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By Anonymous — Thursday, August 18th, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016, at the Santa Paula Art Museum
SANTA PAULA, CA – Browsers are welcome at the Santa Paula Art Museum’s Second Annual Vintage Art Fair on Saturday, August 20, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission to the event is free. Guests will be able to browse and buy vintage art from some of the top dealers in California and Ventura County. Vendors will be displaying and selling a huge selection of historic and high quality paintings, photographs, prints, posters, drawings, books, and more. Some of the highlights of the fair will be early California plein air paintings by notable Ventura County artists like Jessie Arms and Cornelis Botke, Horace Bristol, Robert Clunie, and Douglas Shively. The second annual event has also expanded to include rare and collectible books, as well as Native American basketry and textiles. Participating dealers include Dan May, Don Shorts’ Art Walk, Jane Handel, Jim Farber, John Nichols Gallery, Lost Horizon Bookstore, Stewart Fine Art, and The Calico Cat Bookshop. This unique event will allow visitors to view and explore hundreds of vintage artworks while learning about art and collecting from knowledgeable art dealers with decades of experience. The fair will be held in the beautiful setting of the architecturally significant Santa Paula Art Museum, and event attendees will also be able to enjoy the Museum’s current exhibitions, including “One Look at Nature: The Paintings of Gail Pidduck” and “The Art of Aviation.” The Santa Paula Art Museum is located at 117 North Tenth Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sundays from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Regular admission is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors and is free for museum members and students. For more information, please contact the Museum at (805) 525-5554 or info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. |
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By Anonymous — Thursday, August 11th, 2016
Robert Wassell has been pursuing rare vantage points in the Los Padres National Forest for more than three decades. On a sketchbook carried in his backpack, he captures views few other hikers reach, brings them home to Ventura, and creates paintings to give everyone a window to that world. “I’m an expressive representational painter trying to capture the elusive penumbra of our local forest,” said Wassell, whose show will include several Channel Islands scenes. Many of the new pieces also feature expansive skies. Penumbra, in astronomy, is the partially lighted area surrounding the complete shadow of an eclipse, but it also is more generally defined as a shadowy, indefinite area, he said, “something you know is there but can’t quite see … the essence of the forest, a presence you feel when alone in nature. “I’m using the word because I want people to look it up and argue about it; I want them to remember,” he said. “My art has always been my No. 1 priority throughout my whole adult life,” he said. Born in Pennsylvania in 1951, Wassell took private art lessons in his teens “from a great watercolor painter, the late Alice Welsh Jenkins, in Kingston, Pa.,” studied fine arts at Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre, then earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1975 at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore. “When I moved here in 1985, I took a ride up into the forest at Rose Valley. Someone put a glossy pamphlet under my windshield wiper, Keep the Sespe Wild, and I had an epiphany: I wanted to explore and capture the Los Padres Forest in my art.” Since then, he has made almost weekly forays into the forest and, “Some of these works are the result of 18- and 21-hour hikes. I had a foot injury last year, and have worked back to six-hour hikes,” Wassell said, but he still has “a long way to go to get back to where I was physically. “I mostly hike alone. My longest day hike was 21 hours, and in 2015 I did a two-day hike down into the Sespe Gorge and made 28 drawings on the trip. I have painted six paintings from the 28 drawings so far,” he said. “A typical hike is five drawings, and some I will paint almost immediately, and others not for years.” Wassell has developed and refined a singular painting style in his 30-plus years of traversing the Los Padres and has produced hundreds of artworks, many of which can be viewed on his website, www.wassellart.com. Buenaventura Gallery, at 700 E. Santa Clara St., is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. For more about the nonprofit Buenaventura Art Association and its programs, visit www.buenaventuragallery.org or call 648-1235 during gallery hours. |
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By Anonymous — Thursday, August 11th, 2016
Experienced singers are invited to audition for the CSU Channel Islands (CI) Choir, a blend of campus and community singers who will rehearse for and perform December concerts called “Bach to Africa.” Auditions will be held by appointment Aug. 18 through 21. To make an appointment, email the choir’s conductor, KuanFen Liu at downbeatplus@gmail.com no later than Aug. 15. “We are always looking for good tenors, baritones and basses, but we are also in need of experienced female singers,” Liu said. The choir holds multiple concerts in early December and in May. The winter concerts, “Bach to Africa,” is a journey from the cathedrals of Europe to the plains of Africa through music. The winter concerts will open with J. S. Bach’s Motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 225, a piece written probably around 1727 for a double chorus, with a string quartet, two oboes and two bassoons doubling the voices. “The choir is going to be divided into two choirs,” Liu said. “The choirs will be responding to each other in singing. This will be the first time we will be taking up such challenge.” There will be winter and holiday favorites. The “Africa” part of the performance, which consists of selections performed with CI’s African Drumming class, a new course added in spring of 2016 through the University’s Performing Arts program. “Just as most African music is performed in Africa, we also will be doing some improvisation and our own arrangements of these traditional African musical pieces. We are very excited to invite CI’s faculty and students from the Improvisation and African Drumming classes.” Liu said. The choir consists of roughly 60 to 65 singers ages 18 and up. They are CI faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the community. Offered as part of the University Performing Arts program, the choir is a weekly class that meets every Monday evening from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Malibu Hall 140. The first rehearsal of the fall semester takes place Monday, Aug. 29. Each semester, the curriculum covers a wide range of musical genres from the medieval period to the present. The choir members have the chance to perform throughout Ventura County and on campus. About California State University Channel Islands |
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By Anonymous — Thursday, August 11th, 2016
CA State Old Time Fiddlers will meet on Sunday 8/14/16 from 1:30-4:30pm at the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road, Oak View. The public is invited to play, listen and dance to Country Western and Bluegrass music. Free admission and parking, refreshments available. calfiddlers.com or call 805-797-6563 |
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By Myrna Cambianica — Tuesday, August 9th, 2016
 Aragonés Cartoon from Archives of David Baker … Baker at Computer and Sergio asleep at right Enlarge Photo For the month of August the Ojai Photo Club will focus on humor. Sergio Aragonés, internationally known cartoonist for over 50 years, will speak about creating a humorous story. The event will take place on Tuesday, August 16, 2016, at 7:00 p.m., at Help of Ojai’s Kent Hall, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA. The presentation will be as spontaneous as his cartooning - relating to the audience that evening. Expect a discussion of his life as a cartoonist, changes in cartooning in this century and his process of creating a story. Aragonés, widely regarded as “the fastest cartoonist in the world today,” will demonstrate his amazing talent using an easel and his pens. Aragonés is a highly esteemed cartoonist, having won every major award in the field, including the National Cartoonists Society’s Ruben Award and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award. He was born in Spain, educated in Mexico and came to the United States in 1962. His first cartoon for Mad Magazine appeared in 1963, and he continues cartooning for that publication today. In the early eighties he teamed with wordsmith Mark Evanier, and they brought forth a series of comic books, including Groo the Wanderer. His artwork has appeared in hundreds of advertisements, editorial features, and in television animation. A full biography is available at his website: www.sergioaragones.com RC Harvey in an article in the Comic Journal sums up the Aragone’s message, “His comedy isn’t edgy or arty or mean or “smart”: it’s true to life, to our lives – to all our lives. From Sergio’s humor, we learn tolerance and compassion. We also learn to laugh at ourselves. And it helps us survive.” Aragone’s himself shares that, “One of the pleasures of being a cartoonist is that when you are making and thinking of a new joke, that joke will make somebody laugh and will make them happy.” Ojai photographer, David Baker, has known Aragonés since 1998 and is instrumental in bringing him to present. Baker tells this story about his friend, “My most memorable story about him is when he asked me to photograph his cartooning presentation at the Ojai Library to a group of small children. He set up his easel and sketch pad as the young children gathered around. As he began to talk about cartooning the children gathered closer to Sergio as if in some magical trance. The more he talked, the closer they got staring up at him and the sketches that were on the pad. It was if was the Pied Piper and they were all following him. He picked up one little girl and gave her a marker as she drew her cartoon while Sergio moved her arms and hand as if she was a puppet. It was a very magical moment to see as Sergio could take these children one a wonderful tour of cartooning.” Join us for an evening with Aragonés, and be inspired to look for humor when you photograph! Monthly presentations are part of the Ojai Photography Club’s community service and education outreach. Visitors are always welcome to attend. The club, which is devoted to education, inspiration, and camaraderie, meets on the third Tuesday of each month, February – November. Only members may submit images for review. For additional information please visit: www.ojaiphotoclub.com/. |
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By Anonymous — Monday, July 18th, 2016
The Aviation Museum of Santa Paula is open to the public the First Sunday of each month, and is where local aviation history comes alive. Our “Chain of Hangars” is open for you to explore from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Hangar Number One is the first in our Chain of Hangars. It tells the history of the founding of Santa Paula Airport in 1930. Visitors can stroll through privately owned hangars that house vintage aircraft and collections of memorabilia, vehicles and antiques. At 11:00 am, our ‘Spotlight Aircraft’ presentation features a different unique aircraft of SZP each month. The Young Eagles program offers free plane rides for youth ages 8 to 17 the first Sunday of the month, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Santa Paula Airport. Contact Neil Fowler at (805) 647-6994 for information and reservations. Since 1930, Santa Paula Airport has been widely recognized around the world for its antique, classic and experimental aircraft as well as celebrated for its climate and its friendliness. The Airport is located at 800 Santa Maria Street, between Palm and 10th Street exits of the 126 Freeway. Admission is FREE; rain cancels the event. (805) 525-1109; www.aviationmuseumofsantapaula.org. |
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By Anonymous — Monday, July 18th, 2016
A collection of agriculture-themed works by painter Whitney Brooks Abbott
 Whitney Brooks Abbott Opening Reception at the Ag Museum on Friday, July 22, 5:30 – 7:30 pm The Museum of Ventura County is proud to present an exhibition of twelve oil paintings by Carpinteria-based artist Whitney Brooks Abbott from July 22 through September 5, 2016. These lush landscapes feature local rural scenes with barns, trees and farm equipment that many will find familiar and pleasing, with names like “Open Barn”, “January’s Harvest” and “Hoops and Hives”. Whitney Abbott was born in 1972 in San Francisco, CA. At the age of three, she and her family moved to Carpinteria, CA, where she spent much of her childhood drawing the life she found around her on her family’s avocado and lemon ranch. Whitney attended UC Santa Cruz from 1990 to 1994, majoring in Fine Art through Porter College. In 1993, she received a fellowship to study at the Yale School of Art in Norfolk, CT. After graduating, she returned to Southern California, where she continues to paint and teach in the Santa Barbara area. Whitney shows her work with the Santa Barbara based Oak Group, which was founded in 1985 by a group of artists including her mother, plein air artist Meredith Brooks Abbott. This group was and is dedicated to the preservation of open spaces, and helps bring awareness to conservation with their depiction of natural vistas. Whitney also exhibits at the Easton Gallery in Santa Barbara. Says Abbott: “Painting, for me, is a celebration of our material world in a very spiritual sense. As a painter, I study the interaction of light against surface, and take this material relationship into the personal world of my imagination. At the same time, working with the very tangible elements of the paint itself, I honor the physical nature of creativity.” Meet the artist at an opening reception for this exhibition at the Ag Museum at 926 Railroad Avenue in Santa Paula from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. |
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By Anonymous — Monday, July 18th, 2016
Exhibition and Opening Reception
Explore fascinating private collections in the Ojai Valley Museum’s newest exhibition. From Italian motorcycles to vintage bicycles and skateboards, ViewMaster reels to mid-century souvenir paintings, you are invited to view an eclectic group of collections. Why does one person collect insecticide sprayers and another decorative eggs? Beer steins, movie costumes, Depression glass, Caucasian Mountain rugs, and Frank Sinatra memorabilia round out the treasures on display. The free opening reception for “Ojai Collects” is Saturday, July 9, from 5-7pm. It includes a No Host wine bar. The exhibit will be on view through September 25, 2016. The Ojai Valley Museum is located at 130 W. Ojai Avenue in Ojai. Free parking is available behind the museum, off Blanche Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday noon to 4 pm. Group or school tours available by appointment. For more information, call the museum at (805) 640-1390, ext. 201, email ojaimuseum@gmail.com, or visit the museum website at OjaiValleyMuseum.org. |
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By Letitia Grimes — Tuesday, July 12th, 2016
Brooks Institute instructor, Greg Cooper, returns to the Ojai Photography Club as the July presenter and reviewer of member images. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday July 19, at Help of Ojai’s Kent Hall, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA. Cooper will lead a conversation and share images in his presentation, “What Makes A Photograph Good?” He will address this question by dissecting the qualities that make a photograph successful in the context of its use. Known as an innovative and inspiring teacher, he will focus on the most important phase of editing: not Photoshop, but the photographer’s initial decisions about the image. “Often people think 'editing' means Photoshop,” Cooper emphasizes, “but in reality it means picture selection and choices.” A native of Ojai, Cooper graduated in 1996 from Western Kentucky University with a double major in photojournalism and anthropology. Prior to his experience with Western Kentucky, Cooper had been hooked on photojournalism in 1988, while attending classes at Ventura College. During his time in junior college, Cooper worked as a staff photographer at the Ojai Valley News in his hometown. He would spend the next eight years finishing up an associate’s degree, traveling abroad, working part-time in photo labs, shooting freelance and working as a staff photographer. After leaving Western Kentucky, Cooper returned to Southern California and joined the Ventura County Star, where he worked his way up to assistant photo editor. The Columbus Dispatch then lured him away to become its Sunday photo editor. Three years later, Cooper again returned to Ventura County. This time he pursued his Masters Degree from Brooks Institute. He has been teaching at Brooks in the Visual Journalism program as a full time faculty member since 2003, and most recently has added video and web design to his areas of expertise. Monthly presentations are part of the Ojai Photography Club’s community service and education outreach. Visitors are welcome to attend. The club, which is devoted to education, inspiration, and camaraderie, meets on the third Tuesday of each month, February – November. Only members may submit images for review. More information is available at: www.ojaiphotoclub.com/ |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, July 6th, 2016
 Santa Paula Alliance along with the Nature Conservancy will be holding a nature walk along the Santa Clara River complete with food from the Abundant Table. Enlarge Photo |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, June 22nd, 2016
 Heritage Valley Art Growers. (l-r) Lolita Wyche-Bowman, Deborah Galarza, Laura Cunz, Carole Cately, Colette Swan, and Wana Klasen. Enlarge Photo A group of Fillmore Artists who meet to paint under tutelage of Wana Klasen will be presenting their first Group Art Show from June 4, 2016 through July 30, 2016 at the Blanchard Community Library located at 119 North Eighth Street in Santa Paula. The art is original, colorful, eclectic work completed in a variety of media including water color, mixed media, pastel, and graphite, and with varying subject matter. The artists are also offering gallery quality giclee’ prints and note cards! Showing work in this exhibit are artists, Carole Cately, Laura Cunz, Deborah Manning-Galarza, Colette Swan, Lolita Wyche-Bowman, and Wana Klasen. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, June 21st, 2016
The Santa Paula Concert Series presents a classical concert, Alas and Ole, with Stuart Fox and Mary Rawcliffe on Saturday, July 30th at 4:00 PM at the historic Universalist Unitarian Church, a Ventura Historical County landmark, located at 740 East Main Street, Santa Paula. This performance presents music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern eras performed by soprano Mary Rawcliffe and guitarist/lutenist Stuart Fox. Stuart Fox plays nylon string, electric, and MIDI guitars and Renaissance Lute, French Baroque Lute, and Theorbo and is a leading specialist contemporary music and in early music on original instruments. He has been on the faculty at CalArts since 1973 and has performed in all aspects of the music business for over 50 years. Soprano Mary Rawcliffe has performed world wide singing music from the Middle Ages to the present. She is a noted specialist in historical vocal techniques and taught for many years at the University of Southern California. The Universalist Unitarian Church of Santa Paula has been home to a number of musical events throughout its 127-year history. Admission is $20 donation at the door, from the church office during office hours, or by PayPal on the church’s website: www.uucsp.org. Credit cards, checks and cash are accepted at the door. Children 12 and under are $10; children 5 and under are free. Proceeds benefit the Universalist Unitarian Church of Santa Paula Building and Historical Fund. UUCSP is a registered Ventura County Historical Landmark. For more information, call 805-525-4647 or email uuscpoffice@gmail.com. Parking is on the street or behind the church. |
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By Letitia Grimes — Monday, June 13th, 2016
Ojai, CA - The Ojai Photography Club welcomes the return of William Hendricks, Professor of Photography at Ventura College, who will share his images and speak about life in Cuba. Based on his 62 trips over the last 23 years, the presentation, “Cuba: Then and Now,” begins at 7:00 p.m. on June 21 at Help of Ojai’s Kent Hall, 111 Santa Ana Street, Ojai, CA. Hendricks holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fine Arts from Brooks Institute and he has been teaching photography in the Art Department at Ventura College for the past 25 years. As both a photographer and educator, his work has taken him around the world with an array of clients and personalities. His images have been exhibited throughout the United States, with solo exhibitions in Havana, Cuba and Seoul, Korea. Since 1993 he has been conducting cultural exchange trips to Cuba, acting as teacher and guide. On the early journeys he witnessed a turning point in Cuban history. “I didn’t know it at the time,” he recalls, “but it was both the end and the beginning. It was the end of the Soviet financial influence, and the beginning of a set of new economic ideas, a fledgling private sector and a vibrant underground black market.” In his approach to photography, Hendricks seeks to compress the chaos and contradictions of life into memorable images. Cuba is full of contradictions: crumbling buildings and youthful exuberance, world-famous artists and anonymous street musicians, audiences that cheer classical ballet and baseball with the same enthusiasm. In his long love affair with Cuba, he has looked into its soul and captured images of its unique beauty. The complex and distinctive character of Cuba will soon be challenged by an influx of tourists bringing inevitable changes. Travel restrictions for American citizens are gradually being relaxed, and on May 2 of this year, the first US cruise ship in nearly four decades arrived in Havana. Hendricks’ photographs provide a timely look at the island, offering a window into the real Cuba before tourism reshapes the culture. For more information on his work, visit www.hendricks-studios.com. The Ojai Photography Club is devoted to education, inspiration, and camaraderie and hosts presentations as part of its community service. Visitors are always welcome and admission is free. For additional information please visit www.ojaiphotoclub.com/ |
 “Bird on My Fence” by Gail Pidduck, oil on panel, 8 x 8 inches, Collection of the artist. Enlarge Photo By Anonymous — Tuesday, June 7th, 2016
June 18 through November 6, 2016 at the Santa Paula Art Museum
 “Over the Tree Tops” by Gail Pidduck, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, Collection of the artist. Enlarge Photo The Santa Paula Art Museum is pleased to present “One Look at Nature: The Paintings of Gail Pidduck,” opening June 18 and on view through November 6, 2016. Gail Pidduck is one of Santa Paula’s most esteemed resident artists, and her much-anticipated solo show will feature over 50 breathtaking new works, all of which explore the beauty of nature and the local landscape. The exhibition will premiere with a reception on Saturday, June 18, 2016, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Admission is $10.00 for museum members and $15.00 for the general public. Gail Pidduck describes herself as a ruralist painter. Born and raised on a ranch in Santa Paula, Gail spent much of her youth exploring nearby fields and orchards. Pidduck’s early experiences have greatly influenced her perspective as an artist. In creating this exhibition, Gail was inspired by both the large and small parts of nature in her home area. The resulting group of works features sweeping views of mountains and valleys, and smaller studies of birds, cacti, flowers, and fruit. One Look at Nature will also feature works by artists that Pidduck greatly admires including Marla Frazee, Henry Graumlich, Lettre Sauvage, John Nichols, Michelle Onstot, Nate Pidduck, Chris Provenzano, Michael Rohde, Chuck Spink, Sylvia Torres, Regina Vorgang, Judith Wilson Weldon, Jackson Wheeler, and George Wilson. With their inclusion, Gail hopes to convey that there is more than one way to create, and more than one way to look at the beauty of the world. The Santa Paula Art Museum is located at 117 North Tenth Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sundays from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Regular admission is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors and is free for museum members and students. For more information, please contact the Museum at (805) 525-5554 or info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, June 1st, 2016
Paintings, sculptures and drawings to be featured
An exhibit of Western-themed art will open June 10 at California Lutheran University. “Romancing the West: A Legacy of American Images” will be on display through Aug. 11 in the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art on the Thousand Oaks campus. The free exhibit features figurative and landscape paintings, sculptures and drawings. Two artists, Logan Maxwell Hagege and Jeremy Lipking, have studios in Agoura Hills. Hagege draws inspiration for his contemporary landscapes and figures from Southern California as well as from his travels throughout the Southwest and the Northeast Coast of the United States. Influenced by the figurative tradition of 19th century European painters, Lipking paints landscapes, still lifes and human figures. Other featured U.S. painters are Carole Caroompas, Nicholas Coleman, Glenn Dean, Tracy Felix, Billy Schenck and Oleg Stavrowsky. Caroompas’ paintings examine the intersection of pop culture and gender archetypes. Coleman works in gouache and oil. Dean recently has turned his attention to the figure within the landscape. Felix exaggerates geology and heightens color to express the drama and excitement of landscapes. Schenck, who worked in Andy Warhol’s studio and sold out his first solo show in New York City at 24, incorporates techniques from photorealism and pop art. Born to Russian parents in Harlem, Stavrowsky became a technical illustrator and then expanded to fashion illustration and other types of commercial art. The late Cyrus Edwin Dallin, Frank Tenney Johnson and Harold Shelton are other featured American-born artists. Dallin was a sculptor best known for his naturalistic portraits of horses and Native Americans, whom he lived among as a boy. Johnson popularized a style of painting cowboys known as “The Johnson Moonlight Technique.” Shelton, a sculptor, started out shaping wildlife of Colorado from beeswax. Featured painters David Grossmann and the late Roy Kerswill immigrated to the U.S. Grossman, who spent his childhood in Chile, began plein air painting as an art academy student. English-born Kerswill, who sailed a canoe from Canada to New Orleans, painted historical scenes and landscapes in oil and watercolor. The exhibit also features paintings by the late Hungarian painter István Benyovszky. The exhibit features the William Rolland Collection in conjunction with works on loan from Maxwell Alexander Gallery and Western Project. It is partially funded by a resident fellowship from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. The gallery is located in William Rolland Stadium north of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For more information, contact curator Rachel Schmid at rollandgallery@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3697 or visit CalLutheran.edu/rolland. |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, June 1st, 2016
 Heritage Valley Art Growers (l-r) Lolita Wyche-Bowman, Deborah Galarza, Laura Cunz, Carole Cately, Colette Swan, and Wana Klasen. A group of Fillmore Artists who meet to paint under tutelage of Wana Klasen will be presenting their first Group Art Show from June 4, 2016 through July 30, 2016 at the Blanchard Community Library located at 119 North Eighth Street in Santa Paula. The art is original, colorful, eclectic work completed in a variety of media including water color, mixed media, pastel, and graphite, and with varying subject matter. The artists are also offering gallery quality giclee' prints and note cards! Showing work in this exhibit are artists, Carole Cately, Laura Cunz, Deborah Manning-Galarza, Colette Swan, Lolita Wyche-Bowman, and Wana Klasen. A “Meet the Artists” Reception is planned for Thursday, June 16, 2016 from 5-7pm. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
Great Highway Explores the History of San Francisco Through Surfing
 Uncle Dick Keating surfing Pacifica, CA in the early 1940's. Photo credit: Dick Keating Enlarge Photo On Saturday June 25th at 7pm, at the Ojai Valley Grange, the Ojai-based production company On The Water Front Creative presents a surf film night featuring the award-winning documentary film, “Great Highway: Journey to the Soul of Bay Area Surfing.” Utilizing rarely seen archival footage and photographs, “Great Highway” traces the roots of Bay Area surfing, which began at San Francisco’s notorious Ocean Beach, and explores the changes to both the City and to the surf scene over decades. The story is told by the people who lived it, from the Hawaiian lifeguards at the City’s giant Fleishhacker Swimming Pool in the 1940’s to kids growing up today who surf the challenging, and increasingly crowded, swells in preparation for Maverick’s and other big wave spots. For more than sixty years, people have surfed the cold waters off San Francisco’s shores, far from the limelight reserved primarily for Southern California’s surf culture. Much like the city of San Francisco itself, the surf culture of Northern California is full of colorful and eccentric characters, who offer their own perspectives on the history and the future of surfing. The film includes interviews with Ocean Beach regulars such as wetsuit mogul Jack O’Neill, exercise guru Jack LaLanne, internationally known big wave surfers Michael Ho and Fred Van Dyke, and northern California surfboard shaper and waterman Dick Keating, to name a few. While the story is rooted in surfing, the film is as much about the history of San Francisco as it is about the beaches that ring the City’s outer edges. Filmmakers, Mark Gunson and Krista Howell will be in attendance at the Grange screening for a Q&A afterward, so come join us for a night of California surfing history and fun. Part of the ticket sales goes to benefit the Ojai Valley Grange, a local non-profit. When: Saturday, June 25, 2016. Doors open at 6:30, Film begins at 7pm For More Information: Elizabeth Pepin Silva, otwfront@gmail.com |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
A talk by Mary Winder via the Santa Barbara Museum of Art at the Ojai Library
Mary Winder will visit the Ojai Library at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, to deliver a talk entitled “Ancient Mystery Cults of Greece and Rome.” Ms. Winder comes to us via the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Community Speakers Program. This presentation will cover Ancient Mystery Cults—one of the most intriguing but least understood aspects of Greek and Roman religion. These cults were an important part of life in the ancient Mediterranean world, but their actual practices were shrouded in secrecy, and many of their features have remained unclear until recently. Mystery cults flourished in the ancient world for roughly a thousand years, from the sixth century B.C.E. to late antiquity. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art owns an impressive collection of Greco-Roman sculpture and artifacts; this presentation will illustrate one of the many facets of why this art was so very important to the Ancient Greeks and Romans. This event is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Ron Solórzano, City Librarian, at (805) 218-9146. The Ojai Library is located at 111 East Ojai Avenue in Ojai, CA. Hours of service are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Ventura County Library System: |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
Ojai Valley Museum is pleased to announce their participation this summer as a Blue Star Museum. The museum joins more than 2,000 museums across American offering free admission to military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day. “We are happy to provide an interesting, free experience for military families as a small way to express our gratitude to the men and women serving our country,” said museum director Wendy Barker. The Blue Star Museum program is a collaboration among the National Endowment of the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the Department of Defense. The program provides military families an opportunity to enjoy the nation’s cultural and artistic heritage. Museums of all types, in all 50 states, participate in the initiative. The Ojai Valley Museum highlights the history, art and culture of the Ojai Valley in their museum located at 130 W. Ojai Avenue in Ojai. The museum is housed in a beautiful National Register building. Free parking is available behind the museum, off Blanche Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday noon to 4 pm. Group or school tours available by appointment. For more information, call the museum at (805) 640-1390, ext. 203, email ojaimuseumdawn@sbcglobal.net or visit the museum website at OjaiValleyMuseum.org. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, May 24th, 2016
The Ojai Art Center will host Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut for a special event on Saturday, June 11, at 7 p.m. in the Art Center Theater. The presentation will include a slideshow of Ut’s photographs to be followed by a question and answer session with the artist. Ut rose to fame with his iconic Vietnam War photo of several children fleeing a botched napalm attack on their village on June 8, 1972. Central to the photo was an unclothed nine-year-old girl, Kim Phuc. Once it hit the press, the picture quickly gained widespread distribution, affected the hearts and minds of people all over the world, and marked a turning point in the conflict. “As a Vietnam veteran and photographer, Nick’s images from the war leave an indelible mark in my memory,” says Art Center photography chair David Baker. “They truly tell the horror of war, especially for the innocents. The ‘Napalm Girl’ image shows that better than any image I have seen.” According to legend, Ut used his media credential to get Phuc and other children admitted to a hospital following the moment he captured on film. Ut said in a past interview that the girl was initially “very upset about the picture.” Her story, however, has a happy ending. Today she lives in Canada and does humanitarian work. The two are still in communication to this day. Tickets for Ut’s presentation are available in advance at ojaiact.tix.com. For more information on Ut’s appearance or any other Ojai Art Center event, visit www.ojaiartcenter.org or call 805-646-0117. |