[caption id="attachment_1362" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Illustration by Yelena V. Kozlova"][/caption]By Angie King The WCC Board is getting organized a little earlier this year (we hope) and plans for this August’s Day with Creative Women are already well underway. This year, for the first time, WCC is collaborating with the county Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as co-sponsors of the daylong arts and crafts festival in Mission Plaza. Scheduled for the second Saturday in August, it will take place this year on August 14, 2010. With the addition of the CSW, we have great hopes for an expanded, even more exciting Day in the plaza, filled with more vendors, selling a greater variety of their creative work; more non profit organizations available to inform the public about their services for women in the County; more business women articulating just what creative spark got them excited about their business and how others can get involved; music from local groups; children’s activities; and as always, the wonderful ambience of a day under the sycamores filled with good energy. With the new energy of the Commissioners, we hope to expand the event to include some pre-festival opportunities, like a festival of women’s films and even a staged performance of Lysistrata from Code Pink. WCC asked the Cal Poly Illustration class for ideas for a poster, and we were stunned by the grace and beauty of the poster selected. You can see a preview of it here; wait until we get all the bands and sponsors lined up and printed on it and start spreading it around town; it’s a collector’s item. The artist is 4th year art student named Yelena Kozlova. We asked her for some biographical information about herself, and this is what she said: I’m from Sunnyvale, CA in the Bay Area. I came to Cal Poly because I was interested in their graphic design program and was drawn to the beauty of San Luis Obispo. I was first interested in traditional drawing and painting, creating beautiful work that was pleasing to the eye, but later became attracted to using art as a form of communication and sending a message to the viewer. In my work, I try to combine elements of traditional fine art and the clarity of design, to make the work aesthetically pleasing while being able to convey a clear message. I am very interested in doing promotional work for non-profits and small businesses and help them spread the word about the many good causes they support. I have worked with Central Coast Grown, part of the Central Coast Agricultural Network, to improve their promotional materials and to encourage restaurants to buy food from local growers. I helped with the redesign of the look of the Art after Dark advertising for ARTS Obispo, the San Luis Obispo Arts Council, to encourage people to attend shows of local artists. Finally, I was happy to work with the Women’s Community Center and the San Luis Obispo Commission on the Status of Women on their Day with Creative Women Poster. I wished to highlight the great contributions many talented women provide to the art field, and I thought the event was wonderful way to showcase those contributions. Although I have no certain plans for the future, I do wish to continue to use my artistic and design skills to work with organizations and business to promote good causes and to encourage people to participate and support those causes. Illustration by Yelena V. Kozlova