park were greeted by fiddlers playing Irish music. These fiddlers met in the middle: Tom F. on left came from Angels Camp, and Rob M. came from Amador City to share some tunes in the gazebo.

Walkers ready to make their laps around Turner Park. 

The Calaveras Amateur Radio Association set up stations in Turner Park and along the cycling route,  giving us constant radio contact about cyclists safety. Paul H. (right) kept order in the park and directed walkers to the loop. 

Back at the gallery, our show featuring art created around the theme of cycling, running, and walking was a big hit. Many of these pieces sold, helping to support artists as well as raise funds for arts in education in Calaveras County.

Thanks to Dereen DeSchryver, coordinator and curator of the art portion of Ride & Walk4Art, for putting together a fabulous show. You can still see the artwork at the Council Gallery in San Andreas until April 8.

Executive Director Kathy Mazzaferro shows off one of the opportunity drawing items, a bike-label wine. 

Two gift baskets donated by Moke Hill Nuts and Gifts were sought-after prizes. Not pictured was the clever perpetual calendar donated by Angela Harmon for one of the prizes.

CCAC board president and lunch maven Cynthia Przybyla coordinated the cooking and serving of food .

Kathy S. slices bread donated by Mar-Val in Valley Springs. 

Lunch was delicious, and we ate to the songs of Nate Nathan, the Experimentalist.

Thanks to all our sponsors, and our participants, we raised more than $1500 for our arts in education program.  We want to offer a special thanks to all our volunteers. We couldn’t have done it without you! 

Calaveras County Arts Council is proud to present the Diablo Ballet

When: 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 26, 2017

Where: The Bret Harte Theatre in Angels Camp

Humor. Romance. Passion. There’s something for everybody in the upcoming performance by the Diablo Ballet out of Contra Costa County in the Bay Area. “It will please everyone,” said artistic director and co-founder Lauren Jonas. “Even people who say they are not ballet lovers.”

Certainly you don’t have to be a classical ballet fan to appreciate the passion and steam in Three to Tango, set to the fiery music of Astor Piazzolla. There’s no denying the tension that fuels the tango-infused ballet. “It’s a story within a story,” said Jonas. “There are three dancers: one girl and two men who vie for her attention.”

Dancers will retrace the original 1994 choreography by Diablo Ballet’s artistic advisor and dance legend Sally Streets; the footwork is special to Jonas. “Three to Tango was originally set for me. It was my very first performance,” Jonas said. Now she is teaching it to a new troupe of dancers, a process that is “really rewarding, because I’ve danced it myself.

The second piece, the pas de deux from the traditional Raymonda is no less passionate, although more formal than Three to Tango. First performed in 1898, in Russia, “It’s for classical ballet lovers,” Jonas said.

Midway through the performance, the audience will be treated to a film—“Libera,” by director Walter Yamazaki—about the dancers in Diablo Ballet, who are, of course, the central reason-to-be for the ballet company. “You really get to know the dancers,” Jonas said. “We have a varied repertoire with many different dancers. Our dancers are high caliber dancers from around the world, dancers at the pinnacle of their careers.”

​The second act is where things get fun. Robert Dekkers, once called a “mad genius” by Huffington Post, has choreographed a fantasy called Carnival of the Imagination. This ballet is set to the music of Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint Saëns, a humorous symphony written as a lark by Saint Saëns, who said that, although he should be working on his symphony, writing Carnival was “so much fun.”  
The ballet is a sideways jog on the symphony. “It’s about a boy named Sevin,” said Jonas. “He takes you on an adventure that’s full of animals. A unicorn, a phoenix, Pixies, a butterfly, a panda—there are 30 costumes with 10 dancers,” which makes for a lot of quick changes. The costumes were designed by one of the dancers, Christian Squires, and in perhaps one of the most stunning scenes, dancers spin in costumes that glow in the dark to form a constellation.

According to the company’s press release, this dance was “created to awaken one’s fascination and connect with the child-like heart that’s bursting at the seams within each of us.” The ballet is exploratory and exuberant and will charm your socks off.

Choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet once famously said “Dance is music made visible.” The Diablo Ballet has earned their reputation of trying to make ballet accessible to all audiences. At the Diablo Ballet’s performance, you’ll see more than music made visible; you’ll see a professional troupe of dancers that will make you sigh, giggle, and learn to love dance.

The Diablo Ballet concert is part of the Ovations 2017 Performing Arts Series, a concert series presented by the Calaveras County Arts Council, a 35-year old non-profit organization, partially funded by the California Arts Council, a State agency.

Tickets are available at calaverasarts.org, 209/754-1774, at the office/gallery at 22 Main St. in San Andreas, or at the theatre box office starting at 2:30 pm the day of the concert.

​The Bret Harte Theatre is located at 323 Highway 49, Angels Camp, where there’s plenty of free parking and many designated handicapped seats.

Many thanks to Signal Service of Vallecito for sponsoring the Diablo Ballet. The continuing support of the community makes programs like Ovations possible. 

We are happy to offer scholarships to students interested in studying the arts. Students in Calaveras County high schools are invited and encouraged to apply. 

Seeking an education in the arts is a rewarding and difficult endeavor, and we want to help make it a bit easier for students with passion and desire to develop a career in the arts. Whether you're interested in theatre, dance, music, or visual arts, we hope we can be of help. Please click on the button below to go to our scholarship page and download the application today.