CARLSBAD — Bryan Snyder, an art teacher at Valley Middle School, will bring back a Carlsbad Village tradition on Sunday, inviting the community to hunt for more than 200 crafts made by Snyder’s art students.
Craftopia began around 2008 with his friends, who started making creations and hiding them around the Village as a fun way to bring more art to Carlsbad. After a hiatus in 2012, Snyder brought back the biennial art scavenger hunt this year featuring student-created crafts.
“The ultimate goal is to really put creativity into the streets of the Carlsbad Village to let people know that there are creative things happening here in Carlsbad, and then also to help stimulate local economic growth. Bringing people to the village, they tend to make a day out of it. They go to restaurants, they go to shops,” Snyder said. “So it’s benefiting culture and community and also benefiting local businesses.”
Snyder will wake up early Sunday morning to scatter his students’ crafts throughout the Village. Locals will have the opportunity to hunt for two different pieces of art, including more than 100 ceramic mushrooms and more than 100 “crafted capsules.”
Snyder received a $2,500 grant from the city’s Cultural Arts Office, which helped fund Craftopia. Snyder said he hopes to continue the tradition annually.
“I’m just really excited to get this project going again because, you know, I listened to the community, and I’ve heard them let me know that they miss it and they want it again, so I’m just excited to be able to respond and get it going again,” Snyder said.
