{"id":361757,"date":"2026-06-15T19:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/361757\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T19:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:42:13","slug":"pbs-star-who-taught-america-to-draw-is-coming-to-a-camp-near-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/361757\/","title":{"rendered":"PBS star who taught America to draw is coming to a camp near you"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/a>Mark Kistler poses alongside a collection of his hand-drawn illustrations. (Photo courtesy of Mark Kistler)<\/p>\n

Long before YouTube tutorials and CGI transformed how people learn to draw, Carlsbad native Mark Kistler<\/a> was teaching 3D drawing on television, in school auditoriums and at a community center off Harding Street.<\/p>\n

Now, the artist and former host of the 1980s and \u201890s PBS shows \u201cThe Secret City,\u201d \u201cDraw Squad\u201d and \u201cImagination Station\u201d will lead a series of local children\u2019s art camps<\/a> this summer in North County, where his career began.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity is such an elixir of joy,\u201d Kistler said. \u201cEverybody needs just a peaceful, joyful hour to be creative and draw right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kistler will also appear as a featured guest artist at the San Diego County Fair<\/a> in Del Mar, offering live drawing demonstrations at the Arts and Crafts Pavilion and staffing an artist booth on select days.<\/p>\n

The 61-year-old grew up in Carlsbad, a self-described beach kid who body-surfed alongside dolphins and attended Magnolia Elementary School. His path toward a career in art education began not in a studio but in a library, when he checked out a drawing book by Bruce McIntyre, a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School who opened his classroom every Thursday afternoon to kids from across the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother and I would ride our bikes down from Magnolia School,\u201d Kistler said. \u201cWe would draw for an hour after school with Mr. Mac. That was the start of my passion for drawing and for teaching drawing. He was the spark that set me on this path of teaching the world to draw.\u201d<\/p>\n

By age 14, Kistler was running an after-school drawing program through Carlsbad Parks and Recreation. By 16, he had expanded to Vista, Oceanside, Escondido, La Jolla and San Diego.<\/p>\n

When Carlsbad High School had no pool for competitive swimming, Kistler\u2019s mother, a nurse in the school district, helped him land an inter-district transfer to El Camino High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom was inspiration for everything that I thought was impossible. All she saw was possible,\u201d Kistler said.<\/p>\n

Kistler\u2019s mother also nurtured his artistic side, ensuring drawing materials were always available at home and never something that had to wait for a special occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018You don\u2019t have to ask for the presence of oxygen. You always have it. You will always have art,\u2019\u201d Kistler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Mark Kistler takes a selfie with a classroom full of budding artists. (Photo courtesy of Mark Kistler)<\/p>\n

From El Camino, Kistler enrolled at San Diego State University and, while still a junior, began developing \u201cThe Secret City\u201d with a New York producer. By 21, he was co-creator and on-air host of the PBS series airing alongside \u201cSesame Street\u201d and \u201cReading Rainbow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past 40 years, Kistler has taught millions of children at K-12 school assemblies and visual arts workshops in the United States and abroad in countries such as Australia, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Dubai.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of Kistler\u2019s students have gone on to work as animators and art directors for \u201cToy Story,\u201d \u201cFrozen\u201d and \u201cStar Wars,\u201d among others, while several pursued careers as visual artists at NASA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see these light bulbs go off in their heads,\u201d Kistler said. \u201cI think I enjoy teaching as much or more than I do the actual drawing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kistler has authored 13 drawing books with nearly 2 million copies sold worldwide.<\/p>\n

Since relocating to North County in January 2025, Kistler has drawn live on Instagram every day \u2014 a streak now exceeding 500 consecutive days \u2014 as part of his \u201cDraw Live in 2025!\u201d campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He closes every livestream with the same message: \u201cBe the reason some stranger smiles and chuckles tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s camps, divided into groups for ages 6-8 and 8-14, will cover 10 to 20 drawings per day. Themes range from ocean creatures and outer space to ancient Egypt and Australian animals, and parents and grandparents are welcome to stay and draw alongside the kids at no extra cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that they do decide to stay,\u201d Kistler said. \u201cI love the families to draw together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is also preparing a \u201cDrawing on Memory\u201d workshop for North County seniors, using art as a tool to strengthen memory and push back against symptoms of Alzheimer\u2019s disease and dementia.<\/p>\n

For Kistler, bringing his work back to the communities where he grew up carries personal weight. He\u2019s conducted more than 4,000 school assemblies around the world, but there\u2019s nothing quite like teaching kids to draw in his own backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world needs more joy and creativity,\u201d Kistler said. \u201cAnd I get to bring that home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Information about Mark Kistler\u2019s summer art camps, which start June 29, is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Kistler poses alongside a collection of his hand-drawn illustrations. (Photo courtesy of Mark Kistler) Long before YouTube…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2308,9378,24294,147053,3054,74,83036,76,75],"class_list":["post-361757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-art","tag-carlsbad","tag-drawing","tag-mark-kistler","tag-north-county","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county-fair","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}