Happy Memorial Day, fellow art lovers. I hope you are all out and about, spending time with friends and loved ones.

It is time once again, to get your walking shoes ready for our monthly Art Crawl down State Street. This month’s Crawl will be marked by our first visits to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art to see their new photography exhibition by Ori Gersht. Everyone who has seen this exhibition has been raving about it, so I can’t wait to see it for myself. We will also be making our first visit to the Artamo gallery. Somehow I have managed to neglect this great little gallery on Anapamu Street, so this month we’ll rectify that.

Finally, we will also be celebrating the opening of the second round of Art in the Mayor’s Office.  For this round there were 10 photographers who won the chance to show their photos, and we’ll be there to congratulate them… and hopefully convince them to join us for the rest of the evening. The winners in this round were: Patti Gutshall, Nell Campbell, Rodger Dawson, Jimmy Callian, Patricia Franco, Tim Hauf, Edgard Rincon, Kate Connell, Gerry Aspen, and Jack Azar.

[UPDATE]: I forgot about a great show of work by Tom Shultz and Micheal Long at Elsie’s. We’ll be making that our last stop for the evening.

All you have to do to join the Art Crawl is show up on the back steps of City Hall (735 Anacapa Street) at 5:30 SHARP!!! City Hall will close promptly at 6pm, so if you want to get in to see these photographs you have to be on time.

I hope to see you this Thursday… Now get back to your barbecue.

Click on the image below to see a larger version of this month’s map.

It has been a crazy week so my usual monthly First Thursday preview is a bit behind this month. However, there is a ton of great shows to see tonight and I want to make sure to highlight some of them so you can make sure to add them to your itinerary. First of all, the Artamo Gallery, CASA Magazine, The Health Gallery and Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery are accepting food donations for Art Helps, a benefit for the Unity Shoppe. This month’s request is for jars of peanut butter. If you bring in a jar of peanut butter you will get a sweet Art Helps button and will receive 10% off a purchase from that gallery. Make sure to pack a jar of peanut butter with you when you head out tonight. Even if you don’t purchase anything, it will help support less fortunate Santa Barbara families.

Click on the image above to see the full-size flyer

The two art shows that I want to highlight start with tonight both begin at 7pm so they would be great places to check out after you’ve made your regular rounds. First off, blog regular Jimmy Bell has a show opening up at Cali Green on West Ortega, just off of State Street. Bell uses a variety of techniques like splatter, scribble and folds to incorporate randomness and chance into his creative process, letting each piece unfold from the outcome of the initial result. Just within the last year you may have seen some of his work  at Red’s, Elsie’s, Blackbird, Fishnet or the Street Murals projec on Mason and Helena Streets. He must be one of the hardest working young artists in town, so make sure to show him your support by stopping by.

The second “Must See” of the night will happen at the Contemporary Arts Forum, also at 7 o’clock. As part of their Forum Lounge series Daniel Barrow will present “Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry”. Barrow comes to us from Winnipeg and was featured in the 2009 Time Based Art Festival in Portland, OR.  He uses obsolete technology like old-school overhead projectors to weave a tale through “manual” animation. It is sure to be an interesting lo-fi event.

Regardless of where you end up tonight, if you see anything that you absolutely loved, make sure to come back to the blog and post your comment to tell us all about it.

For good or for bad, it is Fiesta in Santa Barbara. I usually celebrate the occasion by locking myself inside for the duration and try to avoid State Street at all costs. However, tonight there are very good reasons to make an exception tonight to head out for First Thursday. One of the things I’m most excited about tonight is the opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Granada. The venue will open up the lower sections and allow visitors to see the dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, etc. I’ve always enjoyed checking out the inner workings of places like this, though  I can’t say exactly why.

It is also Art Helps at  Artamo Gallery, CASA Magazine, The Health Gallery and Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery. These galleries will be accepting donations of cereal for The Unity Shoppe to help needy local families. With your donation you will receive a 10% discount on a future purchase and 10% of the proceeds of that purchase will also be donated to the Unity Shoppe.

If you haven’t seen the wonderful “California Calling” exhibit at the museum this would be a great time to stop in. The exhibit only consists of two small rooms, so you can see the exhibit with plenty of time left over for other places.

At the Contemporary Arts Forum there is “Echo of the Whole: Call For Entries ’08-’09: Adrienne Allebe, Stephanie Dotson, Tera Galanti, Servando Garcia”. I love call for entries shows and was unable to attend the opening for this show last week, so I’m excited to see the work of these four artists tonight. At 7 CAF will have “Selected Short Films by Aïda Ruilova, a video artist who draws inspiration from B-movie horror and vampire flicks of the ’70s. Ruilova’s videos combine classical cinematic devices with distinctively low-tech sensibilities, quick-cuts, and jarring soundtracks to create works that exist in the space between sound and image.”

There are two photography shows to get excited about as well. At the Brooks Institue’s Gallery 27 there is a exhibit of photos of famous photographers by Tim Mantoani. And at Samy’s Camera there is a show by Charlie Mitchell who has recreated famous old master paintings with a camera and clever Photoshop work. I haven’t been able to confirm that Samy’s will be staying open late for First Thursday, so this might make a good first stop on your itinerary.

Wherever you go tonight, make the Fishnet Gallery and Retail Theatre your last stop once all the State Street galleries have closed. Fishnet will be hosting the first monthly First Thursday after-hours event from 8 to Midnight. If you haven’t been to the Fishnet Gallery yet, it is located at 46 Helena St. just a block  from State Street and half a block from the beach. Tonight’s event will feature the work of amazing concept artists Mark Goerner, who will be demonstrating his process live.  I have seen Mark give a presentation on his work before, and it was, without exaggeration, one of the coolest things I have seen in a very long time. So I can’t recommend this highly enough. In typical Fishnet fashion the evening will also include DJs,  fire performers, hoop dancers and the wonderful mayhem usually associated with this crowd. I’ve also heard a rumor that there is some amazing street art murals across the street from Fishnet. I don’t think these are permanent, so make sure to check it out while you can.

I’ve attached all the info on the Fishnet event below. While you’re out and about tonight if you see anything that you think I should mention on the blog, please contact me to tell me all about it.

DON’T FORGET FISHNET ARTIST PROCESS SHOW Tomorrow Night after First Thursday Art Walk

MARK GOERNER at FISHNET

with projections by Republic of Tri, music by
DJ Mouse, Kit on Hoops, a special showing of the new Pyrospin film, and cuisine by the Hot Dog Man

Thursday, AUGUST 6th 8pm-Midnight
46 Helena Avenue, Santa Barbara

Mark Goerner's "Moon Crash 5"

Veteran of countless high profile projects in various industries, including work for such films as Minority Report, X-Men2, Superman, Battle Angel Alita, and Iron Man 2. Mark will demonstrate his process live at FISHNET. This will be a killer night. FISHNET is all about process, how artists conceive, prototype and produce their finished work. Thursday night FISHNET artist MARK GOERNER will be on hand to talk about his process, techniques and the philosophy he uses  to develop is professional and gallery work.

We’ll have a large selection of Mark’s work for sale at the event and he’ll be happy to sign prints following the demo.

It’s First Thursday again tonight. This means that downtown art galleries will be staying open late and people will be flooding State Street on their monthly pilgrimage to check out new exhibits and shows.

Two highlights this evening will be a performance by Marnie Weber at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum. And the opening of the new SOON Collective show at Elsie’s Tavern.

For a full list of shows and special events check out the official First Thursday page.

In  addition, don’t forget that First Thursday is also the venue for the Art Helps fundraiser. This month Artamo, Casa Magazine and Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery are accepting canned meat (tuna, chicken, SPAM), which will be given to the Unity Shoppe to help local families in need. With each donation people will receive a button which can be used for 10% off of any purchase from the gallery. But that is not all! Ten percent of the proceeds from this purchase will also go to the Unity Shoppe.

It is a win-win situation. So help out the Unity Shoppe packing some canned meat with you on your gallery crawl tonight.

I’ll see you on the street, then join me for a pint at Elsie’s to check out the SOON Collective when the gallery’s close.

Let me begin this post by relating a very sad rumor that came to me through the grapevine this week. Apparently, while a few galleries are benefiting well from the monthly First Thursday program on State Street, many more galleries are not seeing the benefit of the program and are thinking about pulling out altogether. I hope that the downturn in First Thursday attendance corresponds to the seasonal weather and darkness that accompanies winter. I am, therefore, hopeful that as the days get longer and warmer we will see attendance serge. Regardless of whether First Thursday produces much in the way of commercial gains for the galleries that partake in the event, it unarguably brings much needed attention and excitement to the local arts culture. I hope that if you are reading this you will help to support First Thursday by hitting State Street tonight to see some beautiful art. 

In addition to supporting First Thursday tonight, a group of galleries have gotten together to create a program that unites art patronage with charitable giving. The Peregrine Galleries, Artamo, and Sullivan Goss have come together to help support the Unity Shoppe by making collections for local needy families. So, tonight if you show up at one of these three galleries with a jar of peanut butter you will receive a ART HELPS button and a sizable discount on any art that you purchase this evening. Furthermore, the galleries have promised that a portion of the proceeds of this purchase will also be given to the Unity Shoppe. 

This is very clearly a win-win situation. If you are not familiar with the invaluable services that the Unity Shoppe provides for the less fortunate of our community, please follow the link above to their website. 

You have three tasks for this evening (listed in order of importance): First, go see some beautiful art, which will help support First Thursday. Second, visit one or all of the three galleries above to let them know you appreciate what they are doing to support the local community. Last, if you are able get out your checkbook and take home something to hang on your wall.

Even in touch economic times the benefit of surrounding yourself with beautiful art is as large as ever.