WriterCoach Connection

Sun-splashed art in Sonoma wine country

More than 50 guests filled the bus that took is into the renowned Oliver Ranch on Saturday for our third fundraising tour of the stunning works by internationally recognized artists. The only way to see this art is to enter the Ranch with a nonprofit organization that has made the cut with the Oliver Ranch Foundation, and we're grateful to have been invited for a third tour. Here we are at right, under way for the Ranch on our luxury bus. 

Before that, however, came our delectable riverside breakfast. Our gracious comestibles host Jed Larkin (left) of Chef Jed Catering and guest Ed Weil help serve it up, below.

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide was Steve Oliver himself. Well-known in the Bay Area as a major contemporary arts supporter, advocate, and civic leader, Steve is the former chairman of the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where he served as chair of Phase III of the New Museum Campaign in 1992, a role in which he was responsible for raising the final $5 million— a goal which he exceeded when he finished the campaign at $95 million.

It's a breathtaking experience to see this art. This installation, by Martin Puryear, is a mortared fieldstone sculpture with red cedar. When you peek in the front (it's hollow in there, but very dark),you have no idea what you're going to find when you walk around to the back (at right). 

 

 

 

 

 

We decended into the installation by  David Rabinowitch and Jim Jennings, "Visiting Artist Studios," architecture and carving in concrete walls, and then decided that sure, we could live and work there. Or spend a weekend. Or an hour. Whatever we can get.

 

 

Roger Berry's mammoth Corten steel sculpture "Darwin" (at right) is always a big favorite, for obvious reasons, with a scale that dwarfs a tour group.

Ditto Richard Serra's monumental  six pairs of forged hyper-dense Corten steel blocks, titled "Snake Eyes and Boxcars." They are placed in precise mathematical relationships with each other and weigh up to 50 tons each. We spent a long time with them, riveted by Steve Oliver's stories about forging and transporting them. Below is CAFL board member LuNell Anderson, leaning against one with no fear of pushing it out of position! Note another pair, off in the distance. We moved on, but the pieces stayed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was on to a dual installation, Terry Allen's companion "humannature" pieces. They pretty much tell their own story, and WCC coach Paul Epstein (l.) is capturing part of it here with his camera. As for the second part of it, well, let's just say one of our guests is going to keep his belt tightened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near the end of the tour came one of the day's true highlight's, Ann Hamilton's famous performance tower, all eight stories of it (and that doesn't count the base under ground). It defies description, inside and out. Here we are, climbing in, and climbing (or sitting) up and down, with Richmond and Oakland Site Coordinator Karen Larson in a pose you won't see her in much while she's supervising her coaches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a day to remember. We raised in the neighborhood of $8,000 (!), at least four times the amount from our previous Oliver Ranch tour two yearsa go. Many thanks to to our generous paying guests; to our organizers Shelli Fried and Kent Wright; to CAFL helpers and tour benefactors LuNell Anderson, Maureen Dixon, Kris Hafner, and Karen Larson; to our gracious in-kind contributors:

• Chef Jed Catering
• Blue Chair Fruit Company
• Oracle Team USA
• Alegio Chocolate 
• True Grass Farms
• Chanticleer
• Aziza 
• Steve Oliver and his Oliver Ranch Foundation staff. We hope to be back in two years!

Bob Menzimer

 

Related articles

Spread this on your breakfast pastry, and then go see world-class art!

Raffle surprises await our Oliver Ranch tour guests

Besides the world-class art our guests will experience as part of our Oliver Ranch tour on Saturday, April 27, our guests will await the plucking of lucky tickets in our Oliver Ranch raffle drawing. Each guest will get a free raffle ticket and the prizes include:

• America’s Cup Oracle Team official crew shirts
• Alegio Chocolate tasting and tour for six
• A bottle of fine, tongue-tickling Champagne
• True Grass Organic Farms tour and lunch for two
• Two tickets to a performance by the renowned group Chanticleer, “An Orchestra of Voices”  

Limited seats remain on the luxury bus that will take us into the Oliver Ranch for our tour (no cars allowed on the ranch), so if you plan to join us, please register on our website today!

On this morning walk in the gentle, wooded hills of Alexander Valley, you’ll encounter one-of-a-kind installations by Ann Hamilton, Richard Serra, Andy Goldsworthy, Martin Puryear, and other world-renowned artists commissioned to endow this wine country landscape with their creative vision.

Your tour guide will be none other than ranch owner Steve Oliver, former SFMOMA board chairman. A passionate supporter of the arts, Mr. Oliver has also served on the board of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. If you'd like to learn more about Steve Oliver and his deep roots in the arts community — or about the remarkable evolution of Oliver Ranch — we recommend his biography on the California College of the Arts website,  this article on SculpSite, or this SculpSite podcast. 

Tours of this exclusive art preserve are granted solely to select, non-profit groups for use as fundraising benefits. The ranch donates all tours to the group hosting it. Your donation will go entirely to WriterCoach Connection -- Mr. Oliver conducts the tours of this magnificant art reserve free of charge.

Your $195 donation to WriterCoach Connection includes:
•      A delicious pre-tour breakfast in Healdsburg
•      A luxury charter bus to and from the ranch
•      A 2.5-hour guided tour by owner Steve Oliver (10:00am - 12:30pm)
•      The aforementioned raffle prizes to enjoy along the way

We hope you'll join us for a memorable spring day in the heart of Sonoma's enchanting Alexander Valley wine country.

 

 

Bob Menzimer

 

Spread this on your breakfast pastry, and then go see world-class art!

The Blue Chair Fruit Company is sweetening the breakfast menu for our fundraising Oliver Ranch Tour on April 27 by donating half a dozen jars of Blackberry-Greengage Jam and half a dozen jars of Peacotum Jam for our early-morning table. (Peacotum is a stunning hybrid fruit comprised of peach, apricot, and plum.)

Tour guests will enjoy these fine jams and an array of other breakfast treats before boarding the luxury bus that will take them into the Oliver Ranch to view one-of-a-kind, world-class site-specific works at the famed Sonoma County acreage. 

On this 2-3 hour walk through the gentle, wooded hills, you’ll encounter unique installations by Richard Serra, Andy Goldsworthy, Martin Puryear, and other world-renown artists invited to endow this wine country landscape with their creative vision. 

Oliver Ranch is a privately owned art collection with a unique twist: admission is granted solely to non-profit groups, and admission fees are strictly employed as a donation to support that group. Your donation will support WriterCoach Connection in our mission to strengthen students’ chances for academic success by helping them master essential writing and communication skills. 

WCC and Oliver Ranch are asking a $195 donation for the tour, which will include:

• Pre-tour breakfast in Healdsburg
• Luxury charter bus to and from the ranch
• A 2.5-hour guided tour by Steve Oliver (10:00-12:30pm)
• Special gift prizes to enjoy along the way! 

We hope you will join us for a glimpse of these hidden treasures! Visit WriterCoach Connection or Oliver Ranch Foundation to learn more, purchase your tickets online, or call 510.530.7600.

Meantime, look forward to some delectable Blue Chair jams for breakfast on April 27!

Bob Menzimer

 

 

 

 

Hands clapping, hearts pulsing for WCC

The joint was jumpin' this past Saturday night as First Person Singular presented its third benefit show for WriterCoach Connection. Scheduled every year around Valentine's Day, the benefit series is an offering from a cast of regulars from the First Person Singular monthly HOOT! series. This year's WCC benefit was called I'm with Cupid 3: Hearts at Play in Hitsville USA, a folk-music slant on Motown favorites from a group led by First Person Singular founder Joe Christiano and Theresa Kelly, shown here under a full head of steam.

The audience packed the upstairs hall at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Albany and included plenty of clapping and hooting WCC volunteers, who were showered with appreciation several times by the performers on stage.

First Person Singular donated all proceeds from the evening to WriterCoach Connection, a heartfelt gesture from all the performers and others who helped set up the show and provide refreshments. The result: more than $600 into the WCC coffers to help us keep our writer coaches sitting with students in class for individual writing support.

 

 

Talented pianist Joshua Raoul Brody has been a fixture at all three of the First Person Singular benefits for WriterCoach Connection. We could hear him plenty on Saturday night, at the keyboard and on vocals, but he was in the shadows offstage and we couldn't get a good picture of him!

At various points in the show, Dave Tilton (l.) held the spotlight on both guitar and banjo.

With Dave (below) are Wendy Fiering and Tim Kieschnick. Things got even more interesting when Wendy hauled out her double bass and Tim grabbed his trumpet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The posters  for the monthly First Person Singular HOOT! series are singular indeed, prize collectibles from artist Jeff Boozer. They are available at the Pegasus bookstores in Berkeley. Check out the poster below, Jeff's creation for this year's WCC benefit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many, many thanks to everyone who came to this event and helped fill the big heart-shaped donation box at the door. We are especially indebted to Reverend Julia Wakelee-Lynch and St. Alban's Episcopal Church, for donating the venue for this year's I'm with Cupid WCC benefit.  

And special thanks, of course, go from all of us associated with WCC to our compadres at First Person Singular, for extending that Valentine's Day feeling for everyone in the WriterCoach Connection family!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Menzimer

 

Upcoming WCC benefit by First Person Singular: "I'm with Cupid"

I'm With Cupid 3: Hearts at Play in Hitsville U.S.A., benefiting WriterCoach Connection, is a folk-styled interpretation of Motown favorites by the all-stars of First Person Singular's HOOT! Featuring Bekah Barnett, Joshua Raoul Brody, Joe Christiano, Wendy Fiering, Theresa Kelly, Tim Kieschnick, and Dave Tilton.

Saturday, February 23rd
7:00 p.m.

St. Alban's Episcopal Church
1501 Washington Avenue, Albany, CA

$10 Suggested Donation
Wheelchair accessible. Refreshments. 

www.1stpersonsingular.com

Richmond Community Foundation continues to lead the way in West County

The Richmond Community Foundation has been a leader in fostering the mission of countless nonprofit organizations in West Contra Costa County, notably in helping organizations build the capacity they need to do their work. Since spring 2011, the Foundation has sponsored semi-annual grant cycles in capacity building, filling a need that all too often is under-addressed by funders. 

We have been the fortunate recipients of two such capacity-building grants. Last fall, RCF funding helped us immeasurably to reach our volunteer-recruitment goal for our new Richmond High School program, for which our coaches began filing into RHS classrooms this past September. And the RCF has helped us build on that success with a new grant of $2,500, announced on Nov. 7, to support continued volunteer recruitment as we plan for an expanded program at Richmond High for next year. 

And RCF support has extended beyond direct funding. For example, we would be hard-pressed to count the number of meetings we have attended in the Foundation’s capacious board room, collaborative meetings with other West County non-profit and agency stakeholders and CAFL meetings as well. Given the fact that we don’t have a central office, the generous donation of meeting space by the RCF has meant a great deal to us. 

We are deeply appreciative of the support of the Richmond Community Foundation, and we are honored to be their partner in West County.

Bob Menzimer

Executive Director

Joseph and Vera Long Foundation says yes to WCC in Oakland

The Joseph and Vera Long Foundation told us they liked what they saw about our program in Oakland, and they weren't kidding, backing up their words with a generous $15,000 grant on Dec. 4 to support our writer coaching in Oakland this year and to help us plan future expansion in the district. 

The severely constricted district budget has vaporized funding for support programs in Oakland schools, and so for the time being, we are dependent entirely on outside support, grants and donations, to keep our coaches sitting next to students in Oakland classrooms. We are deeply grateful to the Joseph and Vera Long Foundation for helping us do just that.

Bob Menzimer

Ed. Fund affirms its support of WCC

The West Contra Costa Public Education Fund (Ed. Fund) has partnered with us in innumerable ways in the past year, fostering connections for us through such projects as the West County College Access Network (WCCAN) and the West County Getting Ready for College Conference. The latest expression of their commitment to collaboration is a grant of $1,000 to help fill the remaining budget gap in our program at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito.

Funding for WCC at Portola this year has required the fitting together of many interlocking puzzle pieces, and the Ed. Fund responded with alacrity when we asked them to help us complete the Portola budget picture. The staff at the Ed. Fund reminds me very much of our own group -- smart, talented, dedicated, and a pleasure to work with. We so appreciate their support of WCC!

Bob Menzimer

Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation continues support of WCC

The Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation has awarded CAFL a two-year $20,000 grant to support WriterCoach Connection in Contra Costa County. This gift represents the second round of funding for WCC from the Foundation, which was instrumental in helping us establish a strong foothold in El Cerrito in 2011-12, in the program’s crucial second year at El Cerrito High School, and in planning expansion of the program for the first time to Portola Middle School in El Cerrito. This grant is especially important to us because it allocates $10,000 to support WCC in Contra Costa County for next year, helping to ensure the continuity that is so crucial in maximizing our program’s impact.  

We are deeply grateful to the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation for this generous support, and for the confidence they have expressed in the difference we are making for West County students and teachers.

Bob Menzimer

The El Cerrito community helps keep coaches at Portola Middle School

In a rare and heartily welcomed move, the El Cerrito City Council voted unanimously on Dec. 4 to approve a $2,500 grant to help keep our writer coaches at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito this year.

WCC began coaching at Portola in a pilot program last spring and the challenge, as always, was to find the funding to keep the program going for the crucial second year, often a pivotal point in our program’s history at a school. In the second year, the program really takes hold and establishes the foundation for a sustained presence through the years.

With school and district funds squeezed by the state’s chronic shortage of education funding, money for academic support programs is hard to come by. For WriterCoach Connection to continue at Portola, it needed supplementary funding.

The El Cerrito community, in the form of the GoPortola volunteer organization, led by Portola parent Alonn Ilan, raised $2,320 to help keep WCC at the school. El Cerrito Councilmember Rebecca Benassini, a strong education advocate, then proposed that the City Council help provide some of the remaining program funding. The City of El Cerrito doesn’t typically fund education programs directly, but emails and calls from parents, teachers, coaches, and community members, as well as GoPortola's fundraising efforts, helped convince Council members of the importance of WCC to the school, students, and community.  

We are grateful for the support of the school, community, and City Council — and we're thrilled to continue working with Portola students!

Bob Menzimer