What words and images should represent an artist’s life and contributions for posterity? How should they be chosen? On Thursday, March 3 at 7:00 p.m., Focus on the Masters founder Donna Granata will address these choices when she offers a multimedia sampling from Focus on the Masters (FOTM) archives, featuring legendary Ventura County artists Carlisle Cooper, William McEnroe, Norman Kirk and Gerd Koch. A question and answer session will follow. The presentation at the Museum of Ventura County is $10 for the general public, $5 for museum members. For reservations, call 653-0323 x 315. Admission to all museum galleries is included.

Granata will touch upon the evolution of FOTM’s archiving, and the process involved in documenting a life. Cooper, Kirk, McEnroe and Koch, who helped shape Ventura County’s art community, shared their oral histories with FOTM between 1997 and 2004, during the formative years of the archives. The artists are also featured in Four Masters - Four Legends, the museum’s concurrent retrospective, on exhibition February 26 – April 24.

The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura, California. Open from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, admission is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, free for members and children under 6. For more museum information go to www.venturamuseum.org or call 805-653-0323.