Lifelong art educator and award-winning Ventura painter Gerd Koch will give a wide-ranging talk about abstract art from 5:30-7 p.m. April 11 at the Buenaventura Gallery in downtown Ventura.

“Making the Invisible Visible, a Personal Vision and Journey” is the first in a planned series of art appreciation presentations at the Buenaventura Art Association’s downtown and Harbor Village galleries. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. To secure a place, RSVP to 648-1235.

Koch will trace the “journey from realism to abstract-expressionism,” from Rembrandt’s loose brushwork late in life through the contributions of more recent artists such as Monet, Van Gogh, Duchamp and De Koonig. He’ll also discuss the evolution of his personal artistic vision and use examples of his work, art by his partner, Carole Milton, and pieces in the gallery to examine abstraction as an art style. A question-and-answer period will conclude the evening.

A 2011 recipient of the Ventura County Arts Council’s Art Star Award for Lifetime Achievement, Koch has taught art since 1953, including 32 years as a Ventura College instructor and seven years at UCSB Extension. He has been instrumental in the development of generations of Ventura County artists and has led many European art tours over the years.

Koch is also a prolific painter, in watercolors and oils, who joined the National Watercolor Society in 1955, won the society’s top purchase award the following year, and has three times been elected an annual juror by its membership. His works have been exhibited in dozens of museum, solo and two-person shows from 1956 to the present and are in many museum and private collections.

He will be featured during Ventura’s July ArtWalk in a Vita Gallery exhibition of many of his paintings from the collection of Peter Cannon. Koch and Milton also plan a joint show, “Our Journey Together,” in September at Studio Channel Islands Art Center in Camarillo, for which they’re producing a 40-page hardbound book that includes some photos of that journey.

The next scheduled art talk will be June 20, 2013 at the art association’s Harbor Village Gallery given by interior designer Karen Grace. Grace will discuss art and color and their roles in enhancing home and office.
The Buenaventura Gallery, 700 E. Santa Clara St., is open 11-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Its phone number is 648-1235. Visit the website of the nonprofit artists’ cooperative at www.buenaventuragallery.org.