Category Archives: Ventura Art Scene

Abstract Paintings from Lifetime Partners Gerd Koch & Carole Milton

Gerd Koch and Carole Milton, Jungfrau, Switzerland, 1986, photo by Donna Granata

The Journey Together:
Abstract Paintings from Lifetime Partners Gerd Koch & Carole Milton

The public is cordially invited to attend “The Journey Together: Abstract Paintings from Lifetime Partners Gerd Koch & Carole Milton.” This memorial art exhibition is scheduled August 7 through September 2 at the Ojai Art Center, with a free public Reception & Celebration of Life on Sunday, August 8, 5-8 p.m. featuring live music and refreshments. The Ojai Art Center is located at 113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Gerd Koch was born Jan 30, 1929, in Detroit, MI to doting parents who had emigrated from Wuppertal, Germany. Gerd received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 1951 from Wayne State University, MI and in 1967, a Master of Fine Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Carole Milton was born July 18, 1931 in Yakima, WA.

At eighteen, Carole was accepted to the University of Washington where she hoped to study Art, but her parents refused to let her pursue a major of “loose morals and heathen values.” So, as Carole told it, she went after her “MRS degree.” A year later she married Saylor Milton, who would become a Science teacher at Santa Paula High School. Before having children, she was a secretary and when she became a homemaker, she enjoyed dabbling in oil painting.

 

Cayetana Conrad (AKA Tani) studio

Cayetana Conrad (AKA Tani) studio is located in Studio74 at the Bell Arts Factory 432 N. Ventura Ave.

“I was born in San Francisco. My father was a writer and painter. My mother was an architect. All three of my siblings are in the arts. I went to college on the East Coast and raised my three children in Connecticut. In 2005 I moved back to California where I have always loved the light.

 “I currently live in Carpinteria, but enjoy the peaceful drive down to my studio at The Bell Arts Factory in Ventura every morning . When I start the nature and figure paintings which are done in oil paint , I always start with an intention, a loose plan , as opposed to the mixed media paintings which are done in acrylics and are completely intuitive. Aside from my Bell Arts Factory studio, some of my paintings can be seen at The Doora Collective on Main Street ( between Palm and Oak St.) in Ventura.”

Her work including mixed media and figures can be seen at Taniconrad.com For hours she is at her studion contact [email protected].

Picking up the Pieces A Group Exhibit by the Collage Lab

On July 2 Studio 99, at the Bell Arts Factory held a grand opening.

A reception was held from 5 – 8pm. This was also during the first in-person First Fridays art crawl of 2021!

The Collage Lab is a group of Ventura artists who create pictures using paper, photos, fabric and other mixed media. “Picking Up the Pieces” presented a selection of recent work reflecting thoughts, ideas, feelings and inspirations that carried the artists through the COVID lockdown. Featured artists are Janet Black, Karen Hoffberg, Darlene Roker, Wendy Winet, Janna Valenzuela, Karen L. Brown, Mary Kolada Scott, Joyce Lombard, Virginia Buckle and Tasia Erickson.

Exhibiting: July 2 – August 15, 2021

Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays, noon – 4pm

and by appointment – 805-648-1235

Studio 99 is at the back of the Bell Arts Factory through the Wall Street entrance. 432 N. Ventura Ave.

The Buenaventura Art Association is sad to announce the passing of BAA Honorary Lifetime Member Margy Gates.

According to her bio and other reports, Margy drew her first portrait at the age of 4.

She went on to earn a master’s degree in fine art from Claremont Graduate University, where she studied with iconic painters of the time, including Millard Sheets and Phil Dike.

In 1978, she and her husband, Charlie, and two of their three teenage daughters moved aboard a 39-foot sailboat in the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. When her children graduated from high school, Gates and her husband lived for the next 24 years aboard a sailboat near the Whale’s Tail Restaurant in Oxnard.

Margy was a gallerist for more than 35 years. She opened her first gallery in the 1980s in the Marine Emporium Landing on Harbor Boulevard in Oxnard. Later, she moved next to Mrs. Olson’s Coffee Hut on Los Altos Street.

Finally, she opened her Sea Gate Gallery on Ocean Drive in Oxnard. The 10-by-10-foot space, nestled between a real estate office and the Rudder Room bar, was previously a hot dog stand. After 15 years, she closed the gallery in 2015.

Margy was one of the resident artists at BAA’s Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts in 2016 and 2017. Her daughter, Alison, hosted Margy’s shifts at the gallery and maintained her display space while Margy painted at home.

John Nava’s brilliant Jacquard tapestry at Museum of Ventura County

John Nava’s 87”x330” brilliant Jacquard tapestry can be viewed at the Museum of Ventura County. He stated “The Promenade near surfers’ point is, in fact, a magnetic gathering place for our community, a place where all sorts come to stroll, to surf, to rest in the sun. We find ourselves immersed in this beautiful nexus of shore, and sky completing the composition. I wanted to make Ventura’s own Arcadian image.”

Local Ventura artist selected to join the City of Ventura’s Public Art Program’s Streetscape Mural Project

Home for the summer Kaylie has taken on the task of painting murals.

by Richard Lieberman

The City of Ventura Public Art Program’s Streetscape Mural Project is a sidewalk and street corner showcase for talented local artists and community members to transform traffic signal utility boxes into new public art. Since 2007 artists have painted over 30 boxes with designs that will beautify street corners and aid in minimizing graffiti. Artists, students, schools, and community organizations have made for a better pedestrian experience on Ventura Streets by participating in the City of Ventura’s “Think Outside the Box” program. The program was designed and initiated in 2007 to transform designated street utility boxes into public works of art.

Born and raised in Ventura local artist Kaylie Pendleton is currently a college junior at the Northwest College of Arts in Portland, Oregon. Home for the summer she has taken on the task of painting murals on two traffic signal utility boxes located at the corner of Day Street and Telegraph Roads. Kaylie won the “Mayors Art Award” in 2017 and has worked on the 2019 “Irish Belle” for the Saint Patrick’s Day parade. “I have always been interested in art I love drawing people, flowers, doing magazine illustration, and fashion design,” she said. Painting the murals will take about one or two weeks she added.

Kaylie is a survivor of Retinoblastoma (a cancer affecting the retina which may be caused by genetic mutation though the exact cause is still unknown). In 2019 Kaylie had her mural design selected by Loma Vista Elementary School and installed in 2019, she is also the recipient of the 2021 Ventura County Community Foundation Vivian Klemz Scholarship.

“I have grown up in Ventura, so I have always seen these (traffic signal utility boxes) and saw which ones I liked a lot and since I went to college, we were able to pick our own project and I was able to design this for class and here we are,” Kaylie added. The City of Ventura’s Public Art Program supplies the material to accomplish the task. “I had to fundraise, and Ventura residents were able to donate and get me the supplies I needed, through the cities Public Arts Program,” said Pendleton. “I have been focused on drawing and illustration for around six years now so I am studying illustration and graphic design and I hope people can see that in my work.”

Kaylie is looking forward to returning to Portland this fall as a senior and has also been accepted into a study abroad program this fall in England “I love Portland overall, a great vibe for illustration and graphic design” she said.

Kaylie will graduate with a BA in illustration in May, 2022.

Ventura arts group to debut new gallery

Mixed media collage by Mary Kolada Scott

Buenaventura Art Association will reopen July 2 in a new home, Studio 99 at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave., with an exhibition by members of The Collage Lab, Ventura artists who create pictures using paper, photos, fabric and other mixed media.

It’s called “Picking Up the Pieces,” and will present “a selection of recent work reflecting thoughts, ideas, feelings and inspirations that carried the artists through the COVID lockdown,” according to Janet Black, one of the featured artists. The others are Karen Hoffberg, Darlene Roker, Wendy Winet, Janna Valenzuela, Karen L. Brown, Mary Kolada Scott, Joyce Lombard, Virginia Buckle and Tasia Erickson.

Opening reception for the show will be 5-8 p.m. July 2, in conjunction with Ventura’s First Friday gallery crawl. It will be the first in-person exhibition since March 2020 at BAA’s Bell Arts gallery and will run through Aug. 14. Open hours will be noon-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

The grassroots Ventura arts group, founded in 1954, also has an outlet at Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts at Ventura Harbor, and artwork displays at SpiceTopia and Very Ventura, downtown shops on Main Street

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

Featured artist Laura Jean Jespersen at the al Fresco Art Exhibit

Laura Jean Jespersen was the featured artist at the al Fresco Art Exhibit held at the Olivas Adobe Historical Park held on Mother’s Day May 9. An added feature of the day was the rose garden in full bloom and the owls to be seen in the trees. Breeze staff member and Vice president of Olivas Adobe Historical Interpreters Mary Thompson enjoyed the painting by Laura which was inspired by the second son of Raymundo and Teodora Olivas Jose Nicholas Olivas.