The Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum and the Santa Paula Art Museum announce three more in their series of monthly linked Gallery Talks. Visitors will learn about unique exhibits and collections from artists, curators, educators and collectors. The Second Thursday Talks start at 2:00 p.m. at the Agriculture Museum, followed by a second talk at 3:00 p.m. at the nearby Santa Paula Art Museum.

On Thursday, February 14, 2013, at 2:00 p.m., Jon Peterson, a farmer and farm equipment collector, will speak at the Agriculture Museum about the museum’s vintage tractors. A 1922 Holt Caterpillar Two Ton that worked on a Santa Paula dairy, a 5-ton 1914 Yuba that plowed fields in Somis, and a 1929 Twin City 21-32 that has lived and worked its entire life on a Las Posas Valley ranch, are just three of the machines he will discuss. At 3:00 p.m., at the Art Museum, artist Gail Pidduck will speak about the 5th annual “Art About Agriculture” exhibit. The co-founder of the Ag Art Alliance and a life-long farmer, Pidduck specializes in rural landscape paintings.

Gallery Talks in March focus on posters and portraits. On Thursday, March 14, at 2:00 p.m., Shelly Foote, who curated exhibits and cared for collections at the Smithsonian Institution for 30 years, speaks at the Agriculture Museum about “When Gardening Was Patriotic,” an exhibit of World Wars I and II posters. At 3:00, photographer John Nichols talks about the exhibit he and painter Gail Pidduck created for the Art Museum, the “Santa Paula Portrait Project.” They set out to capture the images of ordinary citizens and ended up with a portrait of a small-town community.

The subjects of the Thursday, April 11 Gallery Talks are fabric art and stone carving. Quilter Pat Masterson will speak about twenty contemporary “Farm Fresh Quilts,” at 2:00 at the Agriculture Museum. Sculptor Michele Chapin, owner of Stoneworks Studio in Ventura, will talk at 3:00 at the Art Museum, about her stone sculpture exhibit, “Old Hands, New Works.”

Both museums are within walking distance of each other and parking is free at both. Each museum charges its own general admission, and members can attend free at their respective museums. Light refreshments are served, and no reservations are necessary. For additional information and monthly schedules for the Second Thursday Gallery Talks: go to www.venturamuseum.org and www.santapaulaartmuseum.org, or call the Agriculture Museum at 805-525-3100 and the Art Museum at 805-525-5554. The Agriculture Museum is at 926 Railroad Avenue, and the Santa Paula Art Museum is at 117 N. 10th Street, both located in downtown Santa Paula, California.

The Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum is open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, free for Museum of Ventura County members, and for children ages 5 and younger. Paid events include free admission to the galleries, and the first Sundays of every month are free general admission for the public.