Maybe you have heard about this thing called Burning Man and been quietly curious. Maybe you are one of those poor souls who put off buying a ticket this year and fell victim to the first sell out in Burning Man history. Either way, for tonight’s 1st Thursday you can come and get a taste of the event at 515 Garden St.

I checked the place out last night, and it really is a remarkable environment…especially considering it can be found in downtown Santa Barbara. The legendary PyroBar will be there and that alone is reason enough to check this out tonight. But there are so many other reasons.

So, once you have visited the galleries tonight, walk on over to the Walkabout Woods. You will be so glad you did.

Burning Man is right around the corner, and Walkabout Woods is getting ready to showcase the largest art installation Santa Barbara and Fishbon has ever brought to the playa. We’ve been busy for the better half of this past year preparing for this, and we are rounding into the home stretch. Come celebrate with us in our warehouse space. We will have Wild Cultures Kombucha on tap, live art, the opportunity to paint if you desire, music, gifts, and all around delicious energy.

Directly following First Thursday activities, on Garden Street between Hailey and Cota.

It’s time to get geared up for this month’s Fiesta 1st Thursday, and this show is one of the things that has me most excited.

A few weeks ago, while at the 240 Studio Launch Party I had the opportunity to meet photographer and sculptor, Jonas Jungblut. I’m a big fan of photography, so I got really excited when he told me about his upcoming show at the Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27. This is one of my favorite spots to see art in downtown. The bare, industrial interior is far more metropolitan-feeling than anyplace other place in town. It’s a perfect place to check out the kind of work that Jonas is making.

I’m going to make this one of my first stops during the upcoming Fiesta version of 1st Thursday. If you have any other special events that we should know about, make sure to contact me so I can get the word out in the coming days.

“King Monkey walked from the jungle. By doing so he created a path. Others followed that path. King Monkey built structures and boats and art and pretty soon thought that he was ruling the Infinite Sunshine.”We’d love to have you at the Artist’s reception of Jonas Jungblut’s photographic series King Monkey and the Infinite Sunshine, a study on the balance observed between the natural and the man(made).Wine and refreshments will be served. Reception August 4th 2011 / 5-8pm Exhibition August 4th 2011 – September 30th 2011 Gallery Gallery 27 27 E Cota Street Santa Barbara CA 93101 http://jonasjungblut.com / http://www.facebook.com/brooksgallery27

I hope you all  had a wonderful 4th of July and are ready to hit the street for this month’s 1st Thursday.  There will be no Art Crawl for the next two months, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be out there check out all the art and festivities. I hope to see you out there too.

Reef City by Mark Goerner

This month I’m most excited about a show at Roy by Mark Goerner. Mark is a friend of mine, so I know that shows of his work are rare, but I can also say without bias that he is one of my favorite artists anywhere. Mark’s work tends to have a sci-fi edge that is very unique in Santa Barbara and is exactly the kind of stuff I get weak in the knees over.

Another highlight that I want to focus on briefly here is the gallery that seemed to pop up out of nowhere right before 1st Thursday last month. The Project (740 State Street, Suite 1) is “a collaborative non-profit art gallery owned and operated by nine local artists. The Project will benefit Girls Inc. by donating 20% of all art sales to their organization, Girls Helping Girls [Awesome!]. Featured artists include Donna Ayscough, Liz Brady, Erika Carter, Theresa Carter, Lloyd Dallett, Ashley Dart, Virginia McCracken, Lisa Pedersen and Susan Tibbles.” This place was packed to the gills for the entire evening last month. And I wish them the absolute best in their new venture.

I am also going to make a pointed effort to check out the Forum Lounge at the Contemporary Arts Forum. You never know what you will get when you walk in to one of these events, and that’s part of the fun.  I’ve pasted the information below.

For a full list of activities this Thursday check out the Downtown Organization website.  If you encounter any really great work out there that I should put on my radar for future reference, please leave a comment to this post.

There is a new community resource opening up in the Funk Zone, adding yet another cool art-related business to the neighborhood. I’m really excited to see the inside of this place. 240 Studio will rent studio space and offer a variety of production support resources for local photographers and videographers, but it can also be used for a variety of art production activities and events. Check out their info below, and make sure to mark your calendar for their launch party on Wednesday the 29th.

240 STUDIO OPENS IN SANTA BARBARA, CA.

New Commercial Production Studio Offers 3200 sq ft. & Resources

Santa Barbara, Ca (June 13^th 2011)- 240 Studio has opened in Santa Barbara offering creative professionals along the Central Coast a new rental facility and A-list production resources for their next commercial shoot or location event.

Founded by veteran media producer Albert DiPadova, 240 offers production support resources on their website www.240Studio.com including: photographers, videographers, copy writers, caterers, location managers, make up artists and stylists.

“Going all the way down to LA every time we needed to shoot our products was always unpredictable and expensive. Now we now have all the resources of an LA production studio right here in SB and we can shoot more often for a fraction of the cost.”  Ellen Sheppard – Creative Director Horny Toad Clothing.

Located in the Historic Vercal Building, 240 Studio is a full service commercial photography studio and a unique space available for events,  seminars, screenings, or receptions.  With twenty-five foot high rustic exposed beam ceilings, open floor plan and over 3,200 square feet, 240 Studio offers a spacious environment to accommodate large crews.

To celebrate the opening of 240 Studio, Santa Barbara’s largest commercial photography studio, there will be a launch party on Wednesday, June 29^th from 5:30 to 8:30.  Photographers, filmmakers, artists, designers, models, stylists, make-up artists, event coordinators, caterers, producers and more are welcome to come meet, greet, and enjoy wine tasting from Municipal Winemakers and The Winehound, beer from Telegraph Brewery, and food from Fire & Ice. Enjoy mingling with other industry people or just sit back and soak up the beauty of our naturally lit studio, whatever you prefer.

“As a multimedia producer I was spoiled by all the studio locations in NY, LA and San Francisco.  So when I moved my family to Santa Barbara I decided to renovate this old lemon packing plant into a working studio as resource for the film and event industries.” Albert DiPadova – President

About 240 Studio

240 Studio is a production studio for the creative professional.  Available for photo shoots, video shoots, and events.  240 offers production resources for producers, photographers, stylists, make-up artists and location managers.

For inquires please contact Rebecca Farmer 805-845-8870

1 N. Calle Cesar Chavez, Suite #240 WWW.240STUDIO.COM

(turn at Quinientos – Located Directly Across from American Storage)

P: 805-845-8870 F: 805-845-5666

I don’t often provide any real commentary or opinion on this blog. I’ve never really seen that as its primary purpose, so I keep my thoughts generally amiable if not overtly positive. However, after reading some recent comments on the fantastic local website edhat.com, I feel compelled to put down some slightly more colorful and controversial words with the hopes of spreading a modicum of dissent.

Location has been "disguised" for protection.

Let me start at the beginning.  A few weeks ago I noticed some knitted pole covers popping up on sign poles around Anapamu Street downtown. My immediate reaction to these spawn of folk and street art was that they were completely wonderful in every way. I love them for their simplicity and clever mix of craft with the tradition of uncommissioned urban art. And while I realized that they were probably not technically legal, they certainly weren’t hurting anyone or damaging anything, which only added to their charm. Still, I thought it best for their longevity to not highlight their existence on this blog.

Well, all that has changed now that they have appeared on edhat. And I’m sad to say that the curmudgeonly opinions expressed therein are generally not favorable.  To be perfectly frank, I find the tone of smug grumpiness in the comments far tackier, more damaging and less attractive than the source of the ire.

Certainly we can’t let people run about, willy-nilly, doing whatever they want all over town. But seriously people… you realize that the energy you are putting into your disapproval only makes these things more interesting, and more credible as works of art. Think about it.

It is, of course, always possible that I am completely wrong, so please let me know what you think about them by leaving a response to this post.

If you see these while you are out and about on the street, please snap a photo and send the picture to nathan@sbartsblog.com so I can document them before their inevitable demise.