New Conejo Cottontail at The Stonehaus in Westlake Village, CA

Congratulations to artist, Ann Krasner! Her Conejo Cottontail - Art of the Tango, is now placed at The Stonehaus in Westlake Village, CA. Stop by and enjoy a gourmet meal and sip on custom roasted coffee as you take in the gorgeous scenery.  

Visit our artists page to learn more about the artist, Ann Krasner! Or simply visit annkrasner.com

A new home for one of our Cottontails!

Artist Spotlight: Sharon Riley

Meet Sharon!

"Art has always been important to me. As a young child I remember my teachers giving me Prang Watercolors and I would paint outside during recess and take the set home to paint.  My artistic desire was the impetus to take art classes in college, explore different mediums at CSUN and CLU and earn a Masters in Education and minor in Art. I’ve enjoyed years of teaching and sharing my enthusiasm for art mediums with children in public school, the Santa Barbara Art Museum, education department, and the Fowler Museum. Presently I work in my studio mosaicking sculptural pieces and imprinting textural plates onto clay.

Being selected as one of the artists for the Public Art Conejo Cottontails Project gave me another opportunity to express myself artistically and emphasize the oaks in our beautiful landscape. Ancient Oak Lore symbolizes the tree as having attributes of “Courage, Strength and Protection”. It seemed natural to me to visualize the Conejo Cottontail encircled within the oaks making it’s home under the spreading branches of the majestic oak. The word “Enchantment” inscribed on the rabbit has a history in literature for children and adults reading fairytales, myths and folklore. Enchantment inspired my imagination to choose mixed media for mosaicking the rabbit using hand cut stained glass, gold smalti, handmade ceramic leaves and several colors of paint airbrushed for an ethereal expression. I believe this Public Art Cottontail and the other Cottontails will be viewed with pride in our community." - Sharon Riley

Check out more of Sharon's work on her website

Congratulations to Wendy Jann & Jennifer Sutman!

Everyone at Conejo Public Art, Art Trek and Arts Council of the Conejo Valley would like to congratulate Wendy Jann and Jennifer Sutman on their Conejo Cottontail sculpture being placed at The Shoppes in Westlake Village this past Friday.

The sculpture is entitled Conglio al Tramonto "Rabbit at Sunset", a fresco style collaboration between Jann and Sutman.  Intertwining their artistic skills to create a stunning piece of public art for the community. 

Artist Spotlight: Wendy Jann & Jennifer Sutman

Wendy Jann - left, Jennifer Sutman - right

Wendy Jann - left, Jennifer Sutman - right

After long time friends and tennis partners, Wendy Jann and Jennifer Sutman learned of the Conejo Cottontails project, they quickly decided to work together.  They pooled their talents with Jen's keen eye for color and Wendy's skill in plaster.  The two determined to decorate their cottontail in lime plaster in the Fresco style of the Old Masters while capturing the colors and beauty found in the sunsets and terrain of the Conejo Valley. 

The next time you see a cottontail nibbling at your flowers with the glow of the sunset on his back, they hope you think of their sculpture, "Coniglio al Tramonto" (Rabbit in the Sunset). 

Art Trek Pays It Forward

Meanwhile at Art Trek...

Our gracious board member, John McKee, nominated Art Trek to receive a Pay It Forward Award from Premier America Credit Union.   We look forward to putting the gift towards current and future programs at Art Trek!   We would like to thank Premier America representatives and John McKee for this generous gift to our organization.

If you know anyone who deserves to be recognized for their charitable efforts in the community, visit Premier America to nominate today!

Cottontail Assembly at Ladera Elementary!

Art Trek Director, Nan Young, brought the Conejo Cottontails to youth at Ladera Elementary School! Students were given a presentation all about cottontails in the Conejo Valley and a great little clay project.

Conejo's on KCLU!

We had a special guest at the Art Trek studio last week! KCLU news director, Lance Orozco stopped by to interview our director, Nan Young about the Conejo Public Art Project - Conejo Cottontails! One of our featured artists and maker of the original cottontail maquette, Cate Hartenstein, was also at the studio working on her groovy Cottontail Sculpture!

Tune in tomorrow morning to listen to the interview on KCLU! 

7:45am & 8:45am

88.3 FM Ventura County

102.3 FM Santa Barbara

Listen Online at KCLU.ORG

photos by Steve Teeple