Category Archives: Ventura Art Scene

Dear Friends of Art:

2021 works of MAIL ART in a store window.

The ARTLIFE Foundation’s MAIL ART Project with the theme “Spontaneous Inspiration” is well underway. We have already received about a hundred submissions to date. We request submissions of 6 x 9 works of art, which must be mailed to us, with a cutoff date of May 15. They will be displayed locally and on our web site: https://artlifefoundation.org/. See details about submitting work there.

About 90 of the current works mailed to us so far have come from Europe, Central America, South. America, Japan, and, happily, one each from Ukraine and Russia. Why? Europeans have been producing mail art for many years and have a center for it in Romania. Our local mail art guru, the late Joe Cardella, is well known and respected by them, says Stefan Balog, President of the Inter-Art Foundation. They have a gallery dedicated to mail art. And the pandemic made mail art a more favored medium for exchanges of actual art around the world with galleries closed to public view. Cardella, in his ARTLIFE magazine, published 275 editions over 25 years, each one filled with imaginative works mailed in from artists everywhere. We keep mail art projects alive to honor his legacy.

Locally, we encourage artists of all stripes and experience to submit, young and old, schoolkids and pros. Who knows, your “spontaneous inspiration” on the small format of this mail-in art may propel you on to bigger and better art-making. That’s our hope anyway.

All the best from the ARTLIFE Foundation:

Bob Chianese (President), Nello Panelli, Curtis Cormane, Jonell McLain, Jone Pence, Jeanne LaRocco, Pete Ippel, Friday Gretchen, Lynne Okun, Cathy Barroca

Michael O’Kelly at the Rubicon until June, 2022.

This solo exhibit (the first in 15-years) is in the downstairs corridor at the Rubicon Theatre. Featuring the beautiful paintings of Venturan artist Michael O’Kelly. Besides an amazing artist he is also an accomplished guitarist. You don’t need to attend an event to see his work. Just enter the side door and go downstairs.

1006 E. Main St.

Focus on the Masters Arts Archive & Library Student Art Showcase at S. Oxnard Library

The public is invited to join Focus on the Masters Arts Archive & Library (FOTM) at the South Oxnard Library for a celebration of the creative spirit featuring artwork by Ocean View School District students. Learning To See Outreach (LTS) teaching artists led students in 67 classrooms spanning grades K-8 with projects in two and three-dimensional art inspired by FOTM Documented Artists.

LTS Education Director, Aimee French, says, “Even though everyone stayed masked, students were able to truly engage with the live interactions and their own hands-on experience.”

FOTM documents the lives and works of extraordinary artists from our community, providing art programming for all ages. Each lesson of the innovative LTS in-school, hands-on art program is inspired by one of these artists.

Until April 30, 2022 South Oxnard Library

4300 Saviers Rd, Monday—Thursday, 9AM—8PM; Saturday, 9AM–5:30PM

Public Reception: April 7 from 5PM – 7PM

For more information about Learning To See, contact [email protected] or 805.653.2501. www.FocusOnTheMasters.com

Fox Fine Jewelry presents New Beginnings

Fox Fine Jewelry presents New Beginnings, an art show with Mika Harmony and Chrystel Boissy (Green Touch Moss) from April 21st to July 31st, with an Art Reception on April 23rd from 5 – 7 pm.

Mika Harmony grew up in Hawaii. From a young age, she was exposed to the world of art: her dad was a songwriter and her mom a photographer.

Chrystel Boissy, founder of Green Touch Moss, creates stunning, dimensional landscapes using moss and other natural materials.

560 E. Main in Downtown.

Three Ventura County artists in solo exhibitions at Buenaventura Art Association’s Studio 99

Three Ventura County artists will display recent works March 25-May 21 in concurrent solo exhibitions at Buenaventura Art Association’s Studio 99 gallery in Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave.

Tony J. Smith of Oxnard, who paints in oils and acrylics on canvas, is calling his show “A Tribute to Beauty and Inspiration.” Ojai painter Kathy Bodycombe usually works in oils and acrylics as well, but will present “Leaving a Stamp,” a dozen collage pieces that incorporate postage. The third artist is Michael Corrigan Mishou of Ventura, whose “The Eye of the Beholder” will feature photography, both color and black-and-white.

Artists’ receptions for the trio of shows will be 5-8 p.m. April 1 and May 6, in conjunction with Ventura’s First Friday gallery crawl. Normal operating hours for BAA’s gallery are noon-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

For more information about BAA and its programs, call the gallery at 805-648-1235 or visit buenaventuraartassociation.org.

Allyn Beth Brown’s Art Gallery and Studio called “Art is Passion”

Allyn Beth Brown recently moved to Ventura from Los Angles and opened her Art Gallery and Studio called “Art is Passion” which focuses on art that motivates others and brings light to positive change. She fell in love with the warm Ventura community and discovered there are many incredible artists who love to share their gifts and passions for art similar to her own. 

Beth grew up in the Bay area and received a bachelor’s degree from the Art Institute of California-San Francisco. After over a decade of working as a Web Designer and Developer, the events of 2020 gave her the courage to transition into a full-time artist.

Beth’s art gallery and studio features rotating exhibits by various local artists. 

Studio services include residential and commercial mural painting, graphic design, print design, canvas art commissions, custom vinyl apparel and more. 

Her studio gallery is located at 864 Schooner Dr. Unit 103, in Portside Ventura Harbor.

The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 am to 7 pm and Sunday  and Monday by appointment only. Beth reported that she started “Art is Passion” to “spread love, happiness and creativity.”

Art is Passion
Art and Studio Gallery
864 Schooner Dr Unit 103
Ventura 93001
[email protected]

Michelle Nosco is the Artist of the Month at the Harbor Village Gallery, part of the Buenaventura Art Association

“My passion is to create compassion for life though art!”
Michelle paints portraits of people and pets, sea and sky creatures.

She accepts commissions and is a muralist, leading workshops with local
environmental groups through the Arts For Earth Foundation a nonprofit
educational arts organization.

A painter, filmmaker and violinist. Nosco spent her early career in
advertising as a designer, art director and producer.

She studied at CalARTs, University of Michigan, the Detroit
Institute of Art, Wayne State University and Cranbrook School of Art. She
received her masters in Directing Theater, Television, and Film (DTTF) at
CalARTs and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan.

You can contact Michelle through her website at: NoscoFineArt.com

BAA Members Show Plus Board Member Appreciation Show

North Beach – Photo on aluminum, Darlene Roker

BAA Members Show Plus Board Member Appreciation Show
At Studio 99 @ The Bell Arts Factory
Run extended to March 19, 2022
Open this Friday and Saturday, and every Friday and Saturday, noon to 4pm
Next First Friday reception, March 4th, 5 – 8pm
Over a dozen new artist members have joined BAA in the last several months! Explore their work along with the artwork of veteran BAA artists and our hard-working Board of Directors in these shows at Studio 99 at the Bel Arts Factory.

Oxnard Beach Sunset – Photo on wood plank, Gerry Wilson

Elsewhere from Buenaventura Art Association: A Members-Only Show at
Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts Now thru March 15, 2022
Featuring the artwork and artisan crafts of 10 resident member artists, Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts also exhibits the works of over a dozen other BAA members!

Ventura artists John Robertson and Lynn Hanson

As husband and wife, Ventura artists John Robertson and Lynn Hanson are accustomed to sharing a studio and working alongside one another. They will share a major exhibition space with concurrent exhibitions at the Santa Paula Art Museum. “Fieldnotes: Lynn Hanson” and “A Narrative: John Robertson” will premiere Saturday, March 12, 2022, with an opening reception from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission to the reception is free for everyone. Some of the artworks will be for sale. “Fieldnotes” and “A Narrative” will be on view March 12, 2022, to July 10, 2022.