The ninth successful year of the California History and Art program for fourth graders has in more recent years featured three exciting, educational components: (1) a field trip to the magnificent 27-acre Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, (2) a unique on-site Art Stop at the conclusion of the tour, and (3) a follow-up, half-day classroom workshop in the use of oil pastels to forever capture visions of individual students’ rancho experiences.

The integrated program was offered to all elementary schools within Carlsbad’s city limits without any charge of any kind. Four school administrations were involved: Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Marcos and St. Patrick’s. The city provided the field trips and Art Stops and the Friends underwrote the cost of the instruction for the classroom workshops. The Friends expenses were covered entirely by the private sector grants and spontaneous member donations noted above.

Thus, during the 2005/06 academic year 24 classes representing approximately 850 students from 9elementary schools participated. An increase to 30 classes is anticipated for the coming year.

HOW IT WORKS IN DETAIL

Prior to a scheduled field trip a class receives comprehensive information on Leo Carrillo - including his career as an actor and his long dedication to public service - and the history of the Rancho de Los Kiotes via a 12 minute video produced by the Friends. A subsequent 90 minute tour of the rancho is conducted by docent-volunteers recruited and trained by the Park staff.

Immediately thereafter the group (students, teachers and chaperones) is directed to the historic Carriage House converted temporarily to serve as an open air classroom. A professional instructor - funded by the city - spends 45 minutes reviewing the fundamentals of pencil sketching to record first impressions of the field trip. Each student receives a souvenir copy of An Introduction To Carrillo Ranch - a 30 page booklet with photos, text, map and one of Leo’s poems - published by the Friends.

The sketches are carried back to the classroom as a starting point for the more extensive oil pastel workshop to follow a few days later. The campus workshops are conducted by a professional artist-educator who complies strictly with California curriculum standards for graphic arts.

During the half-day classroom session students from all walks of life - from the affluent to the economically distressed - from every ethnic and social background - produce a stunning array of artworks, all within the constraints of a 3-hour timeframe of discovery and imagination. The professional art educator chose the five best creations from each class. For 2005/06 these totaled 120 candidates for a winner designation. An independent panel of working artists from the Carlsbad-Ocenaside Art League then selected the 24 Best-Of-Class artworks displayed in the Gallery below.

In a separate review of the runners-up the city’s Volunteer Curator for Carrillo Ranch chooses one additional artwork to become the coveted 2006 Curator’s Choice. It may be viewed in the Gallery presentation to follow. Enjoy.

SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES

The Friends of Carrillo Ranch, Inc. has sponsored art education classes in the Carlsbad area schools since 1998, well prior to the opening of the Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park. The work of these budding artists “in the early years” who had no opportunity to actually visit the rancho is quite remarkable. Please be sure to visit the individual 1998 - 2003 Galleries.

The Friends believes this to be the longest running, privately funded program of its kind serving Carlsbad’s fourth grade students.