AAI looks forward to 2021

By Art Alliance of Idyllwild
Contributed

The Art Alliance of Idyllwild (AAI) has been an active local, volunteer-led nonprofit for over 20 years. It organizes community events such as the Art Walk & Wine Tasting, the “Eye of the Artist” judged art show and raffle and the “Call of the Wyld” Music and Art Festival.

Donna Elliot, AAI president from 2017 to 2020, recounts some of the many positive features of the AAI such as art education, art scholarships, artist workshops, judged art shows, grants, public art projects and an AAI gallery and town visitor’s center.

“This is a time to thank our many volunteers, local businesses, community and other nonprofits for their support over the years,” Elliot remarked.

Below is AAI’s new executive committee as of Jan. 1, 2021 and its current board members.

President: Cyn Grady
Before moving to Idyllwild, Grady was a waitress, assistant manager of a country club, and for 41 years, she worked as a dental hygienist. Grady said, “My journey began one week after I moved here when a good friend asked me to join the smARTS committee. My work with smARTS has been some of the most rewarding work I have ever done.” Grady was asked to join the AAI board in 2017 and this provided an opportunity to serve and support artists and the community. For two years, she served as gallery manager for the Courtyard Gallery and will manage the new AAI Gallery. Grady also served on the Idyllwild Community Fund board for one year. A highlight of Grady’s board service to date was organizing the first “Call of the Wyld” Benefit Concert in 2018 and then the second concert in 2019, together with her husband, Scott Bump. “The AAI board is looking forward to 2021 and all that we can do to support our talented community,” Grady commented.

Secretary: Helen Hixon
Hixon’s family first started coming to Idyllwild in the 1980s. Her parents, Jack and Hermine Schoustra, were involved with the board of Idyllwild Arts Academy (then Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, ISOMATA) and the beginnings of the Jazz in the Pines festival. Helen married her husband Jeff Hixon at ISOMATA in 1989 and while they raised their family and worked in Los Angeles, their best memories were the many weekends and holidays spent in Idyllwild. In 2016, the Hixons officially became full-time Pine Cove residents. Helen, having left behind careers in genetic counseling and teaching, got involved as a volunteer for a variety of organizations in Idyllwild including the library, the Idyllwild Nature Center and the community garden. In 2018, after being a member for eight months, she became the new owner of Mountain Pottery. Getting involved with the AAI was a natural fit for Helen. She has donated ceramic pieces to AAI, and as a board member, has been involved in the planning and implementation of various AAI events. As secretary of the AAI board, Helen looks forward to expanding her involvement as AAI adapts to the changes brought on by the pandemic.

Treasurer: Neil Jenkins
Jenkins is a local artist based in Idyllwild/Pine Cove. He and his artist wife Donna Elliot have owned a house in Idyllwild since 1999 but did not move to the area until 2010. An active member of AAI, Jenkins works in watercolors, acrylics and dry media, as well as digital art. Jenkins has also painted three of the public art deer. The first was Rocky, installed in front of La Casita depicting the hiking and rock-climbing scene around Idyllwild. It was stolen and never recovered. He then painted Rocky II, currently in situ there. Visit ARF and you’ll see the third deer he painted honoring Idyllwild’s Golden Retriever mayors. In addition to taking part in such projects, Jenkins has also been actively working on and helping to manage AAI events for the last four years, particularly the Art Walk & Wine Tasting event. Before moving to Idyllwild, Jenkins served in the British army for 25 years in various capacities from private soldier to senior officer managing teams, events and financial accounts. On leaving the army, he was a management consultant in the United Kingdom, USA, South America and Southeast Asia working in strategy, marketing and finance. Neil has a bachelor’s degree in technology and computing and a MBA in strategy and finance. Even before retirement, Jenkins and Elliot visited Idyllwild at least once a year to enjoy the rock and mountain climbing on the area’s pure granite. Both continue to do so.

Board member: Christine Hunt
An executive coach for major media organizations, Hunt moved to Idyllwild from Manhattan, New York in 2011 with her two young daughters, ages 7 and 8. In her first month, Hunt joined the smARTS committee/program — a volunteer-led program for Idyllwild School which delivers approximately 300 art classes per school year — taking on the role of Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) coordinator, partnering with IAA to provide art experiences for Idyllwild School students, a role she still holds. Currently, she is on the Idyllwild Community Fund Advisory Committee and on the steering committee of Mountain Communities Mutual Aid. Hunt has a MFA in theater, formerly teaching in NYU’s Professional Training Program for Actors and acting in productions in the New York area. She has coached IAA students and has been a juror in the IAA Shakespeare competition. Hunt is also a fine arts photographer who has exhibited her work in galleries in Manhattan, the Hamptons and the East End Arts in New York. “I am honored to have been asked to be on the board of the Art Alliance of Idyllwild,” Hunt said. “The Art Alliance has played a major role in supporting local artists, offering public arts events in Idyllwild and providing art experiences for Idyllwild School students with classes for home-schooled children. With each year the AAI’s scope and impact has grown. Recently, the Art Alliance has philanthropically supported the community in times of crisis: fundraising for Cranston Fire victims and donating art supplies to children during the pandemic. I look forward to contributing my efforts to AAI’s goals and place as a major organization supporting Idyllwild’s artists and community.”

Board member: Rob Padilla
Padilla’s early artistic career began at the Saddleback College weekly student newspaper as staff cartoonist. In 1987, he received an award from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges for his editorial cartoons and magazine illustrations. Taking his talent into the commercial sphere, he landed a gig at Ocean Pacific Sunwear as a graphic designer on the corporate design team. Several of Padilla’s designs became international bestsellers. Idyllwild benefited from a hallmark of Padilla’s artistic talent in the form of his “paint-a-long” canvases. From smARTS classes, to Art in the Park to just about every local event, he designed and helped young and old alike unleash their creative selves onto the canvases. Padilla joined the AAI board in 2017, becoming temporary president for a short period and stayed on the board until 2019. Padilla rejoined the AAI board during 2020 and is the gallery and art hot spot liaison. Enjoy his mural in front of the new AAI Gallery (26364 Saunders Meadow Rd.) splashed with color and whimsical imagery. He also has a painted deer situated at the Quiet Creek Inn.

Board member: Diana Orr
Orr has been creating one-of-a-kind wearable works of art for private clientele for over 20 years, according to her website dianaorr.com. The D’Orr Consulting website boasts that Orr’s work has been featured in Vogue’s fashion night out exhibitions and published in ELLE, LA Times, LIFE, C magazine, Santa Barbara Magazine, The Costumer Magazine, LA Confidential and more. She has advised, designed and overseen production for private label garments for celebrity clientele, film and TV studios, major department stores, specialty boutiques and various independent brands. She worked as a designer and creative director until 2019 when she transitioned into working full time for her candle company Wax Apothecary. Orr launched Wax Apothecary artisan botanical candles in 2013 and it slowly grew to be a nationally distributed product line that has over 300 retailers. She moved the company to Idyllwild in 2019 where it continues to thrive. Orr has supported many of AAI’s creative events and projects, such as the Art Walk & Wine Tasting, the “Eye of the Artist” event and the “I made this for you” community project. She joined the AAI board during 2020.

Board member: Les Gin
Gin has been an Idyllwild resident since 2016. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Gin was a professional banker for 40-plus years and founding president of the Asian Bank of Arizona in Phoenix. Inspired by his father’s community activism, Gin’s interest in strategic community development and fundraising has been the hallmark of his life since the late 1970s. In 1992, he founded the Pan Asian Community Alliance in Tucson, and by 1994, had raised $200,000 to purchase a building which, to this day, serves metro-Tucson as a community center. He was a founding board member of the Pima Prevention Partnership Coalition, chartered with educating and preventing tobacco abuse in Pima County. They received recognition by winning The Best Anti-Drug Coalition in the US in 1999. He served on that board for 25 years. Gin has been active on many Arizona boards throughout his career including the Asian American Chamber of Commerce Board, Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center Foundation, Maricopa Community College District and Arizona Collegiate High School. Gin continues his commitment to community development with his involvement in AAI, Rotary Club of Idyllwild, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Mountain Community Mutual Aid as a food bank volunteer, and as a board member for the Idyllwild Water District and the Idyllwild Community Center.

Board member: Sasha Nicol
Nicol spent 13 years in electrical engineering. She wrote on the Spruce Moose website, “I came to the magical mountain of Idyllwild as a single parent with a dream. [I had] a dream to have my own business nestled in the beautiful forest, expanding my artistic background while building a future for my children.” Before taking over the ownership of The Spruce Moose in 2015, Nicol enjoyed being home with her children and getting back into her art. She was able to share this with her kids and watch them grow into wonderful artists themselves. Now, much of Nicol’s art manifests itself in the products she creates for The Spruce Moose. “At Spruce Moose, we handcraft a wide and diverse candle line created with natural ingredients,” Nicol said. “Our bath and body creations are also derived from all natural and organic ingredients.” The Spruce Moose also features the art of local artists. “I love creating copper trees with an array of gems and stones that whisper tranquility and healing,” she said. “I have enjoyed AAI for its charitable work with kids and hopefully encouraging future artists.”

Marketing and event chair: Donna Elliot
Elliot’s love of nature began in early childhood in the Ozarks in Missouri. She took up spelunking and that took her around the country and eventually to California in 1972. In California, she fell in love with rock climbing and Idyllwild. Both activities inspired her to travel the world, capturing her adventures in photographs. When it came time to decide where to live upon retiring, she and Neil, her husband, immediately thought Idyllwild. “We took up art in retirement and that led to joining the AAI in 2013,” Elliot said. “Being around such friendly, helpful, talented artists inspired me to venture into many different mediums. My current favorite is digital art where Photoshop enables me to use tools to transform my imagination into physical, visual art. Nature provides much of my inspiration.” Elliot joined the AAI board in 2017 and became president that year. “I am proud of all that we have accomplished with a dynamic team, membership and community,” she said.