May 1st's Featured Location Sea Breeze Art Gallery

Sea Breeze Gallery - Street and Structures: A Shifted Perspective works by Monteve Miller-Clay

Ms. Miller-Clay says of her series:  “I find interesting things in all aspects of the urban landscape, but I tend to focus on a knee high view and what’s under my feet.  That’s where the bulk of life takes place. That’s where the stories are recorded.”
These abstract works beckon viewers to liken them to landscapes; however the artist’s focus is intent on rendering patinas and incorporating unusual design elements and finishes that she examines and photographs on her regular walks. As a result, the use of photo transfers has made its way onto the work. Among the inspiring images of her hometown's streets are wrought iron fences, sidewalk curbs, and graffiti scribed into concrete.

Ms. Miller-Clay takes common methods available to her and conjures up bright juxtapositions of vibrant textures in addition to deep wells of insight for her viewers to experience. Her lifelong residence in Ventura has been a resource to her vision and experience which she shares in her community with gratitude.

255 South Laurel St, Ventura 805.643.3973 www.SeaBreezeArtGallery.com

643 Project Space – 643 A Project Space is pleased to announce an exhibition of work by Charles Timm-Ballard. Charles investigates the traditions of landscape representation in painting and combines these strategies with sculptural concerns in ceramic material. This allows room to operate in a space between the sensuous earthly qualities of the ceramic materials and the more ethereal qualities of light presented by a painting or drawing. “The idea that I am making landscape images out of fused feldspathic material is critical to understanding the meaning of the work. My work brings the visual, tactile, and actual material qualities of this landscape together with historical representations of landscape to construct images of fused earthly materials.”

There will be an opening reception on Friday, May 1st, 6-9pm during Ventura’s First Fridays.

643 N. Ventura Ventura www.643ProjectSpace.com. To schedule an appointment: info@643projectspace.com or Monica Furmanski at 310-592-9127

Bell Arts Factory – Bell Arts Factory features art created in their well respected Youth Arts Program, directed by Michele Foster. The whimsical artwork hangs for May's First Friday reception and for the full month of May, in Bell Arts Factory's new Tool Room Gallery, located at Vita Art Center's back entrance. Gallery Hours for the Youth Arts Program - Friday May 1st, 6:00 to 9:00 PM and Saturdays 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.

The colorful arundo mobiles, painted driftwood sculptures, clay figures and the hand made book, Shellie the Shopping Cart - The Story of Arundo, are arranged in the exhibit by the Tool Room Gallery's curator Sarah Kalvin.

The Youth Arts Program holds free classes Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, for children from 6 to 13 years old. For hours and more information visit:
http://www.bellartsfactory.com/youth_art.html

432 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura 805.258.1160 www.BellArtsFactory.com

Buenaventura Gallery – The Buenaventura Art Association celebrates 55 years in 2009!

Buenaventura Gallery 700 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura 805.648.1235 www.BuenaventuraGallery.org

Clocktower Inn Hotel - Paintings by Len Poteshman from Bell Arts Studios.

181 E. Santa Clara St. Ventura Ca. 93001 805-652-0141 Reservation 800-727-1027 www.clocktowerinn.com

Discovery Gallery –Inkspots of San Buenaventura, a local group of printmaking artists, has an exhibition of their original works at the Discovery Gallery from Friday, May 1 to Wednesday June 3, 2009. There is an opening reception on Friday, May 1 from 5 – 8 pm, as part of the Downtown Ventura First Friday Gallery Crawl.

In their second year of making art with a shared printmaking press located at the Sea Breeze Gallery, "inkspots of San Buenaventura" is comprised of ten local artists: Karen Brown, Donna Carver, Judy Gibbs, Ginny Furmanski, Tiger Huang, Lynn Letourneau, Sandra McCullough, Leslie Plimpton, Betsy Quinn, and Monica Wiesblott.
Printmaking is the process of making original artworks by running a prepared surface through a printing press. Printmaking techniques fall into four major categories: relief, intaglio, planographic and stencil. Each printmaking technique has its unique qualities. Techniques included in the Discovery Gallery show are monotype, monoprint, drypoint etching, lithography; solarplate etching, woodcuts, linocuts, and relief work. 
The “inkspots of San Buenaventura” is the only fine art printmaking group in Ventura County. It began in 2006 when local artist Ginny Furmanski bought a printmaking press. She found a few artist friends who were interested in the art of printmaking and together they hatched a plan to find a studio space where they all could work together. They chose Sea Breeze Art Gallery and Studios, on Laurel St. in Ventura, which not only offered a great working space, but also a supportive group of other resident artists and a gallery to show their work.

Discovery Gallery (inside the Ventura Visitors Bureau) 101 S. California St., Ventura. 805.648.1235 www.BuenaventuraGallery.org

Fox Fine Jewelry - Featured Artists Kristina Grey and Nancy Whitman

Kristina Grey, a Disney veteran who worked on Sleeping Beauty, has devoted her life to art as a vehicle for healing. She has used art therapeutically with male inmates, abused adults in a psychiatric unit, and in private practice. She has been painting, drawing and sculpting all of her life, with dozens of awards and shows to her credit. Her art, intuitive and inspired, is loose and colorful, a blending of post impressionist and abstract expressionists.

Nancy Whitman topped off her graduate art degree by studying in Paris, France. She fell in love with color and exuberant broad strokes as she was influenced by Matisse, Jawlensky and the Fauves. Her larger, free-flowing colorful pastels reflect the sheer beauty of nature that surrounds her as she paints in her studio in Upper Ojai.

210 East Main Street, in Historic Downtown Ventura, Across the street from the Mission. (805) 652-1800. Hours are Monday – Thursday, 10:30 – 6p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 10:30 – 10 p.m. www.FoxFineJewelry.com

Museum of Ventura County - Picture This! The Magic of Children's Books, featuring original illustrations by writer /authors Caldecott Medal winner Simms Taback, Mary Ann Fraser, and Carol Heyer, , as well as books by authors Alexis O’Neill, Amada Irma Pérez , and Jody Fickes Shapiro.  Also on exhibit: Discovery: The Photography of Dan Holmes, dazzling color photographs of western United States landscapes and African wildlife, as well as black and white portraits and landscapes.Open until 8 pm.

Open until 8 pm. Museum of Ventura County 89 S. California St. 805.653.0323 www.VenturaMuseum.org

Red Brick Gallery - "Magnified Planet" focuses on the details within nature celebrating the Earth's ever changing nuances and beauty. Each artist has captured their own moment in the environmnet which ranges from floral abstractions to intimate portraits of animals to realistic moments caught on film.

We invite you to join us in celebrating all of the facets of the amazing place we live.

New Location 315 E. Main St. Ventura Ca 93001 805-643-6400 www.RedBrickArt.com

San Buenaventura Artists' Union Gallery - “De Colores Art Show & Festival March 28- May 3 Curator: Xavier Montes, Luzmaria Espinoza, Poet Presents an evening of Flor y Canto Poetry Reading for First Friday's May 1st.

The "De Colores Art Show & Festival brings the community together to celebrate the diversity of the Latino experience with art, music, and dance. Xavier has presented the De Colores Art Show & Festival for fifteen years beginning in Santa Barbara , Santa Paula , and now in Ventura .

330 S. California Street Plaza. Ventura 805.643.3012 www.VenturaArtistsUnion.org

Stoneworks Studios & Gallery - Spray Paint
Community Group Show featuring several local artists young and old
A show of local works of art created on everything imaginable with the use of Spray Paint as an Artistic Medium…..from the fun and imaginative to the serious….works of art that tickle your senses.

Special artist reception and public viewing of the "Westside Door Project"...a garden community art installation of murals created on recycled doors painted by 45 plus artists. This project was designed to bring art into the west side neighborhood leading up to and during the Ventura Spring Artwalk and in honor of Earthday 2009.

300 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura, CA 93001 805.643.5431 www.StoneWorksStudios.com

Sylvia White Gallery - We will be installing the show "Neighbors" which will feature 17 Santa Barbara Artists.  It will open on May 6, with our opening reception on Saturday May 9, 3-5pm.  I've attached a couple of generic gallery pics.

1783 E. Main St., Ventura 93001 805.643.8300 www.SylviaWhite.com

V2 Gallery - New Works
Charles Fulmer, Warren Scherich, Richard P. Schaefer, Wyndra Roche'
Fresh from the easel, pluralist Charles Fulmer shares eight of his latest figurative oils celebrating the feminine form. Humorous new works on paper from Warren Scherich feature his delightfully irreverent pseudo-scapes replete with familiar creatures. Small works for the beginning collector are available. 

1899 E Main St., Ventura 93001 805.512.1530 www.V2Gallery.com

Vita Art Center -"PROBY" works by Chris Kirkegaard
Vita Art Center is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by Chris Kirkegaard. Kirkegaard explores tying language and communication in the process of  "making paintings." The paintings in this series look at the parallel conversation between image and word, and our tendency to find that lowest common denominator.  The title “Proby”  is representative of the journey of  the word "probably"  in conversation over the years.  More often than not it’s heard as "probly" but it always holds its meaning. 
 
There will be an opening reception on Friday, May 1, 6-9pm during Ventura’s First Fridays and the gallery is open M-Sat from 10-5.
 

432 N. Ventura Ave Studio 30, Ventura 93001 805-644-9214 www.VitaExplorations.com