Halloween Happenings: Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA

Halloween is just around the corner, and a trip to visit an exhibition on the King of Halloween Town Jack Skellington  Tim Burton is just what we needed to kick the season into high gear! 

The Resnik Pavilion at LACMA is currently home to a retrospective on Burton which artfully displays hundreds of his works. Campers start out by learning about Burton's roots in Burbank, his time as a student at CalArts and his early career as an illustrator with Disney. The exhibit does a great job if balancing displays of Burton's big hits like Edward Scissorhands and Nightmare Before Christmas with his lesser known works including his commercials and short films. We particularly loved that special attention was paid to one of our macabre favorites, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. The presentation and range of Burton's works do a great job of framing his story.

The exhibit is on display until October 31 and Tickets are $20 or free with LACMA membership.

Summer Camp Forever!

We recommend that Campers get there early or stay late to enjoy a delicious libation at the recently opened Stark Bar. It's part of the Patina group and is an excellent addition to the LACMA ambiance.

Summer Reading: An Object of Beauty

Steve Martin's latest novel, An Object of Beauty proved to be an excellent novel to kick off our Summer Reading series. We happened upon the book while browsing the new release shelves of our local Mid Valley Regional Library. We were impressed with Martin's Shopgirl and were excited to pick up his newest literary work.

Object of Beauty chronicles the life of Lacey Yeager through the eyes of one of her many gentlemen admirers, Daniel Franks. Yeager is a dynamic and ambitious young woman who wants to make it big in the New York art world. Through out the novel, Franks serves as Yeager's convenient friend, sounding board and overall partner in crime. We first meet meet her fresh out of college, preparing for her first job interview at Sotheby's.

Yeager uses her charm and cunning to work her way up the ladder at Sotheby's and befriends gallery owner Barton Talley along the way. Talley recognizes Yeager is one of a kind and takes her on a business trip to Russia to look at paintings he is interested in. After getting let go from Sotheby's after some sort of "incident" occurs Yeager goes to work for Talley. He serves as her mentor for the next few years until she opens her own gallery, and eventually becomes his equal. 


Martin chronicles Yeager's highs and lows in the New York are scene. We rejoiced with her when she acquired her first Warhol and opened her first gallery. We also felt pangs of loss as Yeager experienced 9/11 and the 2007 collapse of the stock market. The loyal Franks, who works as an art journalist, dryly narrates Yeager's vivid life. His uneventful tone provides a fantastic dichotomy to the constant stimulation of Yeager's adventures.


As with Shopgirl, Martin really captures the essence of what it is to be a young woman growing up in a vivacious and exciting world, and that is one of the major reasons that we liked this novel. Yeager is a fantastic character with many layers. She is someone who you want to be, yet you abhor at times. We look forward to Martin's next novel.

Things We Love: Art Rebel

Happy Rainy Day Wednesday Campers! Want some fun indoors? Your camp counselors recently had a tremendously fun outing with our friends at Art Rebel. We joined them for their monthly "Paint Dancing" event. What is paint dancing? We found out for you! Enjoy a glass of wine and the music is turned up. Pick up a paint brush among the other "artists" joining you for the evening and in time with the music, you move around the table scrawling whatever your heart desires onto the paper.

Fox News' Good Day LA recently checked covered this fun new art experience and you can view the video here.

We can't wait to go back to Art Rebel - they have a whole calendar of terrific events and great groupon deals so give them a "Like" on Facebook to check out all their upcoming art amazements! We'll keep you posted on future Summer Camp Forever outings to Art Rebel, because of course, like any good campers, we love arts & crafts!

Planning Today for Fun Tomorrow

Here at Summer Camp Forever your camp counselors believe that every day should be lived like you're at Summer Camp: fun and fanciful. We also know that you have to prepare today for fun times tomorrow. Here is a list of some things that we are looking forward to this summer:

We'll be celebrating the 4th of July with Zephyr Whitewater Expeditions on the Kings River. Zephyr has been running trips on California's rivers since 1973, and we've been rafting with them since 2005. We have a great time unplugging for the weekend to enjoy the outdoors. Zephyr's fantastic guides make sure that your trip is unforgettable.

The Hollywood Bowl has quite a season planned. We are so lucky to have this world class venue in our backyard. We are looking forward listening to Sara McLachlan serenade us in July. We are also dusting off our Fraulein Maria outfits for The Sound of Music Sing-A-Long in September.

What are you looking forward to this summer?