Thursday, May 31 from 6-8:30 p.m at Vita Art Center new location: 28 W. Main St.

$75 Donation Advanced purchase suggested (limited tickets available).

Join in for a festive evening of food, libation and art. Vita Art Center is celebrating its exciting new location and 10 years of bringing arts education and exhibitions to Ventura with a spectacular exhibition from nationally renowned painter John Nava. The exhibit will highlight a monumental 27-foot long tapestry of Surfer’s Point in Ventura. Inspired by Georges Seurat’s iconic, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” The show will also feature a series of paintings and other tapestries.

Your $75 donation will be matched by Buena Tile & Stone who, along with an anonymous donor, have pledged a matching gift of $5,000!

Your generous contribution helps Vita to continue to serve the Ventura community.

28 West Main St. • 644-9214 • www.VitaArtCenter.com

Buenaventura Art Association, the grassroots Ventura arts group started in 1954, has found its new home and will open soon amid many other creative endeavors centered on and near Ventura Avenue.

On May 19, BAA celebrated the sale of the Buenaventura Gallery location it has occupied for 28 years, 700 E. Santa Clara St. Attendees toasted the group’s colorful history, founding Vice President Clophine Dooley’s generous bequest that bankrolled the longtime headquarters, and its bright outlook going forward.

Members of the nonprofit co-op now will turn their energies into making a new home within a few weeks at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave., in space formerly occupied by Vita Arts Center.

BAA’s board views the move as a chance to reinvent its business model and continue developing as a cohesive and sustainable group. It is also looking at possible collaborations with the Museum of Ventura County, building a venue for online art sales, and starting a Ventura Studio Artists Tour.

For more, visit BAA’s website, www.buenaventuragallery.org, or call 648-1235.

Exhibition of paintings by famed Cuban Artist Pedro González Pulido Opening Night – Friday, June 8. Museum of Ventura County The Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Pavilion.

Pedro González Pulido is a prominent Cuban artist and educator. In 1997 he was Artist–in-Residence at Art City Studios. He returned to Ventura in 2015 as a Featured Artist at the 2015 Art Walk. A longtime friend of Ventura filmmaker Lorenzo DeStefano, Pedro became aware of Lorenzo’s work on “Hearing is Believing”, the feature documentary film about Rachel Flowers. After seeing a Spanish-subtitled version (“Oir es Creer”), Pedro was inspired, as have been many people, by Rachel’s story and her music.

Hearing is Believing Productions and the Museum of Ventura County are proud to bring the film and Pedro’s amazing work back to Ventura.

Painting exhibition runs through June 24.

“Hearing Is Believing” Screening Fri. June 8.

6-7 pm Art Opening & Reception w/ music by Rachel Flowers

7:15 pm Screening of “Hearing Is Believing”, a film by Lorenzo DeStefano

Post-screening Q+A w/ Lorenzo DeStefano, Rachel Flowers, Jeanie Flowers and Patti Channer

Advance tickets ($20) available through EVENTBRITE – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hearing-is-believing-film-screening-tickets-45126292957

Limited tickets available at the door. 641-3845 or [email protected] .

The 4th Annual Student Art Exhibition and Reception (at Santa Paula campus)featuring a range of media taught in Studio Arts including drawing, painting, photography and wood prints. Artworks are from both Ventura College and Santa Paula High School students. Until Wednesday, May 30.

To encourage residents of the surrounding communities to engage with and visit the campus. To recognize student creativity of expression and provide exhibit space for students at both Ventura College and Santa Paula High School.

Ventura College East Campus, 957 Faulkner Road, 106 Santa Paula 525-7136.

The Museum of Ventura County will be opening a new exhibit, Natural State, May 18, featuring the work of the Museum’s first artist-in-residence Ryan Carr. Using large scale paintings and drawings, the focus of Carr’s work is the invasive species of plants along the Ventura River, the Channel Islands and other areas of Ventura County. Carr will also be incorporating letter press printing techniques he learned while interning with Norman Clayton, who is considered one of the finest living printers on the West Coast. Unique wallpaper created by the artist, following the transition of Charles Burchfield, will be installed, as well as a floral installation that speaks to Carr’s work and adds depth to the exhibit.

Natural State will be on display at the Museum from May 18 to August 12. For more information visit venturamuseum.org or call 653-0323.

Featuring artwork by students who experienced Learning To See Outreach in their classrooms!

Biodiversity by Landen, 5th grade, Sheridan Way Elementary, inspired by FOTM Documented Artist Hiroko Yoshimoto

Hill Road Library until June 1.

Featuring students from Blanche Reynolds, Elmhurst, Montalvo and Sheridan Way Elementary Schools

Reception: Saturday, May 12 , 12 – 2 p.m.

1070 S. Hill Rd.

“Bad Exhibition: Value in Art, opening May 19th 6-10 pm. 4 Sichuan artists and 14 California artists will showcase artworks culminating decades of avant-garde creative practice in China and the USA. While we may expect Chinese and US artists to agree on some shared values, we discover disagreement on values grounded in different aesthetic ideals. These contrasting views, once discussed in detail, reveal how Chinese artists relate to art very differently than their US counterparts. Trans-local art markets ‘inspire’ artists to brand expression, ‘scolding’ them for lack of commitment to singular artistic media or visual language. Exhibition runs through June 23rd. Art City Gallery 197 Dubbers st. 648-1690. www.artcitygalleryandstudios.com.

by Board of Directors of BAA

The Board of Directors of BAA (Buenaventura Art Association)would like you to know about our upcoming changes and where we are in this process. We are very excited about all the new opportunities ahead!

We are starting negotiations for the soon to be vacated Vita Arts Center located in the Bell Arts Factory (Vita will be moving to 28 West Main St.), located on Ventura Avenue. The board and staff have worked very hard to investigate all of our options, including looking at several locations. We are also looking at new programs and exciting new art gallery ideas to help with our mission of supporting art and artists in our community. Ultimately, the decision-making responsibility lies with the board, and we are taking that very seriously!

Bell Arts is already an arts destination in Ventura County. Possibilities there include curating the community room, maintaining open hours for the whole space, helping to coordinate activities, having space for both solo and group shows, the artisan store, more community workshops, talks and demos. We also hope to include a large, flat screen TV with AV hookups to screen art-related videos for informal gatherings and discussion, and to present slide shows of previous exhibits.

This is our chance to reinvent our business model, and who we want to be as a cohesive and sustainable group! We are also looking at collaborating with the Museum of Ventura County, as well as having future goals of online art sales, and our very own Ventura Studio Artists Tour.

The sale of our building (which turned out to be a great investment, thank you Clophine Dooley!), will allow us to build out the new space for what we need. We will also be able to improve our website.

On Saturday, May 19, 5-8 pm (this will coincide with Arts and Eats which usually draws a large crowd) please come raise a glass to all the wonderful years so far, share your stories, and join in the good wishes for our future going forward.

The Avenue area is steadily regenerating and is a cornerstone of the arts in Ventura now. With most of the major art organizations and galleries over on the west side, up and down Ventura Ave. or just off the Avenue we feel like we would be joining a wider group where we can better participate in First Fridays and ArtWalks.

Please join us in the celebration and participation of our future together. 700 E. Santa Clara.

Pastel class on May 26th from 1:30 to 4:30 taught by Tasia Erickson.

Draw a lovely sea life painting . Sea plants, a beautiful turtle and fish with gorgeous colors! It is so much fun. Cost is $64.00 including materials. Can pay by paypal, credit card, cash or check.

Email [email protected] Or call to reserve a spot at 676-1540. Only 8 spots are available.

The VC Arts Collective Studio in Pacific View Mall – 2nd floor just outside Sears.

As a younger generation of contemporary artists begins to emerge, they seemingly follow a less poetic and more pragmatic approach to their work. PROTO_POP is an exhibition that embraces spontaneity and directness in equal measure to the processes of reflection, capitulation, and disguise. The presence of a subject, no matter how enclosed, indirect, or fragmentary, exist in in the heart of each piece exhibited.

Photography, Kinetic sculpture, colorful screen prints, geometric landscapes, light installation, and complex collages embrace the pop art esthetic.

PROTO_POP will be held at H Gallery + Studios 1793 East Main St. The show runs until May 27th. The show is curated by Dab Art. Gallery hours are 1-5pm.