Presented by Fox Fine Jewelry, July 11 – Oct 05, 2024

Fox Fine Jewelry downtown Ventura is showcasing works by local artists Anette Power and Mary Kolada Scott.

Mary Kolada Scott: Born in Chicago and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Mary showed early talent in art. After moving to Ventura in her 40s, she worked at the Ventura County Star for nearly 25 years. At 50, she rekindled her love for art with a watercolor class and became a full-time artist upon retiring in 2017. Mary’s work, often incorporating poetry, includes collage, mixed media, and image transfer. She draws inspiration from music and poetry, working in her home studio and painting outdoors. She’s a member of the Ojai Valley Artists and Santa Barbara Abstract Art Collective.

Anette Power: Anette grew up on a small Swedish island and later moved to Pasadena, CA, to study acting. She transitioned to art after working at an animation studio and has since developed a successful career in background animation. Now a full-time mother and artist, Anette blends abstract and realism in her oil and mixed media paintings. She works in her backyard studio and balances painting with graphic design work and completing her art degree at CSU Channel Islands.

Visit Fox Fine Jewelry at 560 E Main St Ventura, or call (805) 652-1800 for more information. www.foxfinejewelry.com

D Dock Ventura Harbor – Lisa Sachs

Running through September 10.

Check out the works of several new BAA members who have joined recently! The Harbor location features the artisan crafts and artwork of ten resident artists with new works arriving frequently. Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts,1559 Spinnaker Dr., #106, 805-644-2750: Open 7 days, 11am – 6pm.

Running through May, 2025, Masters from the Museum of Ventura County Collection celebrates the extraordinary artistic legacy of seven artists who have significantly shaped Ventura County’s art history and achieved international acclaim. The exhibition presents a curated selection from MVC’s exceptional collection, featuring a variety of artistic styles.

From Jessie Arms Botke’s turn-of-the-century paintings to Omar d’León’s vibrant cross-hatching techniques, to the innovative ceramic glazing techniques of Beatrice Wood and Vivika and Otto Heino, the exhibition displays a dynamic range of work by established artists within our County.

Artists included in the exhibition: Jessie Arms Botke / Omar D’León / Otto Heino / Vivika Heino /Cheryl Ann Thomas / Beatrice Wood / Hiroko Yoshimoto.

These artists give papers pictorial permanence

Artists in The Collage Lab, a Buenaventura Art Association offshoot started in 2014 to experiment in collage and mixed media, will show new works in “Ephemera,” a July 5-Aug. 31 exhibition in Studio 99 at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave., #99, Ventura.

Participating members — Janet Black, Karen Hoffberg, Darlene Roker, Wendy Winet, Janna Valenzuela, Karen L. Brown, Joyce Lombard, Dorothea Heger and Tasia Erickson — will be on hand for First Friday receptions from 6-9 p.m. July 5 and Aug. 2. The group meets monthly to set creative challenges, share ideas and results, demonstrate techniques, and occasionally to visit galleries.

Collage is from the French verb coller, to glue — a pictorial art form that can include paper and many other materials. Ephemera is defined as “items of memorabilia, often written or printed on paper, originally meant to be discarded after use but that have become collectibles.”

The displayed works will incorporate many such items, including postage stamps, handwritten letters, packaging and wrapping paper. Obviously, collectibility is in the eye of the collage artist.

Many group members are not primarily collage artists, but accomplished printmakers, painters, quilters, photographers, weavers, graphic designers, encaustic painters and watercolorists. Some pieces in the exhibit result from challenges by individual members to use a particular material, color, theme, size, etc.; others are works independently created by the artists. Subject matters vary widely, as do techniques.

They also assembled $10 make-your-own-collage packets, for those who’d like to try the fascinating medium. The packets include several kinds of ephemera in different combinations collected by Collage Lab artists.

A collection of the group members’ previous collage artworks is available online for $10.50 at https://www.blurb.com/b/11624966-the-collage-lab and some will be at the gallery.

Buenaventura Art Association, this year celebrating the 70th anniversary of its 1954 founding, operates Studio 99 at 432 N. Ventura Ave., which is open noon-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and has an outlet at Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts and a display at SpiceTopia, a Ventura retail store.

Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts, at 1559 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 106, in Ventura Harbor, is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. seven days a week. SpiceTopia, at 576 E. Main St., is also open daily, but its hours vary.

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

Beatrice Wood, 1922, Photograph by Jesse Tarbox Beals, Courtesy Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts.

Kevin Wallace, Founding Director of the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, will offer a free Powerpoint presentation on Saturday, July 6th at 4 pm, in conjunction with the closing reception for the Center’s American Ceramic Society exhibition.

Beatrice Wood was part of the Dada Movement and, in sharing her story with visitors at the Center, the question regularly comes up – What is DADA?

It is not an easy question to answer, largely because the artists refused to be defined or categorized. It was also an international movement with a different group of Dadaists in Zurich pursuing somewhat different agendas than those in New York City, or with later incarnations in Berlin and Paris.

At its heart, Dada was an anti-establishment movement created in reaction to World War I, with artists believing that a civilization that embraced such a senseless and tragic war needed to be reinvented. The artists did this by exploring new approaches to art, music, dance, fashion, entertainment, and language itself. The Dada Movement was hugely influential, and its impact is obvious in contemporary art today. While there was no official end to the movement, it segued into Surrealism, with many of the same artists going on to be associated with that art movement.

In his lecture, Wallace will discuss the fascinating artists who were part of the Dada Movement, the philosophies they embraced, and the works they created. It promises to be a fun, educational and thought-provoking event.

The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts is located at 8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Road in Upper Ojai.

Shifting Dimensions, Torn paper collage, Janet Black

Artists in The Collage Lab, a Buenaventura Art Association offshoot started in 2014 to experiment in collage and mixed media, will show new works in “Ephemera,” a July 5-Aug. 31 exhibition in Studio 99 at Bell Arts Factory in Ventura.

Participating members — Janet Black, Karen Hoffberg, Darlene Roker, Wendy Winet, Janna Valenzuela, Karen L. Brown, Joyce Lombard, Dorothea Heger and Tasia Erickson — will be on hand for First Friday receptions from 6-9 p.m. July 5 and Aug. 2. The group meets monthly to set creative challenges, share ideas and results, demonstrate techniques, and occasionally to visit galleries.

Collage is from the French verb coller, to glue — a pictorial art form that can include paper and many other materials. Ephemera is defined as “items of memorabilia, often written or printed on paper, originally meant to be discarded after use but that have become collectibles.”

The displayed works will incorporate many such items, including postage stamps, handwritten letters, packaging and wrapping paper. Obviously, collectibility is in the eye of the collage artist.

Many group members are not primarily collage artists, but accomplished printmakers, painters, quilters, photographers, weavers, graphic designers, encaustic painters and watercolorists. Some pieces in the exhibit result from challenges by individual members to use a particular material, color, theme, size, etc.; others are works independently created by the artists. Subject matters vary widely, as do techniques.

They also assembled $10 make-your-own-collage packets, for those who’d like to try the fascinating medium. The packets include several kinds of ephemera in different combinations collected by Collage Lab artists.

A collection of the group members’ previous collage artworks is available online for $10.50 at https://www.blurb.com/b/11624966-the-collage-lab and some will be at the gallery.

Buenaventura Art Association, this year celebrating the 70th anniversary of its 1954 founding, operates Studio 99 at 432 N. Ventura Ave., which is open noon-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and has an outlet at Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts and a display at SpiceTopia, a Ventura retail store.

Harbor Village Gallery & Gifts, at 1559 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 106, in Ventura Harbor, is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. seven days a week. SpiceTopia, at 576 E. Main St., is also open daily, but its hours vary.

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