There are loads of great events and exhibits to check out tonight whilst out and about for Santa Barbara’s First Thursday. Here are some recommendations for places you shouldn’t miss.

AG2 GALLERY @ THE FRENCH PRESS
1101 State Street
(805) 963-9800
Etch ‘N Sketch: Art Show and Art Swap. A back to the not so basics of drawing and rendering show featuring Peter Mengert and Roberto Morales, with highlighted local artist Holly McCay. Select art pieces will be on display from local high school students. Bring a black book or sketch pad to swap sketches with your fellow artists. Percentage of sales goes to youth art fund. Music and refreshments will be available.

SANTA BARBARA CONTEMPORARY ARTS FORUM
653 Paseo Nuevo, 2nd Floor
(805) 966-5373
Forum Lounge: Privacy is Dead Because We Said So. Artist James Gilbert will set up a temporary sewing shop and sew several hundred real size pairs of clear, industrial plastic see-through underpants, which will accumulate in huge sculptural piles. This project addresses ideas of privacy, anonymity and identity in relationship to the huge amounts of personal information posted daily on Facebook, youtube, Google and other mass media.

Elizabeth Gordon Gallery
15 West Gutierrez
(805) 963-1157

Viva Design in collaboration with Inga Guzyte present: Love to Read. The exhibit is an installation with the paper-cup characters in the window of the Elizabeth Gordon Art Gallery. We created Alphabet city, a New York (well sort of) right here in Santa Barbara.  The official opening for the exhibit will be Thursday, 9-9, 5-8pm. I hope all locals will sip a wine with us and celebrate the new Viva Design adventure.

UPDATE: This just in from FUZION! This is a big deal folks.

We are hosting a pop up art show by David P. Flores @ Fuzion Gallery 1115 State St.

The reception will be this Thursday the 2nd of September.
The show will hang for one week only so don’t miss this chance to see some of David’s art in person, trust us you will be impressed!!!
http://www.davidfloresart.com/

Reception starts 7PM and can be expected to close around 11PM

This event lies on a First Thursday so SB’s art crowd will be out in plenty!

If you come dressed to impress then the drinks and food are on us!

This Saturday two amazing women are working together to raise money for a good cause. Andi Garcia, who founded Heart2Hand, should be no strange to readers of this blog. Vanae Rivera is a wonderful artist and designer who has an amazing studio space where this event will take place. It’s worth stopping by just to see this hidden gem, but make sure to bring your wallet too, as there is bound to be some really great art and other things to buy. This should be an really great event and I couldn’t be more excited that these two got together on this project. See you there…

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Ag2 Gallery is honored to have Vanae Rivera’s Space Invaders Craft Fair support the Heart2Hand Youth Art Fund with raffle and lemonade sale at this Saturday’s event at 4159 State Street .

Heart2Hand youth art fund was started July 30th , 2009 and has made their first donation in December 2009 to La Cuesta high school .

Founder of H2H youth art fund and owner of Ag2 Gallery, Andi Garcia, states ” We are very excited to work within the schools as a supplement of the arts programs for secondary school aged kids. As a native of Santa Barbara’s Eastside , I am thankful for the artists such as Manuel Unzueta and others who took the time and effort to broaden the cultural arts to us kids. We were borderline crime vs. creatively and I truly believe it was the artful efforts of outside support that kept some of us out major trouble.
Establishing H2H is a way for me to give back and contribute to our community
…Art Saves Lives ”

“We thank the current resident artists like Vanae Rivera and her Space Invaders event for their support as we enter the 10/11 school year fund raising efforts . ”

The fund continues to raise funds in conjunction with Ag2 gallery where a percentage of all art sales at the gallery spot benefits the fund.

Space Invaders Art Craft Fair is this Saturday, August 28th at 4159 State Street 11:00am to 7:00pm . Heart2Hand fundraiser of an old fashioned lemonade stand and sack lunches as well as a raffle of very artful artifacts that will be on display will be presented at Ag2 Gallery table .

For further information about how to contribute to the fund contact Andi Garcia 805.637.2521

Andi Garcia 805.637.2521
Ag2 Gallery @French Press
1101 State Street , Santa Barbara , Ca 93101

TheArtillerist.com http://theartillerist.com/Ag2admin
ARTiFAQZ Blog http://artifaqz.blogspot.com/
805-895-4804

For the vast majority of locals, Fiesta is a time to do whatever it takes to avoid State Street. Tonight’s First Thursday is, hopefully, an exception to that rule. This month, Fuzion will be hosting a special event for the evening. Fuzion sells all kinds of urbanware on their main floor, but down stairs there is a secret kingdom-sized space where they show great urban and street art. I’m excited to see them getting on the First Thursday bandwagon and can’t wait to see what they’ve got on the walls. Between Fuzion and the new AG2 Gallery, the block between Anapamu and Figueroa on State Street has become the new hot spot for urban, street, underground, and pop surrealist art. I’ll see you there…

You can find more details on tonight’s event on Facebook.

It is finally time, Loyal Blog Readers. I have been waiting a long time for this event, and I couldn’t be happier that it is finally here. This Thursday is, of course, First Thursday, but it will also be your chance to preview the Grand Opening show for AG2 Gallery. If you aren’t familiar with this gallery from previous posts, AG2 is the first full time gallery space in Santa Barbara dedicated to new art by emerging artists. This won’t be the first time you’ll have seen this kind of art; it has been found in coffee shops and bars throughout town. And thought, the AG2 Gallery does share some space with a coffee shop, this gallery will be bringing a focus on this kind of art that this town has not yet seen.

If, like me, you are a fan of this kind of art and want to see works emerging artists who are experimenting with new genres of artistic production, this venture will need any kind of support you can afford to give.  Make this one of your high priority stops for First Thursday, and make sure to come back on Saturday for the Grand Opening itself.

I’ll see you there. Details below.

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Andi Garcia has finally landed, well sort of , and opening a constant gallery space at 1101 State Street tucked French Press in Downtown Santa Barbara on the corner of State and

Figueroa .

August 1st Thursday, Aug 5th is the preview of Ag2 Gallery grand opening with art works from Portland , San Francisco, Los Angeles and beyond with a significant representation of the Hive Gallery in Los Angeles .
Highlighted in the global mix are Santa Barbara’s own core favorites Dave Cooley, Nomelove, Andy Proctor , Vanae Rivera and Jimmy Bell.

Ag2 Gallery is delighted to have Sino Tequila introduce themselves to Santa Barbara with their own brand of Super Sino Spicy margaritas as an added treat.

Music to be provided for by DeLaVina acoustic and live art painting by Yuki Miyazaki !!

Viva up all your senses this Fiesta week at Ag2 Gallery this 1st Thursday Aug 5th 5- 8pm and Grand Opening celebration featuring debut of TwentyFour Black Birds Artisan Chocolates , Saturday , Aug 7th 5-8pm

Gallery Hours : Mon through Friday 8am to 7pm
Sat and Sun 8am to 5pm
Art Sales by appointment
Andi Garcia 805.637.2521

Gallery Location :
Ag2 Gallery @French Press
1101 State Street , Santa Barbara , Ca 93101

Gallery Blog :
ARTiFAQZ Blog http://artifaqz.blogspot.com/

It’s that time again to get your walking shoes on and hit State Street for an evening full of art viewing. It looks as though the June Gloom of the last few weeks has given us a break and it is a perfect day to get out and about on the town. Here is a suggested itinerary of places not to be missed:

AG2 GALLERY @ THE FRENCH PRESS
1101 State Street
(805) 963-9800
Hope and Spirit of Haiti: A photographic journey revealing a spirit of regrowth and resilience in post-earthquake Haiti. How does the Haitian spirit thrive in the wake of natural disaster? This is what photographer, Lindsey Ross, set out to find. Feel the energy with lively cultural music. Refreshments served.

Lindsey is an adventurous and dedicated photographer, and I’m super excited about this one.

CANARY HOTEL
31 West Carrillo Street
(805) 884-0300
World-renowned artist Emma Ferreira has been a full-time contributor to the contemporary art world since 1998. Emma’s entrepreneurial spirit allows her to use her creative gifts to support her countless philanthropic endeavors.

I haven’t been in this space in the Canary, so it will be interesting to see.

THE GRANADA
1214 State Street
(805) 899-3000
Summer Speakeasy: Escape the summer heat in the cool downstairs as we revisit the end of the roaring 20s with swanky music, wine sampling courtesy of Santa Barbara Winery, beer tastings and an Old Hollywood art exhibit from our Hall of Fame of entertainment icons who appeared in their heyday.

SANTA BARBARA CONTEMPORARY ARTS FORUM
653 Paseo Nuevo, 2nd Floor
(805) 966-5373
Forum Lounge: FAST-FORWARD: A Screening of Contemporary American Video Art: Curated by Annie Wharton, FAST-FORWARD is a compilation of short length videos by several artists working in the medium. The videos encompass a wide range of subject matter ranging from corporeal, action based performances to humorous slices of life. In addition, CAF will show works on monitors and projections by several other artists. 7pm.

COUCH
9 West Ortega Street
(805) 965-8505
Not to be missed, the very unusual necromantic art of multi-media artist Kimberly McBride. She uses video, music and paint to channel cultural icons from Marilyn Monroe to Kurt Cobain. Kimberly will be painting live using her brushless technique. Join us for an artist reception and refreshments.

THE CHURCH GALLERY
125 West Ortega Street
(805) 451-8845
A Certain Slant of Light: New Works by Cyndee Howard and Lisa Schulte, is a two-person exhibition exploring the notion of light as a formal as well as thematic medium. Curated by Miki Garcia, the exhibition features new works in photography by Howard and neon sculpture by Schulte.

C4
914A Santa Barbara Street, at the Built Green Resource Center
The Green Building Art Show brings together work by a diverse group of designers, architects and artists who specialize in green building. In addition, C4’s Build Smart mobile demonstration trailer will be onsite. Refreshments will be served.

BROOKS INSTITUTE GALLERY 27
27 East Cota Street
(805) 690-4913
Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27 will have on display a selection of work from local student artists. Refreshments will be served.

If there are any great events going on that I have missed, send me a message and I’ll do my best to update the post.