The Ventura Potters’ Guild is pleased to announce the launch of our new online store: venturapotteryonline.com. If you have ever been to our Gallery in the Ventura Harbor Village then you have experienced the beautiful work of over 30 local ceramic artists. Many of these same artists have spectacular ceramic pieces posted on the new online store that are not available for sale in the Gallery. The online store also has additional artists offering their creative work for sale online.
Most items are available for free pick up at the Gallery. We have e-Gift Cards available so your loved one can pick their favorite piece. Have a favorite artist from the Gallery or our annual Ojai Sale? Look online to see if they have posted their work. The online store is open 24/7.
The Ventura Pottery Guild online store currently has over 100 items available for sale and we are adding new artists and new pieces all the time. Bookmark venturapotteryonline.com and check us out regularly for new work. Ventura Pottery Gallery Ventura Harbor Village, at 1567 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 105 and is now open seven days a week from 11am to 6pm. Questions about the online store can be directed to: [email protected].
Serene Succulent, watercolor on canvas, 13 x 13, by Diane Hanley, in the Small Image Show at SpiceTopia
To deal with life during a pandemic, Buenaventura Art Association is reviving a successful community outreach effort dating to its earliest days 66 years ago.
Soon after its 1954 founding, the nonprofit artists’ cooperative presented shows in retail shops around Ventura before renting a downtown storefront at 576 E. Main St. as its gallery space from 1970 until 1989. That address now houses SpiceTopia, a seven-year-old business with spices, teas and products from local food and craft artisans, where owner Anna Marie Tan now is inviting BAA members to display their art as well.
From now until Jan. 3, 2021, the association’s annual Small Image Show will be displayed on a 20-foot brick wall there. Artworks are limited to 16 inches on a side and will be available for purchase. SpiceTopia is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Other shows will follow.
In contrast, BAA members will mount a Large Image Show from Nov. 20 through Jan. 9 at Buenaventura Gallery, in Studio 30 at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura. Pieces in this exhibition will be at least 36 inches in one direction, horizontal or vertical, including any frames. An artwork, Sacred Spring, Delphi, by BAA Lifetime member and renowned abstract expressionist artist Gerd Koch, who passed away at age 91 in June of this year, will be exhibited in this show. Currently the gallery is open noon-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and by appointment by calling 805-648-1235.
A third show featuring BAA members’ art will be on view Nov. 13 through Jan. 11 at Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts, 1559 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 106. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays through Mondays.
For more about BAA and its programs, visit buenaventuraartassociation.org or call the phone number above during gallery hours.
The 30 ceramic artists at the Ventura Pottery Gallery would like to say ‘Thank You’ to all of our customers during this holiday season by offering a gift with purchase event. We have received wonderful support during this challenging time, so we felt it was time for us to give back.
Our members have looked high and low and peeked into all corners of their studios to donate incredible pieces for this ‘thank You’ event. All types of creative pieces have flooded into the gallery; from mugs, plates, bowls to ornaments, vases and sculptures.
So, drop by the Ventura Pottery Gallery at the Harbor Village during Thanksgiving week (November 23rd – 29th) and receive a free handmade piece of pottery with any $25 purchase or more. Bring in your family and friends for some extraordinary gifts for the holidays and we will send them home with a gift from our hands and hearts to theirs.
Please note, one gift per customer per day while supplies last.
This mural, titled “Heart Center,” is another addition to Ventura’s wonderful murals. It is located at the American Mattress Man building, 2323 E. Main St.
The piece is by Carly Veronica, a Los Angeles artist who has painted murals in the United States, India and Japan.
Kay Zetlmaier is one of the artists showing at the Harbor Village Gallery.
Over the past few months, the BAA board has been negotiating with Anna Marie Tan of SpiceTopia, a
downtown retail shop located at 576 E. Main St. The store has a 20-foot wall that will be used for BAA member exhibits in the near future. Plans are underway to install a hanging system for the BAA membership’s Small Image Show.
BAA Member Small Image Entry Deadline: Thursday, Oct. 29. This is a first-come, first-accepted show within certain guidelines. Members, please see entrythingy for details.
Bring-in to SpiceTopia: Sunday, Nov. 1, 2-5 pm
We are very grateful to artist Gerald Zwers who is designing and installing the hanging system for us over the store’s brick wall. We plan to continue regular exhibits with SpiceTopia.
SpiceTopia is located at the original downtown gallery address of the Buenaventura Art Association from 1970 to 1989. So we are, in a sense, coming home!
Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts
Open Fridays thru Mondays, 11-6.
Ventura Harbor Village, near the Comedy Club
We are grateful to the HVG&G artists who have been hosting during the pandemic. Masks and social distancing required. We are also pleased to let you know that our Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts location is also offering online shopping.
Here’s an interesting piece. Painted in July 2020. I loved painting this and I really loved the end result. My gallery (our house) had no room for this one, so it sat in the corner of my studio. Sometime during the late summer or early fall something gashed into the painting unbeknownst to me. Left a one-inch hole in the middle of the painting. I was crushed but I was determined to save it so I duct taped the back and applied some color to hide the rip. The gallery manager, Carol Cook, let me hang it in the hallway. No longer on the floor in my studio.
Community volunteers cleaned the mural, so that the restoration work could begin.
by M.B. Hanrahan and Moses Mora; creators the Tortilla Flats mural
Our most recent collaboration, the Tortilla Flats Legacy mural, corner of W. Main St, and S. Ventura Ave. only recently completed 2/2020, was unfortunately recently vandalized. On the night of September 9 someone took chalk, marker pens, and a knife and some bad intentions to the mural. Chalk and marker pen graffiti are relatively easy to remove. Damage done by a knife requires repainting (at another location) and patched into the existing mural. 5 mural panels and several information lettering panels sustained damage-slashed by the knife.
The perpetrators of public art vandalism are rarely caught, but in this case, someone was arrested and charged with felony vandalism. The person arrested is well known to the local police, he’s homeless and has mental health issues. We would prefer that he get help, not punishment.
The vandalism was discovered, and the police were called by a conscientious citizen, Scott Adams, who remained on the scene until the cops arrived. Mr. Adams advocated for the value of this community sponsored public art when the officers were reluctant to press charges in absence of the property owner.
The entire mural would likely have been damaged if not for citizen action, the police taking action, and community public art being perceived as valuable and worth saving.
Grateful as we are, that, for us, is not necessarily cause for celebration. We estimate $2,000.00 worth of restoration work, and are hoping the individual will not strike again.
Pitcher with Pear- Bonnie Quan at Buenaventura Gallery.
Open Hours: Friday thru Monday, 11am – 6pm
BAA members depict local sights and sentiments — mementos for both tourists and locals. Plus the art and artisan crafts of 10 resident BAA artists.
The Buenaventura Gallery
Members’ Choice
Exhibiting: Now – November 14, 2020
Open Hours: Fridays & Saturdays, noon – 4pm
and by appointment – 805-648-1235
A select group of BAA members exhibit their individual styles, subjects and media.
From Sept. 25 through Nov. 14, Buenaventura Art Association will highlight four members whose works reflect the unique talents and interests of each artist: Janet Black, Christopher King, Darlene Roker and Laura Walter. All except King, an Ojai resident, live in Ventura.
Their art will be shown at Buenaventura Gallery in Bell Arts Factory on Ventura Avenue, which has limited hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is open noon-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and by appointment by calling 805-648-1235. Works by other BAA artists will be on display in a concurrent show and also available for purchase.
California Émigré – Torn paper collage and mixed media (no paint) – Janet Black
“For this show I’ve decided to focus on what I really enjoy, cats,” said Black, who will show a half-dozen framed works. “I enjoy them, find them to be a fascinating subject, and it’s just a simple pleasure for me to make one into an art piece.
“I’ve been doing what I call ‘figurative collage’ for about 15 years, but was mostly a painter before that,” she said. “I think of the collage as ‘painting with paper.’ ”
King creates watercolors in traditional Chinese and Japanese sumi-e styles, which he studied for seven years in Massachusetts. He will display six to eight hung pieces, plus others unframed. Since moving to Ojai, King said, he has been seeking to capture the spirit of California’s mountains and seashore.
He is “exploring how Eastern techniques can inform traditional watercolor painting; how Chinese ‘impressionism’ meets European impressionism, and how ‘accidental’ abstract wash methods meld with figurative work,” King said.
Joshuas, Late Afternoon – Digital Photography – Darlene Roker
Roker, who said she began her professional approach to photography in 2001, will display eight to 10 photos on aluminum.
“I look for movement and color,” she said. “As an impressionistic artist, I ‘feel’ the images I’m trying to portray.”
Walter, an artist and orchestral musician who plays the flute, will have eight or so watercolors on view, “paintings of different animals who might play the flute and how that would work out.” She said she enjoys “telling stories of humor, culture and hope” through art, which she has pursued for 21 years. Walter’s chosen subjects and genres include music and animals, flowers, working with tie-dye and quilting, she said.
Buenaventura Gallery is in Studio 30 at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura. For more about the 66-year-old nonprofit artists’ cooperative and its programs, visit buenaventuraartassociation.org or call 805-648-1235 during gallery hours.
Studio Channel Islands Arts Center (SCIART) will launch its Artist Talks series Oct. 3, 1 p.m., via Zoom, featuring actor, artist, director and screenwriter Daniel Stern. In this talk Stern invites the virtual audience to join him inside his studio to see first-hand how he works, what inspires him and shares what he is currently working on.
Over the decades, Stern has created a body of work which references the glamour and excitement of the stage and screen. Perhaps best known for his roles in the films Home Alone and City Slickers, Stern also found his way into people’s hearts as the adult voice of Kevin in the television show The Wonder Years. Throughout his varied career as performer, director and writer, Stern has built an impressive body of sculpture. Stern’s work is available to view online at https://www.danielstern.com/#/.
SCIART’s Artist Talk series is provided free of charge to SCIART members (http://studiochannelislands.org/membership/) and is also included as part of the ticket purchase for SCIART’s upcoming Drive-in Gala, Oct. 17. All proceeds raised through the gala go to support Studio Channel Islands in delivering its mission of providing art education programs in the schools and the community, as well as programs focused on helping with dementia and stroke patients. Learn more about the Drive-in Gala here: http://studiochannelislands.org/drive-in-gala/.
Additional virtual Artist Talks are scheduled for 1 p.m. on Oct. 10, Nov. 7 and Nov. 21. These are free to SCIART members. Tickets for non-members will be available for purchase at https://studiochannelislands.org/.
