Camp ArtSeen comes to Guerneville

Camp ArtSeen celebrates its third year in the hills above Guerneville this weekend, offering an adult art camp experience for some 50 experienced and emerging artists.

The camp was founded by San Francisco artist and educator Loretta Bozung on the one-year anniversary of learning her body was cancer-free.

During her recovery, Bozung took frequent drives to Guerneville, making it a practice to “come up the day before my chemo sessions,” she said. She was attracted by Guerneville’s downtown, the 5 and 10 cent store and The Big Bottom.

Bozung eventually decided to take her skills up to the 210-acre Wildwood Retreat Center near Guerneville, creating “an environment where people of all dispositions could be guided through truncated classes with no tests, no grades” and a safe place to experience what it’s like to be themselves.

Wildwood was originally a chicken ranch, but more recently served as a sanctuary “sustained by gay men for healing, transformation and spiritual growth.”

Camp ArtSeen’s focus is creativity, Bozung said. “We all have it. We often use it in our daily lives, but sometimes we lose touch with the creativity that is most important to us. Those things we find truly exciting.”

Art workshops led by San Francisco artist Amy Berk, writer Suze Allen and muralist Kelley Ording join yoga, music, bocce ball, movies, swimming and hiking on the camp’s schedule.

Camp ArtSeen programming also includes mini art retreats in San Francisco. 632-5200, campartseen.com.