Join an evening celebration of Day of the Dead at the Museum of Ventura County on Friday, October 29, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. Que Viva La Noche! Long Live the Night! is for adults 21 and over, and features music, dancing, arts & crafts for adults, a silent auction, and “decadent delights” in food and drink. Revelers can see the new exhibition Art & Altars for Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), and all museum galleries are open throughout the event.

Que Viva La Noche, a fundraiser for museum programs, is $50 for general public, $40 for museum members, and includes food stations and one drink ticket. Reservation deadline is October 24. To attend, call (805) 653-0323 x 315.

The museum also holds its 10th annual free Day of the Dead Community Celebration on Saturday, October 30 from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. This family event gives visitors a chance to experience traditional arts and crafts, music, and dance that celebrate Day of the Dead. The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura.

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) honors the departed who are said to come back to walk among the living on November 1 and 2. Celebrated in many parts of Mexico and Latin America, Día de los Muertos is now popular in the United States among Latinos and non-Latinos alike. Humorous skulls (calaveras), and skeletons blithely going about worldly business are the dominant symbols of the celebration, which has roots in pre-Columbian as well as Spanish religious beliefs.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA. – California Lutheran University’s free French film festival will return for a fourth year from Sept. 22 through Oct. 20.

The Tournées Festival: French Films on the CLU Campus will feature five movies shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Preus-Brandt Forum. All films are subtitled in English. They explore the themes of integrity, compassion and diversity.

“Coco avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel)” - Sept. 22
Anne Fontaine’s exploration of the world’s greatest fashion designer focuses on Coco Chanel during the Belle Époque. The 2009 film, which won a César award in 2010, opens in 1893 when 10-year-old Coco and her sister are unceremoniously dumped at an orphanage and ends a few years before the Chanel empire is launched.

“Lili et le Baobab (Lili and the Baobab)” - Sept. 29
In this 2006 film, freelance photographer Lili is documenting new infrastructures in her town’s sister community in Senegal. The village turns out to welcome her. As she focuses her camera on the villagers and their profoundly communal existence, her photography becomes a means of communication and a salve for her own isolation.

“Les Plages d’Agnès (The Beaches of Agnes)” - Oct. 6
This 2008 film is a cinematic and poetic autobiography of Agnès Varda’s life through locations she fondly remembers. The director feels that inside every human being is a landscape. “If you open me up, you’d find beaches inside,” she comments before our journey to beaches and neighborhoods from her native Belgium to Venice, Calif.

“Paris” (2007) - Oct. 13
In Cedric Klapisch’s 2007 love letter to the City of Light, the action focuses on a former dancer, his sister and her children. “There are enough intersecting characters from different classes and backgrounds …to evoke the city as a complex, healthy organism, whose parts are all connected,” The New York Times said.

“Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge (The Flight of the Red Balloon)” - Oct. 20
Directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien and based on the French short “The Red Balloon,” this 2007 film tells the story of a French family through the eyes of a Chinese student. Suzanne, played by Juliette Binoche, hires the student to care for her son. Soon, the student and son share an imaginary world in which a red balloon follows them.

The Tournées Festival: French Films on the CLU Campus is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture. The Florence Gould Foundation, the Grand Marnier Foundation and highbrow entertainment are sponsors of the free festival.

The forum is south of Olsen Road between Mountclef Boulevard and Campus Drive.

For more information, contact Karen Renick of the French Department at renick@callutheran.edu or go to http://www.callutheran.edu/events .

A power point presentation, with commentary by Craig Walker, Tom Moore, and David Mason will be hosted by the Ojai Valley Museum on September 12. Craig Walker and Tom Moore are co-authors of the recently released book “Ojai”, from Arcadia Publishing’s Postcard History Series. David Mason served as a consultant for the book. The book project was organized by the Ojai Valley Museum, with many of the postcards coming from its own extensive collection. Collectors living in the Ojai Valley donated other cards to the project.

The slide show will feature full-color scans of many rare and beautiful vintage postcards covering the last 100 years of Ojai Valley history. The authors will provide descriptions, stories, and interesting facts relating to the places and events pictured on the cards.

After the slide show, the authors will be available to answer questions and sign copies of their book. Several postcard donors will also be on hand to answer questions about their collections.

Those wishing to have a signed copy of the book may bring their own copy or purchase one from the museum at the event. The book is also on sale at various locations around Ojai.

The event will be held on Sunday, September 12, at 4:00 pm in the museum gallery at 130 W. Ojai Avenue, Ojai. Contact the museum at (805) 640-1390 for additional information.

Camarillo, CA. – CSU Channel Islands (CI) will host, “Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964”, a bilingual exhibition organized by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and CI’s local exhibit called “The Braceros of Ventura County”. These exhibits will be on display at CI’s John Spoor Broome Library September 9 through October 31, 2010.

For residents of Ventura County, the exhibit serves to illustrate the impact of the Bracero Program on the region. The program, begun in 1942 as a Mexican guest-worker program, brought Mexican men across the border to supplement the labor shortage created during World War II. The braceros signed work contracts that could range from three to six months and be renewed at the end of the term. Once in the United States they were housed in labor camps. The largest of these camps was located in the city of Oxnard, the Buena Vista Labor camp, which housed 5,000 men during the 1950’s. Twenty percent of all braceros who came to Ventura County worked in the citrus, fruit, and vegetable fields.

As Jose Alamillo, Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies, explained, “The Bracero Program has had a major impact on the county in economic, cultural and political terms”.

When the program ended in 1964, many of these same braceros returned to Ventura County because they had established local roots and had made contact with potential employers. It was not uncommon for various agricultural enterprises to follow their workers back to Mexico requesting that they return to live in company housing and work under enhanced terms of employment.

In 2008, CI joined the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, along with other universities and museums, to document and preserve the bracero experience. The Bracero History Project has collected over 700 interviews. CI students have added to this effort by conducting and collecting 71 interviews. Dozens of photographs, documents and artifacts have been recovered to tell the story of the largest guest-worker program, involving between four and five million men, in U.S. History.

Alamillo noted that the Bracero History Project helped him to understand his family better. “As a child growing up in rural Mexico, I lived without my father and grandfather for long periods of time. The program had a very significant impact on the families these men left behind so they could come to the States and work. Mothers had to be both mother and father to their children.” He added, “I resented their absence and was never able to be very close to them, knowing they would soon be gone again. I am sure my dad felt guilty about his absence and must have wondered what it would have been like if he had been able to remain in Mexico.”

Alamillo said that the local part of the exhibit was designed and created entirely by CI Chicana/o Studies and Art students. However, many students from Spanish, Library, and History courses contributed by conducting interviews with former braceros and/or transcribing and translating the interviews. Some of these same students were amazed to find out that some of their relatives had been braceros.

Pilar Pacheco, Assistant Director for the Center for Community Engagement, said, “It is an honor for us to host this national exhibit and to showcase our own local bracero exhibit. In doing so, we are able to celebrate and preserve the legacy of these hardworking individuals who gave so much to help grow and shape the identity of United States and Ventura County.”

For information about the many special events that will take place during the course of the exhibit, visit http://www.csuci.edu/bracero-exhibit/events.htm or contact Pilar Pacheco at 805-437-8851 or pilar.pacheco@csuci.edu.

CSU Channel Islands is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

CI Mission Statement
Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.

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Festivities for the 10th annual free Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) Community Celebration, the Museum of Ventura County’s most popular event, will be held in their new plaza and pavilion at 100 E. Main Street in Ventura, on Saturday, October 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Amid music and dancing, children and adults of all ages can transform themselves into skeletons at the face painting booths, have their pictures taken, and try traditional crafts, such as decorating sugar skulls and creating papel picado banners, paper skeletons, and tissue paper flowers. The focus of the museum’s celebration is the importance of the arts, and creating art that celebrates the memory of those the living have lost.

The entire museum is free that day and open until 6 p.m. Inside the galleries, the exhibition Altars & Art, created by local artists, schools, and community groups, will be on display. Traditionally, colorful Day of the Dead altars (ofrendas) are built to honor departed relatives and friends, and include objects they enjoyed in their lifetimes. Altars & Art runs October 26 through November 5.

The festival of Día de los Muertos honors the dead who are said to come back to walk among the living on November 1 and 2. Celebrated in many parts of Mexico and Latin America, Día de los Muertos is now popular in the United States among Latinos and non-Latinos alike.

Humorous skulls (calaveras), and skeletons blithely going about worldly business, are the dominant symbols of Día de los Muertos, which has roots in pre-Columbian as well as Spanish religious beliefs.

For more information go to www.venturamuseum.org or 805) 653-0323.

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Camarillo, CA – The Art Program at California State University Channel Islands (CI) has announced an upcoming exhibition by Douglas Alvarez entitled, “The Basic Nature of Things” at the CI Exhibitions Art Gallery located in old town Camarillo. The public is invited to an opening reception to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 9. The exhibition will continue through Sept. 30.

Douglas Alvarez received his BA in Art from California State University, Northridge and maintains a studio in Studio City, CA. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in Los Angeles and the Southern California area, New York City, and Berlin, Germany.

Daily life is Doug Alvarez’s muse. Beauty seems to emanate from decaying walls, strange people, old cars, strip malls and endless advertisements. In a world, which at first glance seems bleak at best, nature and sunlight manage to overcome negativity. Having grown up in Southern California during the 70s and 80s, Alvarez captures the sensibility of a simpler time and place, a counter balance to the evolving complexities of 21st century life.

Utilizing a pallet knife to apply his paint, Alvarez creates distressed surfaces as a foundation for his stylized subjects. Exploring images of human contact with inanimate objects, the artist invites the viewer to ponder these strange interactions. Commonplace objects such as an ice cream cone or a skateboard or serve to represent positive solutions to the human dilemma. Regardless of the bleak situations depicted in his thought-provoking paintings, a metaphorical rainbow of happiness and sunlight seems to prevail.

The art gallery is located at 92 Palm Drive, Camarillo and is open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For additional information, contact the CI Art Program at 805-437-8570, e-mail art@csuci.edu, or visit: http://art.csuci.edu/gallery.

CSU Channel Islands is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

CI Mission Statement
Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.

OXNARD, CA. - Hundreds of classic cars are heading to the Channel Islands Harbor for the Ventura Vintage Rods Harbor Run 20. Shiny muscle cars including 57 Chevys, T-Birds, GTOs, Mustangs, and Camaros, to coupes from the 1930s with rumble seats, along with an array of pick-up trucks ranging from the 1950s to mid-1970s are some of the classic cars that will be on display from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sept. 12 at Harborview Park in Channel Islands Harbor.

Close to 300 classic cars will be entered in Harbor Run 20 – all dating before 1975. “The cars we have are all American made and there will be a wide variety of cars on display,” said Charlie Roark, Ventura Vintage Rods’ president. “It’s our 20th anniversary and we’re really hoping for a great crowd, like we’ve always had.”

Event attendance is free to the public; there is a $20 fee to enter a vintage car in the event. Several trophies will be handed out, along with raffle prizes and a 50/50 drawing. All proceeds benefit local charities. The event raised nearly $11,000 last year, according to Roark, and they’re hoping to top that amount this year. Year-round, Ventura Vintage Rods helps raise money to donate to local charities, such as Oxnard Police K9 Unit, Victory Outreach and local food banks.

For more information on the Ventura Vintage Rods Harbor Run 20, visit the Ventura Vintage Rods website at www.venturavintagerods.org.

Channel Islands Harbor serves as a center of recreation, boating, shopping and watersports activities. The harbor is home to three yacht clubs and nine full-service marinas that provide berths for 2,150 boats. It also hosts the Ventura County Maritime Museum. Located at Fisherman’s Wharf, the museum is a cultural center dedicated to the interpretation of maritime history through interactive exhibits and educational outreach. For more information on the Channel Islands Harbor, visit the website at www.channelislandsharbor.org.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA. – Realist painter Michael Lynn Adams will present a collection of 20 still life, genre and landscapes inspired by Southern California light and the beauty of Paris and Provence from Sept. 2 through Oct. 8 at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

A reception for “Paris • Provence • California: Recent Paintings by Michael Lynn Adams” will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture.

This is the premier showing for most of the paintings.

Adams’ works are in private collections throughout the United States. Maggie Kruger, owner of M Gallery of Fine Art in Sarasota, Fla., noted in American Art Collector Magazine that his work “has a luminous quality; emanating a quiet glow on the gallery wall. Collectors are mesmerized and drawn to each of the works, moving from each jewel-like painting, basking in the reflected light.”
A former student at the California Art Institute, he was accepted as an associate in the Oil Painters of America (OPA) in 2006. Adams is a member of the International Guild of Realism. His paintings have been exhibited in national and international shows, including Salon International, OPA National and OPA Western Regional.
Adams graduated from CLU with a bachelor’s degree in art in 1972 and is the director of the university’s Creative Media Center. The Woodland Hills resident has won dozens of awards as a designer and illustrator.

He grew up surrounded by the arts. His father was a longtime drama professor at CLU and prominent member of the local arts community. His greatest influence was his grandfather, an architect and painter.
The CLU Art Department is sponsoring the free exhibit. A portion of all sales from the exhibition supports the Kwan Fong Gallery.

Located in Soiland Humanities Center, the Kwan Fong Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Visitor parking is available in the parking lot on Mountclef Boulevard south of Olsen Road.
For information on the exhibit, call Michael Pearce at (805) 444-7716 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu/kwan_fong. For more information on Adams, visit http://www.michaeladamsgallery.com.

Musician and activist Xavier Montes

The 17th Annual De Colores Art Show will run from September 5 – January 2, 2011. It has found a permanent home at the new Santa Paula art Museum located at 117 N. 10th, in historic downtown Santa Paula. The art show contains over 40 paintings and sculpture by Southern California artists. The mission of the De Colores Art Show is To bring together the community of professional artists, promote Santa Paula, to recognize diversity and to remember the plight of the farm worker. Museum admission: Adults $4, Seniors $3 and students free with ID.

The first De Colores Art Show was created in March 1995 in Santa Paula by artist, Musician and activist Xavier Montes. Ever since then Xavier has collected and presented contemporary art created by Latinos which expresses the Latino experience, culture and history in its traditions, pain and sorrow, controversies through art.

An important inspiration for the De Colores Art Show was the work of Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta. It was their commitment to the improvement of the lives of the Campesino, or the migrant worker. In addition, Mr. Montes seeks to generate community involvement with local businesses and motivate young aspiring artists.

What: De Colores Art Show
Where: Santa Paula Art Museum, 117 N. 10th Street, Santa Paula
Dates: Opens September 8, exhibit runs through January 2, 2011
Hours/Cost: Wednesday - Sunday 10 – 4
Daily Admission: Adults $4, Seniors $3, Students free with ID

www.santapaulaartmuseum.org

Janet Black’s solo exhibition “Synthesis: New Works in Collage” at the Buenaventura Galley will show from September 14 to October 9, 2010. Opening Reception is Saturday, September 18 from 4-7pm. First Fridays Ventura Gallery Crawl on Friday October 1, 5 – 8pm.

Look once and you see a composition of colors and textures harmoniously creating a figure. Look twice and notice the medium of numerous papers from a handful of origins, torn with grace and skill, and reconstructed into values of light and shadow. Step in closer, nose to nose with the artwork and see the words of lyrics, psalms, poems and philosophies that elevate your awareness of peace, calm, introspection. Black’s layers of collage are merged with impressive painterly quality. Her united bits and pieces form her “big picture”.
Black studied the arts in Wisconsin where she grew up. Motherhood and part time jobs kept her creative tendencies on the back burner, but never snuffed. When her sons moved on to college, she found time to discover the talented faculty and students at nearby Ventura College. Inspired by the mentoring of Carlisle Cooper, Bob Moskowitz, and Sylvia Torres, Black soon found collage to be her medium of choice, combining the theories of painting class with a love of textures and printed papers.

Now, with a renovated back room in the house, Black has a working studio space to create as well as a sanctuary away from the “increasingly complicated world”. The artist’s images are intended to show that “the mind needs a resting place.” Black’s faces are subjects who look at you with a spirit of worldly knowing. It is said the “eyes are the window to the soul” and when we meet the red tailed hawk or Kuan Yin, Black introduces us as equals. Their eyes of paper share a message. Black is a teacher showing us, in colorful metaphor, how all complicated parts can become beautifully unified when you step back, appreciate and enjoy.

This is her second solo show with Buenaventura Art Association. Black is featured artist for the City of Ventura’s Harvest ArtWalk on Oct. 16-17, 2010.

The Buenaventura Gallery is located at 700 E. Santa Clara St, Ventura, CA 93001. Hours are Tues thru Friday from 12 – 5 pm and Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. For questions or an appointment during other hours, please call (805) 648-1235 or visit www.buenaventuragallery.org.

Ventura, CA - The Community Memorial Healthcare Foundation is saying goodbye this year to formal gowns and tuxedos for the 37th annual Benefactors’ Ball and welcoming a more casual affair with swing music from Ventura’s own Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

The Benefactors’ Ball this year is Saturday, Sept. 25. Proceeds will be used to purchase a new ultrasound unit for Community Memorial Hospital’s Intensive Care-Critical Care Department.

Ventura recording artists Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, an internationally contemporary swing band, will perform at this year’s event, which is departing from its past formal black-tie and gown tradition to a more casual environment.

The ball retains its tradition of featuring fine wine and gourmet cuisine from around the world. Festivities begin with a reception at 4 p.m. under the “Big Tent” on the actual site of the new Community Memorial Hospital. Dinner is set for 5 p.m., with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performing its unique brand of swing music starting at 6 p.m.

The Benefactors’ Ball represents an opportunity for residents to support community-based healthcare. Every year hospital and community leaders from all over Ventura County gather for a night of dining, live music and dancing.

Formed in 1989 by lead singer Scotty Morris, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy enjoyed an early cult following and the band was featured in the 1996 movie “Swingers.” The band grew in popularity and appeared on the 1999 Super Bowl halftime show and the 2006 Capital One Bowl, and also served as house band for the sports cable network ESPN’s ESPY Awards for several years.

In recent years, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has played on the Pops programs of American symphony orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony in 2008. The band also released “How Big Can You Get?” a collection of their renditions of Cab Calloway songs in 2009.

Tickets can be bought individually, or by table of eight. Sponsorships also are being accepted. For ticket or sponsorship information, visit www.bbvdcmhf.org or call the Community Memorial Healthcare Foundation at 667-2881.

Community Memorial Hospital is located at 147 N. Brent St. in Ventura.

The Museum of Ventura County relies on dedicated volunteers to support the museum staff, and they are currently seeking volunteers interested in working in Visitor Services and the Museum Store. Applications are being accepted through September 1. All new volunteers must go through the application process and attend all three upcoming training sessions, which will be held at the museum on Wednesdays, September 15, 22, 29, from 3:00-6:00 pm. The class will offer an overview of Ventura County history, museum history & collections, and visitor & retail services.

The Museum of Ventura County is also interested in learning from applicants about any special skills they think might be helpful to the museum. To complete a volunteer interest form, go to the volunteer page at www.venturamuseum.org or visit the Museum at 100 E. Main St. in Ventura; an application packet will follow. For more information, contact Director of Education Wendy VanHorn at education@venturamuseum.org or (805) 653-0323 ext. 300.

Luanne Hebner Perez’s collection of original watercolor paintings “A Sense of Place” will be exhibiting at the Harbor Village Gallery from Wednesday, September 8 to Sunday, October 10, 2010. An Artist Reception will be held on Friday, September 10, 2010 from 5 – 8pm.

With the heart of a true local, Perez captures the views of Ventura and bring them to life. Take a tour around Ventura right here in this exhibit! Her images are reminders of what a blessing and inspiration the beautiful town of Ventura is. She paints in vivid watercolors, representational with a warm touch. Each painting aims to give you a “sense of place” making one fall-in-love once again with this county.

Perez has spent nearly all of her life here in beautiful California. However, she enjoys traveling across America and to Europe, filling her artistic soul with inspirations that capture her and her admirers. She enjoys painting landscapes and places we dream to visit. Watercolors best express her artistic desires with their vibrancy and smooth texture.

Perez studied at the University of California Santa Barbara and University of California of Davis, majoring in home economics. Many know her around town as their cooking and sewing teacher. For twenty four years she taught Life Management classes at Fillmore Middle School, retiring in 2002. Perez began to take her painting seriously in the 1970s and since then she has not wandered away from her desire for the arts.

Perez has been a member of the Buenaventura Art Association since 2008. She is a founding member of the Artists Guild of Fillmore as well as a member of the Santa Paula Society of the Arts. Her work can been seen throughout Ventura at the Buenaventura Gallery, Harbor Village Gallery, Ventura County Maritime Museum, Ventura County Government Center, Community Memorial Hospital, the Santa Paula Train Depot, and the John Nichols Gallery. She has received various awards, some including Honorable Mention at the Rancho Camulos open House and Sale, 2006, and the Santa Paula Society of the Arts, 72nd Annual Exhibit, 2008. In addition, she has had one of her paintings publicized in the Ventura County’s Agricultural Art Alliance.

Come fill your heart’s with a “sense of place” in this warm exhibit of original watercolors.

This is Perez’s first solo exhibit with the Buenaventura Art Association.

The Harbor Village Gallery is located at 1591 Spinnaker Dr., entrance # 3 in the Ventura Harbor Village, next to the big lawn. Open Monday through Thursday (closed on Tuesdays) from 12 to 5 p.m. and Friday, through Sunday from 11a.m. to 6p.m. For more information, call the gallery at 805-644-2750 or visit www.harborvillagegallery.com or www.buenaventuragallery.org

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“Art About Agriculture” is an agricultural themed art exhibit which will be held August 21 through January 30, 2011 at the Santa Paula Art Museum, 117 N. 10th Street in historic downtown Santa Paula. The purpose of the exhibit is to promote Art About Agriculture by exploring all the facets of agriculture from workers to water, from machinery to soil and to the food that goes on our plates.

The public is cordially invited to the opening reception on Saturday, August 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. Cost is $15 for museum members and $20 for non-members. Refreshments will be served. All work in the exhibit will be for sale.

Art About Agriculture features art by 40 artists working in both two and three dimensional media who create art that in some way draws its inspiration from our agricultural heritage and/or contemporary agriculture. That inspiration includes, but is not limited to, depictions of rural landscape, farm animals, farm products, rural life, and art that in a more abstract way deals with issues and ideas related to agriculture.

The Ag Art Alliance was formed in 2007 by Gail Pidduck and John Nichols to promote a greater appreciation of the place of agriculture in our lives by revealing the many facets of agriculture through the eyes of artists.
The Santa Paula Art Museum is the repository and exhibition hall for the Santa Paula Art Collection. The valuable assemblage represents the accumulation of award winning entries in the Santa Paula Art Show which began in 1937. Also featured at the Art Museum are rotating exhibits of contemporary and local artists. The Museum is open Wednesday-Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission: Adults $4, Seniors $3 and members and students are free.

WHAT: Ag Art Alliance 3rd Annual Exhibit “Art About Agriculture”

WHERE: Santa Paula Art Museum, 117 N. 10th St. Santa Paula, CA

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, August 21 from 4 to 6 PM

Cost: $15 for museum members and $20 for non-members

EXHIBIT DATES: August 21 through February 6, 2011

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Secrets, mysteries and twists of fate abound in the Museum of Ventura County’s upcoming exhibition History Unexpected: Surprises, Insights and Revelations from the Research Library Collection. Marking the first time many of the library’s rare materials have been shown, the exhibition runs September 18 through November 28, with a free public reception on Sunday, September 19 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Visitors can discover the true inspiration for the monks’ faces that overlook the city of San Buenaventura from the facade of Ventura City Hall; look inside an office folder labeled “Sports” to see the romantic memento secreted there by famous author Erle Stanley Gardener; see the document that created Ventura County but didn’t resurface for 125 years; and learn about printing and politics in early California from a small devotional book that traveled here from Mexico in the 1830s.

The Museum’s award winning Research Library is a non-lending facility open free to the public as part of the county library system. It is open from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and can be accessed through the museum’s lobby. The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 E. Main Street in downtown Ventura. Go to www.venturamuseum.org for more information or call (805) 653-0323 x 320.

Housing 150,000 documents, books, records, maps, and glass plate negatives related to the history of Ventura County and the surrounding area, the library has been honored with a number of prestigious grants from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services ( IMLS). A two-year project now underway and funded through IMLS’s “Museums for America” grant involves upgrading the library’s technical capacity as well as creating a digital catalog to make the collection accessible online to a wider audience. The most recent award is for restoration of their complete collection of Ventura County Directories.

The Ojai Valley Museum offers a rare opportunity to view and purchase ceramics from the Otto Heino Estate! On exhibition, now through September 19, are over 30 superlative examples from Otto and Vivika, and collaborative pieces never before available for sale.

For their eighth annual “Made in Ojai “ exhibit, the Ojai Studio Artists have devoted part of their exhibition space as a tribute to the renowned Ojai ceramicists, Otto and Vivika Heino. On loan to the exhibit, from the artist’s niece, Helen Heino, and private collectors, are Heino ceramics spanning 1978 through 2009, with accompanying texts and photos.

Helen Heino, executor of the Otto Heino Estate, has loaned 22 of the Heino vessels for display and sale. She has graciously provided the Ojai Valley Museum and the Ojai Studio Artists 100% of the proceeds from the ceramics sold. Each non-profit receives one half of the generated funds.

Interested collectors should call Ojai Valley Museum Director, Michele Pracy, for appointments to view the Heino installation, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at (805) 640-1390.

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By Writer/Contributor Michele Pracy

As the curator of the group exhibition “Made in Ojai VIII,” I wanted a reason for organizing the exhibit beyond the fact that it was comprised of local artists from the OSA/Ojai Studio Artists group. This year, for the first time in seven years of exhibiting at the Ojai Valley Museum, an “outside eye” and an “outside viewpoint” have shaped this annual show.

In contemporary art, the title curator is given to a person who selects and interprets works of art. In addition to selecting works, the curator is responsible for designing the exhibition, writing labels, wall texts, catalog essays and other supportive content for the exhibition.

There was no doubt in my mind that the artists in OSA were professionals in their field, and masters of their chosen medium. I decided, therefore, that an exhibition of their newest work, never seen before in the region, could result in a superlative exhibit of fine art made exclusively in this artist enclave of Ojai, California.

It was imperative to CONTINUED »

The Ventura Baroque Presents The Baroque Chamber Players in Concert, on Sunday August 22d, 4:30PM, at the Heritage Square Chapel Hall, 731 S 'A' Street in Oxnard. We'll perform an all Vivaldi Program of Chamber Concertos from series 'La Pastorella' for winds and strings. We invite the community to participate in this type of art of the Baroque Era, by attending and bringing family and friends!

For more details, please contact Lou at (805)827-8722 or email southdesigns@ yahoo.com We request donations at the entrance, otherwise it's free. There is also ample free parking, in and around the square.'

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Four local artists will demonstrate their work and techniques in the Museum of Ventura County’s courtyard on Sunday, August 29, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. The artists are Michele Chapin, whose stone sculpture is presently on solo exhibit at the museum; painter Sarah Kalvin; leatherworker Steve Stewart; and textile artist Lorna Morck. All the artists will have work available for purchase through the Museum Store. This is the first in a series of Museum Store events to be held throughout the year to highlight Ventura County artists.

That same day, at 3:00 p.m., costume historian Shelly Foote will discuss the life and work of Howard Greer, one of the first movie costume designers to gain fame at a “Designer to the Stars.” The lecture in the museum’s pavilion is $5 for the general public, free for museum members. Admission to the lecture also includes general admission to the museum. For reservations, call (805) 653-0323 x 315.

The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura. For more information, go to www.venturamuseum.org or (805) 653-0323.

HOLLYWOOD, CA (AUG 07, 2010) – Woman’s Club of Hollywood will be hosting an Open Artist Call for a Juried Exhibit.

Submissions will be accepted online: http://www.womansclubofhollywood.org/
Deadline: August 27th. This exhibit is being juried by Sylvia White of the Sylvia White Gallery. The curators of the exhibit will be Laurel Huggins, artist/designer, and Sandra McCullough, owner/founder of Gallery 255 and Sea Breeze Art Studios.

February 2010, the Woman’s Club of Hollywood instituted some dramatic and exciting changes to enhance the membership of this 105 year old organization and revitalize the use of their historic building. The main purpose of this exhibit is to create an exciting contemporary art exhibit that will expose a multitude of people to the Woman’s Club of Hollywood and create an on-going venue for artists.

“Reflecting Beauty” runs September 16 – October 23, 2010. The opening artist reception will be held on Thursday, September 16 from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.