Meet: Mary Beth Trautwein

Director and co-founder of the reDiscover Center Mary Beth Trautwein received her MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Before moving to Los Angeles she was a designer at the Central Park Zoo and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She was part of the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition design team that created the permanent and opening exhibitions for the museum opening in 1997. She has served on the boards of the Western Museums Association and the National Association of Museum Exhibition.

Under her leadership reDiscover established its current location, initiated efforts with more than a dozen civic and non-profit organizations, and developed a field trip program to reach elementary school students, which was approved for meeting State educational standards by LA County Arts Commission. She has led hands-on programs for educators, parents and children with the themes of creativity, design, community and resource conservation since 2005. Through her initiatives with the environmental community reDiscover was awarded a 2007 Sustainable Quality Award from the City of Santa Monica. In 2009 Mary Beth completed the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Teaching Artists Training Program. In 2010 she completed a fellowship with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education by participating in the online community of arts educators, submitting arts lessons and presenting at the “Art + Open = Change” Conference held in San Francisco March 6, 2010.

Mary Beth Trautwein will be teaching KIDS: REDISCOVER WORKSHOP/CRAFTS WITH RECYCLABLE MATERIALS at 11:00 AM at the HomeGrown event.

Meet: Orchid Black

Orchid Black is a garden designer and owner of Pitcher Sage Design, which offers native plant consulting, habitat creation and sustainable design services to the greater Los Angeles area. Orchid writes and lectures about native plants, water-saving strategies, and sustainable gardening, and has taught Sustainable Garden Practice for UCLA Extension.

Orchid Black will be teaching WATER STRATEGIES FOR DRY CLIMATE with at 11:00 AM at the HomeGrown event.

Meet: Nysha Dahlgren/Ardenwoods Edibles

Growing up in Northern California, I had a garden with my dad each and every year from the time I was 8. We would plot and plan and go get seed at the GroRite Nursery and spend hours and hours together working the soil in our back lot. We were lucky enough to have a large plot of land behind my parents formal Japanese Style gardens to work with and everything from Tomatoes to Pumpkins graced our funny little edible plot.

Educated in Sociology and Landscape Architecture has made me appreciate both the Science and Psychology behind why people love to be close to the land. My journey to Ardenwoods Edibles has taken me from owning my own design office, working in Themed Entertainment to designing high end residential plots all over our fair City. Spurred by a love of food, and knowing where it comes from Ardenwoods Edibles was born. A small wholesale culinary nursery in Pasadena, California. We are open to Landscape Professionals and Chefs. Our monthly events are open to Garden Enthusiasts where I live with my gorgeous and supportive husband, my adorable daughter, a noble German Shepherd Dog, and a feisty Shorty Irish Jack Terrier!

Nysha Dahlgren from Ardenwoods Edibles will be giving kid’s workshops from the Ardenwoods Edibles booth at the HomeGrown event.

Meet: Madame Chocolate

Catherine Allison (Madame Chocolat) studied classical acting at Dartington College of Arts in England and then went on to take advanced classes in physical theatre and clowning with Jacques Lecoq, in Paris…clowning was the thing that she found the most challenging…and funnily enough it has been the thing that has ‘stuck’, that she fully devoted herself to and which comes quite naturally to her now!

Before becoming a mother Catherine toured Internationally in ensemble physical theatre productions and clown shows. Since then she has turned her attention to working with children—initially with the creation of her own quirky clown character ‘Madame Chocolat‘ who began as (and continues to be) a fabulous children’s party entertainer and has now developed into new areas such as the environmental show that you will witness today ‘Madame Chocolat Goes Green’. Madame Chocolat was recently awarded the Nickelodeon Parent Picks Best Children’s Entertainer for 2009.

Another string to Catherine’s bow is ‘Dramabee Acting Workshops for Kids’—here she uses the playful techniques that she learned in Paris to teach children the joy of acting. She harnesses their innate creativity and encourages them to trust their instincts, thus producing exciting, original productions which bring out the best in them. Each show is built from a series of stories that the children have told and choreographies that they have made—the kids cast themselves, and are not afraid to make ‘mistakes’…which makes for confident, riveting, spontaneous performances.

Catherine Allison will be at KIDS THEATRE at 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM at the HomeGrown event.