Campers at Halecrest Park in Costa Mesa dig for fossils fabricated by retired teacher
The summertime diversion was presented by 96-year-old Bob Schureman, a member of the private neighborhood tennis and swim club and a materials fabrication and manufacturing teacher who only recently retired from Pasadena's ArtCenter College of Design.
A former industrial arts teacher at Costa Mesa's Estancia High School, from 1965 to 1985, Schureman has taught generations of students in his 63-year career. So, the nonagenarian was only too happy to lead an impromptu lesson for attendees of Halecrest's Fun Day Camp, ages 4 to 12.
Applying his expertise in fabrication, Schureman crafted molds from fossils kept at Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits, creating exact replicas of every fiber, crack and crevice in the original pieces.
Halecrest counselors buried the treasures in the site's beach volleyball pit, arranging shovels and sifters as the retired teacher laid out a table with books, molds and plastic castings, including a life-sized wooly mammoth tusk. Campers arrived in groups of 20 or more kids.
'Hello everybody, I'm Old Bob,' Schureman said, flashing an ear-to-ear grin. 'How many of you ever thought that there were once elephants in California? Has anybody been to the La Brea Tar Pits? Isn't it neat? They all roamed here 25,000 years ago.'
The retired teacher's talk touched on everything from fabrication and archaeology to the importance of having enthusiasm for one's life and work to the need for more young people to enter the teaching profession.
'The beauty is, there are so many wonderful opportunities for you,' Schureman told campers.
Combining lessons with play is par for the course at Halecrest Fun Day Camp, which focuses on keeping kids unplugged from electronic devices and encourages campers to run, jump, climb and play with friends they've forged bonds with over the years, as well as newcomers to the site.
In addition to the usual playground antics, camp founder and Halecrest activities director Sharon Comer creates a summer schedule of themed weeks that help liven up the offerings with specific activities, lessons and games, including a science week.
Although Schureman's visit came during Olympic Week, it was a perfect fit for the camp's curriculum of keeping kids intellectually curious.
And the sand play areas on the site are the perfect arena to do just that, according to Comer.
'With the sand, they build these little cities and they find all these different shells,' she said. 'Sometimes, they find horseshoes and we turn it into, 'Can you imagine, there must have been a horse farm here.''
After Schureman's pep talk, campers were unloosed on the pit. They shoveled heaps of sand into sifters until fabricated fossils emerged. With trophies in hand, they returned to the teacher's table, where the retiree affixed their finds to wooden plaques bearing facts about the smilodon (saber-toothed cat) and megalodon.
Mason Madden, 6, was the first archaeologist to unearth an object — a massive shark's tooth, along with a relatively puny counterpart taken from a great white shark.
'The megalodon's tooth is much bigger than a regular shark,' Mason said. 'Can we do it again? I want a saber tooth.'
Nearby, 11-year-old camper Abby Alessandrini huddled together with friends Carson Princi, 9, and Sedona Kelly, 8, talking about who found what and making plans for where they would hang their plaques at home.
'I wanted to get all of them,' Carson said. 'What's crazy is how they make it so real. It almost freaks me out.'
Abby has been coming to Halecrest's camp since before kindergarten and said, despite the lack of technology and screen time, she looks forward to seeing the friends she's made over many summers.
'I like that I can see my friends, and that it has a lot of activities,' she said, calling out for nearby campers Lucy Cruz and Emma Watson, both 10, to join the huddle where some serious girl talk ensued.
As the morning's lesson wound down and campers returned to their respective play areas, Schureman fastidiously fastened the last few denticles to their wooden mounts. He handed a saber-toothed tiger plaque to a tiny, tow-headed camper.
'Do you believe in the tooth fairy?' he asked, receiving a nod in reply. 'Tell your mom and dad, 'Look at this tooth!' You can get a lot of money for that.'
Nearby, Schureman's wife of nearly 75 years, Mary, looked on with a smile.
'Bob's in his glory,' she said.
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Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Campers at Halecrest Park in Costa Mesa dig for fossils fabricated by retired teacher
Costa Mesa's Halecrest Park transformed into an archeological dig site Tuesday, as kids sifted through a massive sand pit with brushes and shovels, searching for replica saber-tooth cat and megalodon teeth and excavating the jawbone of a Tyrannosaurus rex. The summertime diversion was presented by 96-year-old Bob Schureman, a member of the private neighborhood tennis and swim club and a materials fabrication and manufacturing teacher who only recently retired from Pasadena's ArtCenter College of Design. A former industrial arts teacher at Costa Mesa's Estancia High School, from 1965 to 1985, Schureman has taught generations of students in his 63-year career. So, the nonagenarian was only too happy to lead an impromptu lesson for attendees of Halecrest's Fun Day Camp, ages 4 to 12. Applying his expertise in fabrication, Schureman crafted molds from fossils kept at Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits, creating exact replicas of every fiber, crack and crevice in the original pieces. Halecrest counselors buried the treasures in the site's beach volleyball pit, arranging shovels and sifters as the retired teacher laid out a table with books, molds and plastic castings, including a life-sized wooly mammoth tusk. Campers arrived in groups of 20 or more kids. 'Hello everybody, I'm Old Bob,' Schureman said, flashing an ear-to-ear grin. 'How many of you ever thought that there were once elephants in California? Has anybody been to the La Brea Tar Pits? Isn't it neat? They all roamed here 25,000 years ago.' The retired teacher's talk touched on everything from fabrication and archaeology to the importance of having enthusiasm for one's life and work to the need for more young people to enter the teaching profession. 'The beauty is, there are so many wonderful opportunities for you,' Schureman told campers. Combining lessons with play is par for the course at Halecrest Fun Day Camp, which focuses on keeping kids unplugged from electronic devices and encourages campers to run, jump, climb and play with friends they've forged bonds with over the years, as well as newcomers to the site. In addition to the usual playground antics, camp founder and Halecrest activities director Sharon Comer creates a summer schedule of themed weeks that help liven up the offerings with specific activities, lessons and games, including a science week. Although Schureman's visit came during Olympic Week, it was a perfect fit for the camp's curriculum of keeping kids intellectually curious. And the sand play areas on the site are the perfect arena to do just that, according to Comer. 'With the sand, they build these little cities and they find all these different shells,' she said. 'Sometimes, they find horseshoes and we turn it into, 'Can you imagine, there must have been a horse farm here.'' After Schureman's pep talk, campers were unloosed on the pit. They shoveled heaps of sand into sifters until fabricated fossils emerged. With trophies in hand, they returned to the teacher's table, where the retiree affixed their finds to wooden plaques bearing facts about the smilodon (saber-toothed cat) and megalodon. Mason Madden, 6, was the first archaeologist to unearth an object — a massive shark's tooth, along with a relatively puny counterpart taken from a great white shark. 'The megalodon's tooth is much bigger than a regular shark,' Mason said. 'Can we do it again? I want a saber tooth.' Nearby, 11-year-old camper Abby Alessandrini huddled together with friends Carson Princi, 9, and Sedona Kelly, 8, talking about who found what and making plans for where they would hang their plaques at home. 'I wanted to get all of them,' Carson said. 'What's crazy is how they make it so real. It almost freaks me out.' Abby has been coming to Halecrest's camp since before kindergarten and said, despite the lack of technology and screen time, she looks forward to seeing the friends she's made over many summers. 'I like that I can see my friends, and that it has a lot of activities,' she said, calling out for nearby campers Lucy Cruz and Emma Watson, both 10, to join the huddle where some serious girl talk ensued. As the morning's lesson wound down and campers returned to their respective play areas, Schureman fastidiously fastened the last few denticles to their wooden mounts. He handed a saber-toothed tiger plaque to a tiny, tow-headed camper. 'Do you believe in the tooth fairy?' he asked, receiving a nod in reply. 'Tell your mom and dad, 'Look at this tooth!' You can get a lot of money for that.' Nearby, Schureman's wife of nearly 75 years, Mary, looked on with a smile. 'Bob's in his glory,' she said.
Los Angeles Times
25-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Movie memories take hold as film art awareness is raised in ‘Rewind' at O.C. Fair
There are so many ways to watch digital content now that it has become an exercise in memory to recall what it was like to anticipate a release date. Stars of the screen have long been cemented in popular culture, some forever tied to iconic roles. Can you see Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly checking his watch in 'Back to the Future?' How about Mark Hamill leading a band of rebels against an evil empire as Luke Skywalker in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy? Well, there's more remembrances where that came from when one walks back through time in 'Rewind: A VHS Revival.' It's a debut exhibit at the Orange County Fair largely dedicated to the people and processes behind the artwork of the movie poster. After a couple of years of shows that focused on the music industry, including larger-than-life likenesses of the performing artists and then reproductions of well-known album covers, this new theme has emerged from the Art of Music Collection. 'I think a lot of people don't realize that somebody puts in that time and energy and refines a process through working with certain materials to create an image that becomes etched in people's memory,' said Joy Feuer, co-founder and curator of the exhibit. 'It evokes going to the movies with family or friends, a date night. … On the music stuff that we did, listening to an album or remembering a concert and being there with somebody. 'It's such a touchstone, and I think it's so important to note that it's not just the record companies or the movie companies that bring that to you, but it's these human beings who create an image. They're often not credited, and I have a huge soft spot in my heart and in my mind to bring those people into the spotlight and give them their due.' The career of the late John Alvin is explored in 'Creating the Promise of a Great Experience,' a standalone section that illustrates the steps taken to produce lasting images, such as the touching fingertips in 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.' Several examples of his concept art are included, among them 'Aladdin,' 'Batman Forever,' 'Blade Runner' and the aforementioned 'Star Wars.' Alvin's widow, Andrea, said they met in art school at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. In working with the film industry, the designer's projects were often subject to conditions. 'Oftentimes, the most creative work comes out of the most restrictions because you're forced to come up with something … that meets all of these requirements,' Andrea Alvin said. 'In essence, that's what illustration is. It's not just illustration, but you have to be creative within the confines of what you are trying to say in the painting. 'I wrote a book about John called 'The Art of John Alvin,' … and my idea with it was to show the process, so I had everything from very rough sketches and some of our little notes and things on legal pads, all the way to finished art,' she continued. 'That was what Joy really connected with, and that was what she tried to show in the exhibit.' In some cases, studios did not want to have the designer sign their work. In 'Rewind,' Leslie Combemale, who represented Alvin's work, sees a means of bringing recognition to the artists who contributed to the success of movies. 'This is iconic and important work artistically but also a part of the making of a film,' said Combemale, owner of ArtInsights Gallery of Film and Contemporary Art. 'We want people to be more aware of that, and in general, more aware of below-the-line artists who have such an impact on the finished product of a film and how integral they are to a film's success.' Dawn Baillie, known for her work with 'Dirty Dancing,' 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Little Miss Sunshine,' also grabs the designer spotlight in an exhibit called 'Anatomy of a Poster.' Also displayed are works produced by J.C. Backings, a scenic backdrop company founded by John Harold Coakley and his son, John Gary Coakley, in 1962. Backdrops utilized in the filming of 'The Sound of Music' and 'Logan's Run' are included in the show. 'It's a family-run business,' Feuer said. 'The great-grandfather was the one who had the vision. He saw this need, that Hollywood needed these really large-scale, hand-painted backdrops to create that cityscape, or mountain range, or whatever the scene was. They were an artistic family, so they started painting and doing it. 'They have in their possession a really vast archive, and so we rented two of their backdrops for the show, and those are the original ones. … They're not replicas. These are exactly what the film shot certain scenes from.' When fairgoers walk into the Huntington Beach building through the entrance on the east side, they are hit with a rush of nostalgia due to a display of videotapes on the racks. Blossom Marshall, visiting the fair from Riverside, said the video store setup reminded her of the 'Blockbuster days.' A whole section was dedicated to classic Disney animated movies. Film fanatics also took advantage of opportunities to grab photos with cutouts of the crew from 'The Wizard of Oz,' as well as a chance to strike a pose on the dance floor under a shimmering disco ball like John Travolta's Tony Manero in a 'Saturday Night Fever' set. Those who wanted to get off their feet were able to collapse into chairs that appeared to have come straight from the cinema, some of which provided a front-row seat to live painting reproductions of famous movie posters. Angel Acordagoitia spent the opening week of the fair, which runs through Aug. 17, working on 'Bride of Frankenstein.' It's his third time in the show in as many years, he remarked, reminiscing about painting album covers of Queens of the Stone Age and the Offspring the past couple of summers. Interacting with the public comes with the territory. Acordagoitia was open to comments and questions, adding that he is always with people as a DJ, a muralist and a tattoo artist. 'Since I was a kid, I always wanted to draw and paint,' said Acordagoitia, a Whittier resident who has branded himself as the Night Artist. 'Luckily, my parents have always encouraged me. … I know it's hard, but if you have the drive [and] make connections, that's what you need.' Scotty Roller, Jeff Lee and TerriLee Holm are also participating as painters of movie posters during the fair. A stone's throw from them is yet another interactive exhibit. Visitors to the 'Magic of Matte Painting' need a partner to fully enjoy it. One can walk through a set — their movement captured on camera against a city street backdrop — while their companion takes in the full picture on another screen. Betty Carlos of Upland, one of the vendors at the fair, called the movie-focused showcase a 'nice surprise' and a refresh for returning audiences. 'It's always lovely because they did such an amazing job, but having something new, we have a lot of season passholders who are looking for something new every time,' said Carlos, who counted a bar themed after 'Moulin Rouge' among the unexpected sightings. 'Therefore, having this new experience was definitely a refresher and an exciting new exhibit.'
New York Times
08-07-2025
- New York Times
The Curious Animals of Amsterdam's Art Zoo
Eva Krook stood inside a canal mansion in Amsterdam last year, nervously awaiting news about a lost Tyrannosaurus rex. Krook had received a phone call from Italy informing her that there had been a mix-up with four crates in which the giant fossil replica had been packed for shipping to her new museum. The massive tail, rib cage, pelvic bone and limbs had all arrived, but when she opened up the fourth crate it was empty, save for a few scattered wood shavings. The T. rex's skull was missing. This was one of the hiccups in setting up the Art Zoo, an ambitious new museum that opened to the public in the center of Amsterdam last month. Situated in a 17th-century mansion in the city's canal district, the museum brings together natural history and contemporary taxidermy created by two Dutch artists who call themselves Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren. Krook, the museum's director, said the T. rex wasn't her only logistical problem. She also had to figure out how to get a giant gorilla, made of 78 yards of denim, through the building's long and narrow front doors. 'This is a landmark building, so it's not like we can just break a door to fit it in,' she said. 'I joked that I felt like I was visiting the gynecologist, because we're always trying to figure out how to get the baby out — or in this case, in.' The T. rex and the denim gorilla are just two of more than 200 extraordinary objects now on show at the Art Zoo. The museum was created by Ferry van Tongeren and Jaap Sinke, a Haarlem, Netherlands-based artistic duo behind Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
