GEOCACHING is an outdoor recreational activity, in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, anywhere in the world.
A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing into the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value.
The geocaches of Barga are somewhat different as they in fact do contain objects of value.
This is the first of a series of 20 geocaches which are being hidden in the around the medieval walled city of Barga (LU) in Tuscany over the next month.
The caches contain signed original artworks, drawings, charcoal drawings, prints and etchings by 25 artists working in this area.
There are also mini poems and short stories in Italian and Latin
Professional musicians have prepared a series of cards containing QR codes which when scanned by smart phones will play music specially written for the project. The music includes classic, jazz, piano, tango, rock and folk.
The project is an attempt to “raise the bar” on the level of objects which can be found and exchanged in geocaches.
We hope that the people who find these objects will enjoy them as much as we have in preparing them. (the map can be found here)
Albert Beach – a printmaker from the USA first came to this area in the 80’s as a student at Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna‘s multi-plate etching school
Since then he has been resident working artist dividing his time time between here and California.
“Preoccupied with aesthetic resolutions… and rejecting facile trends, Beach has grounded his art in various painting and print techniques, which he obviously masters. His restless search… to visualize the links between perception, feeling, and thinking becomes a celebratory metaphor of the artist as an independent creative individual… these colorful works are joyful as well as lyrical reflections upon nature, people, locations and the dynamics established between them… Trans-cultural juxtapositions and reconciliation between past and present… reveal a realm of subtle inner forcefulness… [His work testifies], in a discreet and enchanting way, that art should be enjoyed and experienced to its fullest, by all of us.” – Irena D. Costache, Ph.D – Professor of Art History California State University Channel Island
EDUCATION
1977 M. F. A., University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
1969 B. F. A., University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2004 José-Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Mt. St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California
2002 Newport Beach Public Library, Newport Beach, California
2002,1999,1994: Art Gallery, Unitarian Church of Santa Monica, Santa Monica, California
1993 and 1991: Beverly Hills Library, Beverly Hills, California
1989 Jersey City State College, Jersey City, New Jersey
1985 Permanent Contemporary Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1985 Design Center, Los Angeles, California
1977 University of Colorado Fine Arts Gallery, Boulder, Colorado
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2005 Looking At Art Los Angeles World Airports Exhibition, 2005
2003 Songolo Gallery, Idyllwild, California
2001 Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1999 Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
1998 The Tire Shop Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina
1997 School for Color Etching, Barga, Italy
1997 Mount Saint Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California
1995 Millard Sheets Gallery, Multiple Impressions, Pomona, California
1993 Hot off the Press, Santa Monica, California
1993 Ink and Clay, Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona, California
1991 Gene Sinsor Gallery, Los Angeles, California (2 person)
1984 L. A. Printmaking Society, Brand Library, Glendale, California
1983 University of Colorado Prints and Paperworks, Boulder, Colorado
1982 Brea Municipal Gallery, Brea, California
1981 Los Angeles Bicentennial Exhibition, North Hills, California
1979 Potsdam National Drawing Exhibition, Potsdam, New York
1978 Chapman College Print and Drawing Exhibition, Orange, California
1977 Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
1976 Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, New Jersey
1969 University of Arizona Educational Gallery, Tucson, Arizona