Academia de Arte Yepes - George Yepes
Academia de Arte Yepes
HISTORY:
In 1992, the Academia de Arte Yepes was founded by Painter/Muralist, George Yepes, as the First Free Mural Art Academy in Los Angeles. Since 1992, the Academia de Arte Yepes has provided free High-Standards-Based Interdisciplinary Fine Arts Masters courses in Painting for Elementary, High School, and College students.
Since 1992, (with no funding) George Yepes, the sole teacher, has taught over 2,000 students (for free) from the low-income neighborhoods of Chicago, San Antonio, and East Los Angeles. In 1993, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) set goals for scientists and engineers to reach out to students nationwide to generate renewed interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and to cultivate and inspire the next generation of explorers. Concurrently in 1993, with their shared talents and disciplines, George Yepes and the Academia de Arte Yepes students, in partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), began a fourteen-year series of projects, and implemented the first National Educational Model titled "The Marriage of Art, Science, and Technology". In doing so, George Yepes was able to unite some of the most brilliant people in the world to reach into the East Los Angeles community and inspire students to further NASA's goal of "elevating the intellectual base of mankind".
To date, the Academia de Arte Yepes students have completed over 30 murals in Los Angeles and Chicago, including the expansive 340 foot long "Cassini Science Return" Mural for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Pasadena, California USA.
The Academia de Arte Yepes' unique educational programs promise to permanently enhance your perception and inflame your ocular nerve. Once again, the hard-earned Techniques of the Masters: Theory, Application, and Classical Standards will take you on a myth bending wild ride into the cosmos of Painting - where the minds eye soars. Not for the faint-hearted.
Academia de Arte Yepes: The Marriage of Art, Science & Technology• "For Lifers Only!"
Innovation: Aerospace Technology
NASA: Inspiring the Next Generation of Explorers Through Education
Inspiration through Education, NASA's call to inspire the next generation of explorers now resounds throughout the NASA community, as well as in colleges, universities,
schools, museums, science centers, community centers and planetariums around the country. The goal is to capture student interest, nurture their natural curiosities and intrigue their minds
with new and exciting scientific research. The Agency also is determined to provide educators with the creative tools they need to improve America's scientific literacy.
..."Today, America has a serious shortage of young people entering the fields of mathematics and science. This critical part of NASA's mission is to inspire the next
generation of explorers so that our work can go on. This educational mandate is an imperative."
Sean O'Keefe, NASA Administrator
April 12, 2002
ACADEMIA DE ARTE YEPES: "The CASSINI INSTRUMENT OPERATIONS MURALS"
....The Mission: a ten-year journey to reveal the mysteries of the vast Saturnian System, undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and The Italian
Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI).
....The Team: 3,000 U.S. team members in 32 states; plus 1,300 academic and industrial partners in 16 European countries.
....Jean Dominique Cassini: The Mission is named in honor of the French-Italian astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini, (1671-1684), who discovered the prominent gap in Saturn's main rings, as well as the icy moons
Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione.
....Christian Huygens: The probe that Cassini delivered to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is named in honor of the Dutch scientist Christian Huygens. In 1659, while observing Saturn through improved optics, Huygens discovered Titan and Saturn's rings, that decades earlier Galileo had noted as strange "arms" around Saturn.
....The Passage to a Ringed World: The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn, the most complicated scientific experiment ever performed.
....The Spacecraft: "Cassini" a two-story tall robotic spacecraft with a mass of roughly 2,500 kilograms (5,510 pounds) of dry hardware and 3,000 kilograms (6,615 pounds) of propellant.
....The Boost: Titan IVB/Centaur; launched from Earth October 6, 1997; Venus Gravity assist April 21, 1998; Deep Space Maneuver January 20, 1999; Venus Gravity assist II June 22, 1999; Earth Gravity assist August 17, 1999; Jupiter Gravity assist December 30, 2000; Saturn arrival July 1, 2004.
....The Murals: a 340 foot long 'Science Return' Artwork designed and painted by students from the Academia de Arte Yepes. "A visual feast for the highest intellectual base of Mankind, and for those who dare to dream and explore."
The mural dedication: During the annual CASSINI PROJECT SCIENCE GROUP MEETING in Pasadena, California, USA; after the PLENARY SESSION in the von Karman Auditorium.
In attendance: approximately 200 to 400 of the top scientific minds in the world, representing 17 countries - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA); the European Space Agency (ESA); and The Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI).
The Cassini Instrument Operations murals were painted over a 6 month period by the students of the Academia de Arte Yepes in Downtown Los Angeles, then the students permanently installed the murals at the Flight Operations
..."It is astounding that 340 feet of murals could be created from four years of Cassini science return as visualized through the hearts of young student artists. Also commendable, is that these murals were "Made in Downtown L.A.", and now reside in Pasadena. This magic can only be appreciated by walking slowly among these rings, moons and environments explored by the Cassini instruments"....
City of Los Angeles, State of California Resolution
Academia de Arte Yepes
"...WHERAS, the Academia de Arte Yepes was founded in 1992 in Los Angeles, California as the first public art Academy dedicated to teaching young students the fine art
of mural painting; and
"...WHERAS, the Academia de Arte Yepes has maintained the vision and created a high-standards-based school where young children from Los Angeles study art at a professional
level through a school-to-work-career program; and
"...WHERAS, the Academia de Arte Yepes in 1995 produced a series of seven space science murals commissioned by JPL/NASA for un-manned missions to Saturn, Mars, and
Jupiter and thereby establishing an interdisciplinary curriculum daubed the "Marriage of Art, Science, and Technology;" and
"...WHERAS, the Academia de Arte Yepes in 1997 incorporated the learning standards for Visual Arts adopted by the California Department of Education; and
"...WHERAS, the Academia de Arte Yepes Director, George Yepes in 1997, was named State Superintendent of Public Instruction Task Force on the Visual and Performing
Arts for the California Department of Education; and
"...WHERAS, the Academia de Arte Yepes Director, George Yepes in 1997, was honored by Mayor Richard J. Riordan and the City Council as "Treasure of Los Angeles;"
and
"...WHERAS, with this resolution, the City of Los Angeles will mark the beginning of a new Art Educational model for the students of the Second Millennium
Renaissance:
...NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that by the adoption of this resolution, the Los Angeles City Council hereby congratulates the ACADEMIA DE ARTE YEPES for its artistic
talent, vision, dedication, and hard work in establishing a visual arts training program for teachers, and further commends the Academia for assisting teachers to more effectively implement
learning standards for the visual arts in ways that will result in improved student achievement, which is of great value to the community and to the City of Los Angeles, and in furtherance of our
common goal of making this city a better place in which to live.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Council of the City of Los Angeles at its meeting held October 15, 1999.
John Ferraro, President of the Council
City of Los angeles
