What a pleasure to walk to the foyer of the Lyceum Theatre that is packed with people who are enjoying Platt artwork in the gallery!
For the last ten years Platt College exhibits at least once a year in the gallery of Lyceum Theatre, a home of San Diego Repertory Theatre. We are proud to be affiliated with this particular company that features provocative and consistently excellent productions. We have collaborated with the Rep Theatre, for which we designed all of the material for their productions, for about six years. The theatre liked so much Platt talent that the position of graphic designer for the theatre is filled with a Platt graduate.
Our exhibit counted one hundred pieces of digital and fine art work of Platt students and teachers. During our opening reception we also featured students’ short films that were viewed and seemed very much liked not only by our guests but also by many who came to see the theatre production.
It is our privilege to serve a noble role of an ambassador of our students’ and teachers’ talent and their insatiable passion for creativity!
We came, enjoyed and left inspired!
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always being
so very much fun… (L. Ferlinghetti)
To bring heaven to earth is easy in theory – and this is how it should work: We have to respect each other, listen to each other, think carefully about our replies in argument, we have to ward off rushed words with the shield of patience…and the list goes on as you know it.
Why is it hard to execute the above in reality? Because we are passionate creatures! Too many of us love our way and we decide to convince others to show how our way is the better way…
We at Platt do not try “to change the world”, we just try to contribute into the common good by striving to be better dwellers on this beautiful Earth.
We celebrated our Earth and pledged that we will take care of her better. We also pledged we will always exercise kindness, honesty and solidarity.
And while celebrating our Earth -a chance to show solidarity appeared.
In mere one and half hour we raised $1, 042 to help West, TX and Boston victims of the terrible tragedies. Our Platt College President and Chairman were so impressed by the generosity of our students and staff that they matched our amount…. so we sent to West, TX and Boston $2,084.
To love our Earth goes hand in hand with making out of us a responsible, respectful, kind and happy crowd of Earth dwellers. We try our best to do that here at Platt College!
With my students at Shelter Island at creative poetry session.
They make me feel eternally YOUNG, they INSPIRE me, they TOUCH me, they INVIGORATE me,they make me happily jump up from my bed daily to meet them, my creative souls!
Once they asked Albet Einstein how he does it that his students have such brilliant results. How do you teach them, they asked. “I do not teach them”, Einstein replied, “I create conditions for them to learn.”
I was always inspired by the quote and I had believed in it since the time I was a student myself. Now, as a teacher, I may not have such brilliant results with my students, and I am certainly not matching in any way Albert Einstein. I just try to implement what he suggests. And we all do at Platt. We try to create opportunities for our students that will make them discover things without even knowing they are in the midst of the learning process. Like going to Balboa Park and learn about architecture and intricacies of history in which all make sense as a mosaic does when put together, like visiting museum and learn about certain technique of painting, like observing an art director talking to his staff about the client reservation to the submitted project, like going to Los Angeles to hear a presentation of the newest trends in animation, like bringing an excellent meditation or dance teacher to our classroom to help us realized what is important in life, like going to the theatre and weep or laugh with the heroine and realize that we are not alone with our feelings, like listening to Rachmaninoff concert in a concert hall with hundreds of others in such a silence that we, just for a split of a second, had revelation what classical music is about and how it fits with who we are, like recording a podcast in English class, like putting up a private exhibition of chosen art pieces in art history class and pretending we are curators, like pretending we are graphic artists and our teachers mean clients whom we have to please…OR, taking my students in lit class to nature to write poetry. And they all did with ease hard to imagine.
I left happy and richer of beautiful images my students, who are visual artist, not writers, left with me. Creativity is only one. Once you let is grow, it gives many various beautiful fruits!
March 24, 2013 – 10:18 pm
We celebrate kindness and love whenever we have an opportunity! February gives us every year a chance to acknowledge all of the “amors” inspiring us for love, compassion, understanding, a joy of company and kindness. And so we decided to celebrate one of the love aspects: companionship.
Companionship! What a beautiful word, what a beautiful concept. The origin of this word comes from the noun “bread” and the verb “to share”. Metaphorically then, a companion is someone with whom we enjoy the beauty of our life, someone who gives us peace of mind, understanding, compassion, encouragement, someone who simply loves us the way we are!
Our Platt celebration offers an opportunity to practice all of the properties of companionship! Our students and teachers gather in our courtyard to share some time together in the Platt company sharing appreciation for similar avenues in life- especially creative expression of the world around us.
St. Valentine, the martyr from Roman Empire who practiced kindness, was surely kindly watching over us!
March 20, 2013 – 10:22 pm
Who would not stop in his rushed steps through the Platt modest campus when there is a unusual sound coming from the courtyard: a pleasant joyful tune by Johanne Sebastian Bach played by woodwinds….once you reach the middle of the courtyard you may be surprised not to find the expected CD playing, but a “real” trio, members of San Diego Symphony presenting beautiful classical music just for us. What a special morning! This wonderful trio- oboist Andrea Overturf, bassoonist Ryan Simmons and clarinetist Frank Renk – came to Platt to present for us a collection of well known pieces from Bach to Puccini.
Our courtyard is certainly not a symphony hall, but with the silver and gold balloons swaying in the wind, scent of coffee and fresh muffins in the air and students and teachers standing curiously as close as possible to the musicians (have you ever notice the unusual physical beauty of a bassoon?) created a pleasant ambiance nevertheless.
I always think that you will recognize a professional by the effort that does not know limit – if a musician plays in a symphony hall or in a courtyard for students who are munching on muffins – you simply give the best of you. And this trio, without any doubts, certainly did .
As I mentioned in my previous blog post – music is not just a pleasant passage of time, it is much more to music. But that is a topic for some future writing! For now I just want to say that the half and hour of a live classical music sent to the air something special, unique, inspiring and touching. And we at Platt College were lucky to witness that on one special Monday morning in March.
Thank you, San Diego Symphony, thank you, Andrea, Ryan and Frank!
March 14, 2013 – 11:41 pm
Classical music is an inseparable part of our life as it reflects, along with other categories of art, who we are, what we go through, maps our emotional intelligence, teases our patience, calls for challenge, expresses the subtle moves of our souls and it may drive us crazy! As music does not resemble anything we can compare to in the nature- it offers an opportunity to make our own sense of it, opportunity to create our own brave new world. If it were not for music, perhaps part of what is within us may never be awakened.
Just my thoughts!
It has been proven scientifically long ago that even exposure to music, not to mention active involvement in music, opens the right passages in our brain that stimulate analytical thinking, helping us decide quicker just about anything. There is a direct link between studying music and high academic achievements in math and especially geometry, and overall academic success was observed at students who are involved in music. Music does not just feel good, it is not just a fun passage of time. There is much more to it.
Classical education, laid in in Medieval Time, considered music so important that music was one of the seven main university subjects (one of seven liberal arts) along with astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, grammar, rhetoric and logic.
Our students have to take Enjoyment of Music class and perhaps it is not always “enjoyment”!! I think it was a true enjoyment when a renown musician Radim Zenkl visited Platt to talk about music and to demonstrate about a dozen of ethnics woodwinds from around the world , and to perform on his main instrument – the mandolin. Our students embraced his performance and talk with vigor and left inspired and ready to look for any instrument just to try to make some sensible musical noise!
To bring music to the Platt classrooms is our pleasure!
February 4, 2013 – 11:09 pm
I thought George was suspicious of me when I met him years ago…Who is this teacher who teaches art only at night and brings week by week her own slide projector, boom box, sometimes guitar….who is she, he was askig around. One day his suspicion proved him right, but what happened broke the spell. He was passionately telling me that one day I have to bring my newborn son Lukash to a Chargers’ game. I was new to this country, new to San Diego and as European I thought when people are so passionate about sports they must speak about soccer or ice hockey…and so, I asked the wrong, very wrong question: “Are those Chargers in soccer or ice hockey league?” George’s eyes could pop-up from his face! And the spell was broken. George knew he has to take this strange woman with the accent he had to get used to under his macho wings. For god sake, is there anyone in the world who may think that Chargers are soccer players?
It has been many years since that day and George became my anchor when I became a dean, an anchor who gave me the peace of mind that he will always “fix the problem”. Always ready to put the fire out, that was his strength, to know a remedy for a crisis, so our classrooms run smoothly. He was totally self-taught, and I have never seen him not to know what to do. And we speak the daily changing technology
George never complimented, praised or sugar coated, he was who he was and he showed his likeness by his incredible loyalty. And you knew if he liked you.
Well, when I think about it, he is the only person to whom I forgave that he prefered BudLight over the excellent strong Czech Pisner Urquell beer!
I miss him terribly.
January 15, 2013 – 12:54 pm
Hello my students and friends of Platt College!
May the Thirteenth year of our century be full of joy, good health and indefinite love for life, our wonderful mother earth and its people!
I admire the incredible achievements in science and technology, and along with the touching beauty of art and culture I seek out often, it inspires me daily. Thank you all who are responsible for these gifts!
Our glass up for 2013 – to inspiration, to achievements, to generosity, to goodwill and a zest for life with smile!
December 11, 2012 – 12:40 am
Cantua set such a wonderful ambience!
The night was alive with thousands of lights and festive ornaments, wonderful music, fire dance, laughs and a crowd of happy people. Our sixth annual celebration of creativity had something for everyone to enjoy: from beautifully arranged food platters (our students are creative at each task!), elegant desirable raffle, excellent galleries featuring the eclectic talent of our students and teachers, to professional photo and sound sessions. While strolling through the campus you could run into your friend or colleague, chat with Santa Claus or Elf, have your portrait taken, carol with us, watch short students’ films or excellent documentary from Platt last trip abroad, but you could also spot a gorilla, a tiger or stunnigly beautiful woman with uniquely creative hairstyle posing on the red carpet…and if you were not up to all of the glamor, you could sit quietly on a bench enjoying your hotdog while leafing through our new Muse magazine or observing the kids with beautiful paintings on their smiling faces enjoying all the sweets they would periodically snatch from the tables. When there is celebration, all is allowed!
The end of the year is meant to be celebrated, it is meant to look back and asses what we achieved and thus conclude one mini chapter only to open a new one. Whatever it is we are achieving is meaningful only if we always employ kindness, honesty and willingness to listen. And if we feel we did not do enough of that – here is our chance to start right now as the holiday spirit seem to open within us more urgent desires to live in peace, joy and understanding.
May these desires linger with us for the longest time!
Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, joy, love and peace for all!
