We know that VSP has an affinity for outreach programs. So, when we learned of the Crocker Museum’s Art Ark program, we knew it was a perfect fit!
VSP embarked on a one-year sponsorship of the Art Ark program, a mobile art museum that travels to schools in the Sacramento region, giving students access to art that they may not otherwise have. Art is so often a visual representation, sharing a close tie with healthy eyesight.
Bev Thorn is a Crocker Art Museum docent and a VSP employee.
The Art Ark sponsorship isn’t VSP’s only support of the Crocker. VSP employees, such as Bev Thorn, are also active with the Crocker Art Museum. Bev, a 20-year veteran of volunteering at the Crocker, shares:
“I think it’s so awesome that VSP is sponsoring the Crocker’s Art Ark! Programs like art and music always seem to be among the first casualties of the budget ax, meaning fewer school kids get to visit the Crocker in person during these tough economic times.
The Art Ark is a perfect fit for VSP. Its traveling nature echoes the Mobile Clinics that support our eyecare outreach. And, it’s a perfect pairing with our ongoing commitment to kids through the Sight for Students® program.
I’ve been volunteering at the Crocker for years now. After 20 years of helping visitors engage with art in my role as a docent, I suppose I’m biased. But, the museum truly is an incredible asset to our region. And it’s going to get even bigger and better next year with the opening of major expansion.”
Quan, aka TEMPTONE. Tony was diagnosed with ALS in 2003. The disease has left him almost completely physically paralyzed… except for his eyes. But, the ALS hasn’t touched Tony’s sharp mind, creative energy or his desire to write graffiti. In August of 2009, artist from around the world: London, Hong Kong, Madrid, Amsterdam and New York City, converged for 10 days in southern California, converted Mick and Caskey Ebeling’s Venice Beach house into a laboratory and began to work with Tony on a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that would allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. 
