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February 2020 • ALAMO TODAY & DANVILLE TODAY NEWS • PAGE 1
& FEBRUARY 2020
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: AMAZING ART ASKS FOR ACTION By Jody Morgan
Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change continues at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley through March 29th. Incredible images photographed throughout California by Rob Badger and Nita Winter showcase the breathtaking beauty of the state’s native wildflowers. Accompanying signage raises awareness of actions needed to tame the multi-faceted beast that threatens their sur vival. Locally sourced artifacts and displays along with informative programs Photographed in the wild, Hummingbird on Scarlet Fritillary b r i n g h o m e t h e looks like a studio portrait. message. During a month spent photographing their first “one-hundred-year-bloom” in 1998, Rob Badger and Nita Winter were awestruck. They became concerned about the deleterious effects of climate change when the next super bloom of California wildflowers occurred only seven years later. Plants were responding to the extreme stress of immoderate fluctuations in weather patterns and precipitation levels in a manic effort to ensure the continuation of their species. B eaut y and the Beast is the result of Badger and Winter’s dedication to utilizing their outstanding photographic skills to generate understanding of how California’s fragile floral treasures can be saved from forces conspiring to Nita and Rob hiking at Carson Pass. eradicate the habitats essential to their existence. “Our purpose was to use art to inspire hope and action – action that reduces the impact of climate change, promotes land and species conservation, and encourages the creation of a sustainable population that the Earth can support,” Badger writes. Following the original 2016 installation at the San Francisco Library, non-profit Exhibit Envoy adopted the display, making the traveling exhibit available to smaller and moderate-sized museums. Co-published in 2020 by WinterBadger Press and California Native Plant Society, the book Beauty and
See Art continued on page 24
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Del Amigo Transition Program students proudly show off their handmade dog toys.
A WIN-WIN By Alisa Corstorphine
When classes where shut down for several days in November 2018 due to the bad air quality from the Butte County fires, Del Amigo High, San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) Transition Program teacher Patty Sherve came up with a way to help pets in need. Patty teaches a group of 18-22 year old young adults in the district’s special education program, held on the Del Amigo campus in Danville. Her classroom theme of Route 22 provides the structure for the students’ transition out of public school services and towards their future. The students were also were moved by the utter and complete losses they saw experienced by the victims of the fires and their “fur babies.” The young adults all wanted to find a way to help out. The current Transitions class of 15 students reside in the SRVUSD boundaries and hail from Alamo, Danville, and San Ramon. The goal of their program is to provide life skills for individual success and independent living. Cooking, dating, friendships, getting and sharing a living space, employment, or moving on to a college or trade school program are all skills the program covers. Inspired by one curriculum lesson, the students have gone on to learn how to prepare, hand-make, and distribute
See Win cont. on page 18
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Volume XX Number 2
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