ArtWalk is one of the best ways to check out Ventura’s bustling and diverse arts community. The free, self-guided weekend walking tour showcases 200 established and emerging artists and performers at over 80 galleries, events and eclectic gallery-for-a day venues in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District, Midtown and Avenue, just steps from the beach and pier. Multicultural performances, a variety of children’s activities and a free shuttle bus connect venue restaurants, salons, antique shops, boutiques and cafes.

ArtWalk Featured Artist Dan Holmes travels through Africa, the Western United States and the world to photograph nature, wildlife and landscapes. The Museum of Ventura County will exhibit his work including “Remnant,” a study in ocean, light and history.

View works of art inside a work of work of art. Ancient Aromatics—a restored 1925 Mission style art studio and residence at 50 North Oak Street with ornate tilework and carved arches—hosts “Raw Earth,” metal and ceramic sculptures by Ventura College and California State University Channel Islands students and instructors.

Check out dueling shows curated by new director Terry Bray at the San Buenaventura Artists Union Gallery and the vast Crowne Plaza Hotel Gallery, facing each other on the California Street Plaza by the Beachfront Promenade,

Red Brick Gallery opens at its new location with a multimedia “Magnified Planet” show of over 20 artists capturing overlooked elements of nature from mystifying perspectives.

Get off the beaten path at V2 Gallery and Spectrum Arts as well as Go Fish Clothing and Jewelry, a newly opened fair trade boutique hosting Anna Hahn’s “Wire and Wine” where wire sculptures mingle with wine, cheese and chocolate.

On Saturday night, video artist Cassandra C. Jones will project almost a thousand “found snapshots” on the façade of City Hall as part of her “Wax and Wane”—the municipal art collection’s latest piece—tracking the transit and cycles of the moon through “snap motion re-animation.”

Artist Marybeth Hanrahan and 43 juvenile court students created a fifty-foot mural for “Ventura’s Big Read” based on characters and themes of the novel Bless Me, Ultima. Its 12 panels will be on display in the Main Street Mini Park for the weekend.

Try your hand at over a dozen workshops and demonstrations including sculpture with Michele Chapin at her Stoneworks Gallery or blow glass at Ventura’s Hot Glass Studio.

Check out over 20 performances and activities and get your Sleeveface on! Choose your favorite LP, dress up like the album cover, and while a dj at Buffalo Records is spinning your song,, pose for your photo. The results will be posted on the ArtWalk website. Buffalo Records will host a full line up of bands along with a Sleeveface Party on Saturday at 105 S. Oak Street.

For a full line up of all 60 exhibits, 20 multicultural performances, workshops, addresses and free shuttle details visit www.venturaartwalk.org or contact the Cultural Affairs Division at 805-658-4760.