‘Dorland at the Brandon’ brings Valley artists to Fallbrook

Associated artists with the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony took the opportunity to show off their latest art creations, recite passages from their original poems and read from their latest publications July 9 at the Brandon Gallery in Fallbrook.

The board of directors of the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony nestled in the foothills above Temecula off Highway 79 invited artists from many venues from throughout the Temecula Valley and Fallbrook area to join with them at the “Dorland at the Brandon” event as a part of their newest outreach program.

“We are all juried artists here,” Janice Cipriani-Willis, resident executive director of Dorland Mountain Art Colony, said. “We want to showcase all our associated artists here at Brandon. We want to show their work to the community and have Dorland connect with Fallbrook.”

The Brandon Gallery, located at 105 N. Main Ave., is managed by Dorland Board member Noreen Ring who gave a short presentation about the gallery and some of her own art work and poetry.

“We have about 40 associate artists at our gallery here. It’s more of a cooperative effort,” Ring said.

According to Ring, the Dorland at the Brandon was one way of expanding the colony’s outreach to other regional cities. The Dorland Art associates have the opportunity to stay at the colony headquarters for days or weeks at a time so they can concentrate on improving their art.

The Dorland Associated Artists, are all “juried,” or those that have competed, shown or published their works either online or publicly in their respective venues.

At Dorland, accomplished artists are welcome no matter what their venues are. Musicians, painters, visual artists, writers and photographers have visited the colony that currently provides two furnished cabins, work areas and a measure of solitude under a canvas of live oak trees, ponds and the general beauty of peace and nature at nominal prices. A piano is available for musicians with the promise of a new grand piano on the horizon.

Artists visiting the Dorland at the Brandon were invited to join other members of the nonprofit Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. Curtis Horton, president of the Dorland board, welcomed guests and invited them to read, show or explain their works.

Associate members like David McQuain talked about how he enjoyed embossing prints, showing several and his other scratch board art pieces.

Kathy Stradley, a new associate, said she was pleased with being a member of Dorland and showed several landscape paintings, including a plein air landscape of Lake Skinner. “I love to paint at Lake Skinner,” she said.

An ex-Marine and caretaker at the colony, Michael Carrier, invited to the microphone, shyly gave a reading of a life experience when he was a cab driver. He described how he saved the life of an accident victim.

“There is nothing better than saving a human life,” he said.

Dorland Mountain Arts Colony was founded in 1979 by concert pianist Ellen Dorland and environmentalist Barbara Horton. Solitary cottages provide studio and living facilities within the Dorland Preserve, a 300-acre wilderness area acquired by The Nature Conservancy. Dorland Mountain Arts Colony is a nonprofit organization. Its purpose is to deepen the quality of the creative process, enabling its residents to explore their own creative resources without distraction. Residency Applications are reviewed monthly.

For more information, see http://www.dorlandartscolony.org.