Foothill Artists Celebrate 50 Years with Art of the Garden Tour
By Monrovia Weekly
Published: Thursday, April 15th, 2010
In 1960, around the time many Southern California elementary and junior-high schools were discontinuing arts classes because of declining school funding, a group of Pasadena and Arcadia-area parents, some but not all of them artists themselves, decided that they needed to take their kids’ arts education into their own hands. Combining their talents, some of their own hard-earned money and a bit of fundraising experience, they created the nonprofit Foothill Creative Arts Group on North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre.
Today, “CAG,” as it’s known informally, is celebrating its 50th year and is still carrying out the mission its founders laid down: providing a friendly and nurturing environment in which people of all ages, ethnicities and economic backgrounds can discover creative self-expression and develop an understanding and appreciation of others through the arts. On-site classes in everything from ceramics and drawing to jewelry-making and sculpture are CAG’s primary offerings, but the organization also houses the Jameson Gallery, where the work of faculty artists is exhibited and offered for sale. The group also provides special arts classes for students at Sierra Madre School and puts on several annual community arts events.
In recent years, one of the most popular of those events has been the group’s annual garden-tour fundraiser, which for the past eight years has focused on residential gardens in Pasadena, South Pasadena and San Marino neighborhoods. Happily for garden lovers, this area will be the focus again this year, when the “Art of the Garden” tour is held Sunday, April 18, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each year, the tour features stunning gardens showcasing the work of our most talented landscape architects and designers.
This year’s tour features gardens surrounding a 1929 Monterey Colonial home designed by noted architect Roland Coate, a Japanese Farmhouse built in 1913 that has undergone a meticulous seven-year restoration by the current owners, a classic traditional Colonial Manor with gardens designed for entertaining, and a California Traditional home inspired by Roland Coate’s work with elements of English Soanean Regency design featuring a newly created English garden. To purchase or reserve tickets or for more information, call Creative Arts Group at 626 355-8350 or visit the office and gallery at 108 N. Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 if purchased the day of the event. All funds are used to support CAG’s educational and community-service programs.
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