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To register, we prefer you pay online via the black "REGISTER" button. For other options, contact O'Neil Dillon at oneilsdillon@gmail.com or 510-207-8761
Each year, our PBK association holds its annual conference at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. What many may not realize is we are a stone’s throw from the heart of the California Impressionist movement of the late-19th and early 20th century. Many of the masterpieces of this art movement are on display at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, including E. Charlton Fortune, Granville Redmond, William Wendt and many others. Many of their painting are of landscapes and seascapes in and near Asilomar.
The Crocker describes their art movement thusly:
“Once Impressionism took hold in California, the style proved broadly popular and long-lived, as it seemed an appropriate means of capturing California’s climate, terrain, color, sunshine, and identity. Like Impressionists elsewhere, Californians made their art modern through light, color, and broken brushwork, though many of their subjects—the Sierra, rolling hills, expressive trees, the coast, and the sea.”
Come join us for a docent-led tour of this collection and other California artists who came after, including Wayne Theibaud, Gregory Kondos and others.
Location: Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street, Sacramento (corner of 3rd and O streets, downtown Sacramento near I-5 and Highway 50 exits)
Meet at the Crocker Museum ticket desk
Date: Saturday March 1 at 10 a.m.
Parking: Lots and metered spaces are nearby
Limit: 20
Fee: PBKNCA members and their guests $20, all others $25
Accessibility: The Crocker Art Museum is fully ADA accessible and barrier-free.
PBKNCA on-site contact: Jim & Lori Richardson, who will meet you inside the museum
For more information about the collection:
https://www.crockerart.org/art/collections/american-art-1800-to-1945
If on the day of the event you find you can't make it, call O'Neil Dillon at 510-207-8761. Simply not paying or not replying prevents us from allowing someone else to attend. No-shows do NOT receive a refund!
If you register, then later decide not to attend this event, there may be others on the waiting list who will be able to take your place, so please cancel (click HERE, or on "Already registered" if you are on the event page) or by contacting O'Neil Dillon at oneilsdillon@gmail.com or 510-207-8761
If you are on the waitlist and wish to be removed without being registered, please contact O'Neil Dillon at oneilsdillon@gmail.com or 510-207-8761
Join the Phi Beta Kappa Young Connections on Sunday, March 30 from 2-4pm for a day of volunteering at Hidden Villa, an educational nonprofit. Volunteers will be helping out with a landscaping project. Hidden Villa is located at 26870 Moody Rd, Los Altos Hills. Please complete this waiver/volunteer form prior to attending.
If you register, then later decide not to attend this event, there may be others on the waiting list who will be able to take your place, so please cancel (click "Already registered" if you are on the event page) or by contacting us via e-mail.
We return to the Skyline Garden's project, this time at high bloom, then go on to Orinda to visit one of our docent's remarkable native plant gardens, where we will have our picnic lunch. Skyline Gardens is a 1.5 mile trail running South from the steam trains at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley to Sibley Volcanic Regional Reserve. It is on EBMUD watershed land.
Skyline Gardens is an East Bay Botanic hotspot for native plants, with more than 280 species.
The reason it is called a “Garden" is because since 2016 there has been a major volunteer-led restoration program removing a massive invasive non-native plant population. With this help native plants, animals, and insects have thrived.
This event will be led by two docents and will not only be a Spring wildflower walk, but an education on restoring nature.
https://www.skylinegardens.org/
https://baynature.org/article/weeding-the-wild/
After this, we will travel to one of our docent's (Dr. Robert Sorenson) world class native gardens close by in Orinda, where we will have our picnic lunch. We will share this garden tour with members of the Berkeley Rotary Club. This garden is designed using local ecosystem native plants exclusively.
Date: Saturday April. 12th
Places and times:
10 AM at Scott's Peak Trail Head in Orinda for the Skyline Garden walk
12:30 PM at Dr. Sorensons's home in Orinda at 295 Sundown Terrace
Cost: NCA members and their guests $20. All others $25
PBKNCA rep. O'Neil Dillon
Max group size-18.
Map and directions are available at this link for the Skyline Gardens trail.
The trailhead is .7mi South from the Tilden Steam Train turn-off on Grizzly Peak Blvd and .3mi North from where the intersection of Fish Ranch Rd and Grizzly Peak Blvd. Parking is on the side of the road.
The trail is generally flat, but has some slight elevation change. Binoculars recommended.
Map and directions are available at this link for the home garden tour- (see attachment and map.
To register, we prefer you pay online via the black "REGISTER" button. But you may mail the coupon and a check by snail mail. After you register you will receive information about reserving room and meals with the PBK group. For registration or logistics matters, please contact Barry Haskell at bghaskell@comcast.net. Registration is $150 (member and guests rate), 180 Non-PBKNCA, which goes in part to scholarships. (Remember, to be part of the PBKNCA package, do not reserve directly with the facility - wait for the information from Barry.)
A preview of 2026 Speakers will be posted as we progress. For more information, contact Deirdre Frontczak, (707) 546-4238, dfrontczak@scu.edu.
We are delighted to invite you to share in a weekend of learning, dialogue, and fellowship at the Asilomar Conference Center on the spectacular Monterey Coast.
But this is more than eight interesting speakers, it is an opportunity to renew old friendships, or make new friends at meals; walk on the beach or the trails. Explore the historic buildings of the Asilomar State Park. Visit the Butterfly Grove Inn to see the beautiful Monarch Butterflies, and much more.
“Education is the most powerful weapon we have to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
Some of you may feel ready for new beginnings. Some may be eager to expand your learning into unexplored ground. Some of you may just be eager for a chance to hang with friends in a beautiful, refreshing and historic coastal retreat. And for some of you, all three apply. Thankfully, we are looking forward to a new season for the PBKNCA Asilomar Conference in February! It is again time to reserve your space for a weekend of learning, inspiration, fellowship and a breath of sanity, on the magnificent Monterey coast. Come, bring a friend, and find out for yourself.
If you have questions on this year’s program, please contact dfrontczak@scu.edu. For registration or logistics matters, please contact Barry Haskell at bghaskell@comcast.net. Registration is $150, which goes mainly to scholarships. Cost will be similar to last year, about $680 per person, double occupancy, and includes all nine meals and parking. All registered participants will receive forms to reserve their Asilomar accommodations, including meals; please check your email. (Remember, to be part of the PBKNCA package, do not reserve directly with the facility.)
Please join us once again for the annual Asilomar Conference -- to learn, engage in discussions, and to listen to one another in new ways.
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