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A+ Art Blog 2025 Archived A+ Art Blogs
There were two main speakers for this webinar Nadia Paredes spoke in her role as the president of the American Art Therapy Association. She explained the difference from art therapy and art classes not run by a master degree or higher registered or board-certified art therapist. She explained that Fine Art can be different than art that is fine for us. She stressed the importance of play and how trying something without worrying about failing as a way to maybe learn to live differently as you learn something new about yourself. Art therapy is not about the therapist interpreting the creation, or even guiding you in improving your technique. It is not about aesthetics but a good therapist asks questions to bring out the significance of an art work to the maker. It is very intentional. Sometimes just looking at an art work on display not making the art can be useful. But mainly, art is a non-verbal communication technique. Of course, art can be a self-soothing exercise and one for self-expression which are also very important values. Research of the benefits of arts are well documented and the American Art therapy Association is a good resource for that information and much more. Lots of people have negative experiences with art (Art Scars!), maybe an art teacher who dismissed your work or your own strong feeling of comparison to what you think is “good” art. Some people need to experiment to find out what their medium is. There are a huge variety of different venues for art to play a healing role in our life besides targeted art therapy spaces. Artist in residence, spiritual spaces, wellness centers, hospitals, community centers, and, of course, schools. Creative hobbies can fall into the category of preventative care. We have written previously about Arts for Healing is now ready for Social Prescribing andwe all hope that Art Prescriptions will be a normal care option soon. There is a need to map the resources available for the vast variety of arts for healing practices that exist. Then co-creating programs could be a big part of our future. ...MORE November 30 th is Artist Sunday when we encourage everyone of you to buy at least one work of art this year. If you have not already done so or want to buy more, then start the search for your new work art as soon as you can. It can be a gift for yourself or a valued friend or relation. Go to art exhibitions, visit artists sites. (We list more than 1500 local artist on our site alone!) But there are other ways to support Artists in San Diego besides buying a work of theirs In our 19th year the . 2026 San Diego Art Prize recipients are Danielle Dean , Ingrid Hernandez , Tatiana Ortiz Rubio who will be showing their work at the Oceanside Museum of Artstarting in Sept 2026 .We hope you will consider supporting this worthy legacy project. How does the prize help the over 70 artists that have received it to date? It gives them all: How does your donation achieve this? The funds go toward: If you need more incentives to Donate to the SD Art Prize, then watch this space, make sure you are on our mailing list, contact me directly: patricia@sdvisualarts.net Please note: Arts and Craft Makers in 2025 SD Made Holiday Market is Nov 15/16 at Liberty Station NTC Park Field will feature over 125 local curated makers. The Makers Arcade Holiday Fair at Broadway Pier is Dec. 13/14, is one of two SD shopping event for the holidays with 140+ local makers during the SD Bay Parade of Lights.
That was why it was so unexpected to drive away in my new Hyundai Limited Edition Sonata and experience such pleasure. It turns out it is all about the technology. I never had to take the key out of my pocket. Just grabbing the door handle unlocked this auto. The seat was set back for easy entry, but adjusts automatically to my own comfort position when I shut the door. I pressed a button and there was no roar or throbbing of engines, I grant you, but the quiet of the hybrid as the screen scrolled alive with a little tinkling theme and the message greeting me personally by name was a nice touch. As I drove, navigation directions magically appeared directly in front of the windscreen, so there was no need to turn my head. Likewise, no turning to see my blind spot as when I activated the turn signal, the side mirror cameras appeared to show me I was safe, or beeped at me to be aware of danger. I pushed a button, not just to open the trunk, but to close it. I understand the windshield wipers will come on automatically when it rains and if I get blocked in a parking spot, I can use the key fob to start the car and back out of the space until there is sufficient room to enter the car. I mean, that is pretty close to self-driving! But the most exquisite feeling for one of the unfortunate women who has had hot flashes for 30 years, was the cooling seats on an 80-degree day. Yes, not just conditioning the air, but seats that radiated coldness directly into my body. I thought we were just getting a replacement vehicle. What I received was more than technology making my life easier and safer. It was a renewed hope in our future. I am using new software that can take one of my images and make an 8 second video just by prompting it on how I want it to move. I can now organize an 8-page strategy into a one-page flyer in seconds. The lesson here is that technology is going to bring us unexpected joys in ways that we don’t even know yet. The fears of Ai.I.have to be overcome and the challenges solved so that new experiences can keep us ever young, hopeful and ready for pleasures yet to be discovered.
They covered what AB 812 does and doesn’t do, what it requires, what terms you need to know to understand the policy, and a bunch of resources available through links in the toolkit. It was a chance to ask questions and share some knowledge in this very complicated area of housing. Basically, they hope that AB 812 might streamline the already existing policies, but more hopefully, it prioritizes artists for affordable housing in general and sets precedent for the importance of keeping artist in or near existing cultural districts. READ MORE Arts for Healing is now ready for Social Prescribing There are lots of outside Creative arts therapist. Some are actually located in hospitals and clinical health care centers. But patients don’t always know about them. Social prescribing with the arts is a way for the care provider to prescribe the arts knowing that Art Pharmacy will be able to match the right choice of art to the patient. . For the pilot, the patience’s care provider writes the prescription. San Ysidro Health will send a request to Catalyst to validate the funding and then it will be sent to Art Pharmacy who will make recommendations for a selection of activities. A care navigator will book and monitor the patient through a year’s activities on average one a month. Funding is for 2 people for the patient can be accompanied. There is an end survey and statistic are looking extremely good with high rates of participation and improved well-being and social connectedness i.e. less loneliness. The choice of mediums and type of experiences is very wide for in person or virtual or even telephone sessions. Some sessions are for groups, other for individuals and some are participatory other as a viewer. It is a very customized services to make sure the health goals are met. The pilot with San Ysidro Health will begin in September so they are asking for art healers of all kinds to enroll with Art Pharmacy. Fill out a form showing interest, then contact will be made to fill out the enrollment form, All sizes of non-profit, commercial and community-based organization which are already serving the public are eligible. The is no pricing structure as they recognize different types of session have different fees attached. Art Pharmacy will arrange payment. Enrollment is ongoing and more dates can be added to the offerings. Remember San Ysidro Health has patients throughout the county and needs venue and sessions county wide. Because of their emphasis on youth and depression, extra training is available for mental health response training August 21 online from noon to 1 pm. During the question part of the webinar, we also learned that the most successful sessions are the once a of month or drop in events. For youth, they like participatory events that are very hands-on. For those practitioners that work from home, it was suggested that libraries and communities center can often be the venue for those individuals with no public venue available. Based in Atlanta, GA, Art Pharmacy, which only started in 2022, is currently working with partners in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, and New York. It is based on the knowledge that mental health services often leave gaps in care, particularly for populations experiencing barriers to access, cultural stigma, or a preference for non-clinical interventions. Although there is no insurance payment yet, that means no insurance forms to fill out. But it is to be hoped in the future that insurance will pay for this essential service. Here is just one example of a healing art provider. We are lucky to have hundreds in the region. The California Center for Creative Renewal is a healing garden retreat center located in Encinitas founded by Ellen Speert. It provides an environment of creativity, stimulation, safety and professionalism, balancing hands-on art experiences with goal-driven outcomes and so the perfect candidate for a listing on Art Pharmacy. I attended a workshop Art, Sound, and Words: Exploring Your Inner World. This three-component workshop started with sound therapy with Diane Mandle where we each got our own sound bath, then a relatively unstructured hands-on clay project led by Ellen Speert and then a lesson on automatic writing by Cherie Kephart. The combined sound and word prompts were the culmination of the workshop with a shared learn session which was emotional and life confirming. Read more with images
Laura Zucker, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission from 1992 to 2017gave the keynote address at the June retreat for the SD County Arts and Culture Commissioners. She was there to give advice on how to build our commission to the juggernaut that is the Los Angeles is the largest County in the United States, encompassing 88 municipalities and nearly 140 unincorporated areas. Under her guidance, the Arts Commission funded 364 nonprofit arts organizations through a two-year $9 million grant program, implemented the regional initiative dedicated to restoring arts education to 81 public school districts, funded the largest arts internship program in the country and manages the County’s civic art policy. Zucker was very straight forward with her advice. The commission has to have a budget to function and that budget is achieved only by using political power. Every year in put on the county budget is requested two weeks before the budget is published. At that time the most influential leaders and campaign donors need to visit each county supervisor’s office and get them to sign a memo of support for the requested amount needed. You need three out of the five supervisors to assure success. To make sure you can sell your story here is some more advice:
Now this can’t be done all at once, but there are huge opportunities in San Diego to make a difference. The rest of the retreat was spent discussing the strategy plan and setting new priorities. Most exciting was the discussion about the project with a $29K grant from the Local Arts Agency Learning Network where it was proposed to hold a series of County Supervisor Arts Convening listening events. READ MORE
Robert Friedman is the recipient of this year’s Business of Art Scholarship and will have booth #344 on Cedar Street at the Mission Fed ArtWalk on Sat/Sun April 26/27. San Diego Visual Arts Network is the sponsor of this scholarship and is proud to see how the artist’s subjects fits into the Healing, Health and Hope theme of the April Arts, Culture and Creativity Month celebrations. Robert Friedman has experienced the highs and lows of life during his travels and work as a humanitarian. He has connected with refugees and victims of disaster and war. He views the world with awe at times, but also with disgust. He studied visual arts as an undergraduate, but even as a teenager, he found his medium in photography. “Do I capture an image or does the image capture me?” is his explanation of his storytelling quest on view in his Lifescapes.  San Diego Visual Arts Network: Sharing our Mission As the founder and coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN) and as a working artist, I want to share our revised Mission, Vision, Core Value and Commitment with you. Mission Vision Core Values
Commitments
Join us in building a stronger arts community! Whether you’re an artist, curator, collector, administrator or art enthusiast, there’s a place for you in the San Diego Visual Arts Network. Together, we can shape San Diego into a world class visual art destination. Patricia Frischer, 760.943.0148, patricia@sdvisualarts.net
The survey ended with the goal of a public art program. But I am choosing to put that first:
Let then go to what works well with the County of San Diego’s public art process: The reinstatement of the County Art Commission is viewed as a great development with the engagement of the Commission’s Public Art Committee now involved with each project. When qualified professional public art project management collaborate with the County facilities director and contractors/inspectors who have experience with art installations, the projects go more smoothly. Now, what doesn’t work well with the County public art process?
Finally, what are the recommendations and challenges to improve the County public art process to make it more efficient, inclusive, or impactful for artists, communities, and other stakeholders?
The recommendations emphasize the need for a more inclusive approach to public art installations. Many of the above recommendation would move to a more equitable systems for less experienced artists as well.
2024 past A+Art Blogs including: 2023 past A+ Art Blogs including: 2022 past A+ Art Blogs including: SDVAN New Normal Cookbook: Eating Your Art In Selling the Soul California Creative Corps Pilot Program Development Update A Red Letter Day with the passage of a proposal for a County Commission for Arts and Culture The Blue Economy Desperate Times VAPA Asks: What is your superpower? On the Occasion of our 200th SDVAN RAW Column Simply the Best: A Step Too Far and actually quite dangerous! A Tale of Two Learnings Finger on the Pulse State of the Arts 2021: San Diego Creative Industry by the Numbers 2020 past A+ Art Blogs including Artist Guide to Surviving the Pandemic: 5 things you can do which will keep you working Understanding AB 2257, Follow Up Legislation to AB 5, and Its Impact on the Arts Sector Guiding Principles and Manifestos San Diego + Imperial counties Regional Conversation Summary 2020 Brain Candy: A Virtual Salon Series – The Curators The Power of Art Part 2 The Power of Art It's Not Easy, Being Difficult Remember when Corona was a Cigar or a Beer Constance White at The Residency Project in Pasadena The Role of the Arts in Defining Democracy State of the Arts California, 2020 2019 past A+ Art Blogs including Who wants to be a millionaire artist? Immigration, Migration, Integration: SD Chinese Historical Museum Isolationist or Globalist? Ocular Artist Birthing a New Art Organization Three Things You Need to Know Passport to Dance produced by Encinitas Friends of the Arts Life Doesn't Frighten Me: Hope Inspired through Art at Fallbrook Library The Cotwolds: Purton and Cirencester Modern Couples at the Barbican Great Big Indian Wedding: Cultural event that ends my year! India: Monuments and Museums India: Modern and Contemporary Art Barnsley House Hotel and Spa State of Mind, State of the Arts, 2019 2018 past A+ Art Blogs including 2016 Past A+Art Blogs including 2015 Past A+ Art Blog including Mural by Paola Villasenor at SDAI and Art Fair Miami Turn on, chill out and Pop up Incubator for Innovation - final 9 teams for San Diego London Journal 1: Tate Britain Folk Art London Journal 2: Horst at the Victoria and Albert Museum London Journal 3:Today's Special: Pace Gallery, Tate Modern Matisse London Journal 4: National Portrait Gallery and Saatchi London Journal 5: London Fashion Week and London Design Show at Tent and Super Brands London Journal 6: Gilbert and George, Boyd and Evans, Anslem Kiefer and AI WEIWEI A Call to Action SD Fringe Festival Art Exhibition at Ten Street Art Center ILLUSION: Nothing Is As It Seems at the Ruben H. Fleet Science Museum Deborah DeLisi and One Minute Mandalas at SDVAN sponsored Mission Federal ArtWalk DNA of Creativity Introduction at Oceanside Museum of Art Notes on Aesthetics and Authenticity Symposium SD Art Prize has its roots in the Turner Prize 2013 Past A+Art Blog including State of the Arts: The Rise of the Living Artist, 2013 New Art at the SD Airportt: Flying High San Diego Incubator for Innovation Arts Leaders Motivations Politics and Art in San Diego Art Eats Food Alternative Materials Panel Discussion - Sparks Gallery London Art Newsletter 2013 Maximal San Diego: Identity Crisis or Identity Opportunity? March 2013 Palm Springs Art Fair, Feb, 2013 Corporate Collecting Book Review, Jan 2013 2012 Past A+Art Blog including 2009 Past A+ Art Blogs including 2008 Past A+ Art Blogs including 2007 Past A+ Art Blogs including 2006 Past A+ Art Blogs PATRICIA FRISCHER, author of "The Artist and the Art of Marketing" has lectured extensively on marketing for artists. She is a trainer of artists’ agents, art dealers, consultant and collectors. Frischer has taken on the roles of gallerist, curator, writer, teacher, website coordinator and artist. Her many metamorphoses make her difficult to fit into any of the usual art world categories. She is a founding member and coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network, (www.SDVAN.net ) which funds the SD Art Prize, directory and events calendar and SmART Collector features. Her own artwork (www.DrawsCrowd.com ) has been shown internationally and her most recent one person show was at Oxford University. |
Image: Anne Mudge