Happy Cinco de Mayo! Though I’m focused on 1st Thursday tonight, there are a bunch of really wonderful art offerings around town this weekend.  There is going to be a great emerging artist show at Art From Scrap on Saturday night featuring some of my personal favorite local artists. This is a really great chance to see some of what Santa Barbara has to offer from young artists and to show your support for our emerging art scene.   Meanwhile, Carpinteria has a new opening at the Anderson Art Collective AND the 5th Annual Artists’ Studio Tour. So, make sure to save some energy and don’t overdo it on this fine Cinco de Mayo 1st Thursday… it’s a marathon not a sprint.

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Fusias by Marianne Romero

See Here Now: 9 Emerging Artists – Art Opening at AFS Gallery

SANTA BARBARA: Art From Scrap is excited to announce the opening of its gallery space to a new demographic of emerging artists with its latest exhibition entitled, “See Here Now: 9 Emerging Artists” opening on Saturday, May 7th from 7-10pm. The AFS Gallery will be showcasing work by nine highly talented young Santa Barbara artists.

For this show, curated by AFS Environmental Educator, Chantal Peterson, the variety and style of work usually shown at the AFS Gallery has been expanded to include painting, photography, sculpture and fashion. Each artist brings a unique style and influence, informed by his or her own experience of life here and now as s/he embodies it. Many of the artists work with reused/reclaimed materials in various mediums as matter of principle and/or for the effective ‘personality’ such materials give their work. As one of the featured artists, Inga Romualdo Guzyte explains, “I choose old, used skateboards because I see their use as one way to recycle design or art; old skateboard designs give my sculptures character and I give them a personality.” The work in this show remains grounded in ethos of environmental stewardship upon which Art From Scrap was founded, and is enhanced by a definitively contemporary style offered by these nine young artists.

Join Art From Scrap on Saturday, May 7th for the Opening Reception at 7pm, an event which will also take on new forms. Included in this dynamic evening will be performance art by the Bird Dance Collective, a performance group comprised of four professional Santa Barbara dancers, accompanied by live musicians. Offering the opening reception a distinct flavor, local favorite, DJ Nine, will be spinning throughout the night. Additionally, Michael Heltebrake, a new arrival to the burgeoning Santa Barbara art scene, will be creating a live painting during the reception. A variety of local wines will be served throughout the night; The Bird Dance Collective goes on at 8:30 pm.

Mark your calendars! Saturday, May 7th is opening night; the show will hang through June 4th.

We invite you to come SEE new works offering unique perspectives of the HERE and NOW through the vision of nine of Santa Barbara’s talented young artists.

Artists Include:
Michael Heltebrake
Marianne Romeo
Inga Romualdo Guzyte
Chloe Gray
Matt Rodriguez
Jimmy Bell
Gaby Altarac
Mark Brown
Ariana Anderson

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Leighton Collier Roux - "Tree Wedge" (Far Landscape) - Birch Tree & Me - 20 minutes

Anderson ART Collective presents “Stand Beside” a two-person show by Leighton Collier Roux and Paul Roux. To artists who have come together over the past few years to stand beside one another as friends, partners and collaborators. Though they come from different countries and experiences, they find that their work, when placed together in the same space, engages in captivating dialogue around contemporary humanity and society.

The show is comprised of oil paintings, sculpture, photography, video and a special performance by Leighton Collier Roux during the opening reception on Saturday 7th May from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Leighton Collier Roux, a native of Southern California, received an MFA from Tufts University in 2008. In 2010 her work was commissioned by the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and will be featured in their upcoming ‘Call for Entries 2011′.

Paul Roux, a South African native graduated in 1998 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, and was one of the six artists that were featured last year by the Anderson ART Collective at Red Dot Art Fair at Art Basel in Miami Beach.

According to the artists’ statement, “In this rapidly changing world, we look to engage viewers in an urgent celebration of the beauty that is our naturalheritage, a celebration consciously tempered by acknowledgement of the consequences of the prevailing separation between humanity and the planet”.

‘I’m very much looking forward to having this work engage the public at our space. The work speaks largely of the relationship between humanity and nature in a very forward thinking way, asking questions of the viewers with the intent to skew our positions on how we interact with nature,’ states gallery curator Benjamin Anderson.

Anderson ART Collective is located at 410 Palm Avenue, A2, in Carpinteria, CA and is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5pm and by appointment. “Stand Beside” will run through May 29th. For more information go to www.andersonARTcollective.com or call 805.684.8783

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Sharon Schock "The Spot"

Come and experience Carpinteria’s 5^th Annual Artists Studio Tour and buy fine art at studio prices!

The weekend long event takes place on the 7^th & 8^th of May from 10am – 5pm.  A free map and Art Studio Directory will be available from the Carpinteria Valley Arts Council and will guide you through some of the diverse fine artists studios of Carpinteria & Summerland.

With an opportunity to view 27 participating artist studios, some of which have shown in well-known galleries internationally and in the U.S. from Los Angeles to New York, the studio tour is a chance to see and buy work of established artists as well as budding emerging talent.

Artists such as local painter Cayetana Conrad, daughter of writer and artist Barnaby Conrad will feature her newest intricate landscape paintings and will have her Toro Canyon studio open both Saturday and Sunday.  Martin Fowler’s studio on Casitas Pass will also be open Sat and feature the artists most recent diverse sculptures, watercolor paintings, collages and textured silver jewelry pieces.  On the southern end of town, young emerging artist Sharon Schock will have her daily oil paintings featuring local landscapes on display both Saturday and Sunday.  For a full list of participating artists please visit Carpinteria Valley Arts Center website at http://www.artscarp.org.

This weekend long opportunity to tour and visit local artist studios is free and open to the public, with a portion of the sales benefiting the Carpinteria Valley Arts Council (CVAC) to promote, support and further our local artists in their studios and galleries.

In conjunction with the weekends activities there will also be a Studio Tour Art Show that will open April 28^th and run until May 16^th.  Most of the participating studios will exhibit one or two pieces in this show.  The public is invited to a First Friday preview reception at CVAC, 855 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria on May 6^th from 5-7pm and a Studio Tour artist meet and greet reception on May 7^th from 5-7pm.

For more information please visit http://www.artscarp.org or contact Leigh-Anne Anderson 805-684 8783

It’s time again for one of the most highly anticipated exhibits of the year.  The vastly talented and ambitious Anderson family in Carpinteria will be holding the opening reception for their newest combined show this Saturday. Since opening their own gallery at 410 Palm Avenue, A2, in Carpinteria, CA in the historic Henry Fish Seed Company building, they have been put up some really great shows and have produced some of  my favorite paintings of the last few years. They have been working equally hard at getting their work out there into the world and it seems as though this work is beginning to pay off (see below). Because of this hard work, these local artists are getting national, and even international recognition, so seeing their work in such a wonderful local space is a real treat.

Congratulations to the Andersons for their much deserved successes this year. I hope to see a huge crowd in Carpinteria Saturday night.

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ANDERSON {CUBED}

I  happened to be in Carpinteria today, so I stopped by the Anderson Art Collective to check out the new show of surf art that opens tomorrow night. I found brothers Sean and Ben Anderson in the middle of installation but they were nice enough to show me around. Though some of the major pieces for the show had yet to arrive, the things that were there made up a wonderful, surf-inspired collection. The show brings together a nice mix of photography, painting, sculpture, and amazing custom surfboards. As always with the Anderson clan, a portion of sales from the show are given to charity, this time the Santa Barbara Chapter of the SURFRIDER FOUNDATION. The opening night should be quite a scene, with live music and beverages. If you have yet to make plans for this Saturday, consider heading down to Carpinteria to see some great art.

Details and links to the included artists’ websites are below.

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, May 29
6pm-9pm

410 Palm Avenue | A2 | Carpinteria | CA | 93013 | 805 684 8783

Will Adler, Kevin Ancell, Ron Anderson, Jay Kelly, Randy Noborikawa, Paul Roux, Blakeney Sanford, Reynolds Yater, Sean Anderson, and Ben Anderson.

The Anderson Family is at it again. Make sure to add this opening to your Memorial Day Weekend schedule. See details below.

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Anderson ART Collective will be the epicenter Memorial Day weekend as Rogue Wave II generates its own waves with an energized display of “surf art” arriving from as far away as South Africa.

On Saturday, May 29 from 6-9pm, the opening reception at 410 Palm Avenue Loft A2 in Carpinteria will present the contemporary work of an impressive selection of fine artists. The show, which benefits the Surfrider Foundation, features the work of Will Adler, Kevin Ancell, Ron Anderson, Jay Kelly, Randy Noborikawa, Paul Roux, Blakeney Sanford, Reynolds Yater and the Anderson Bros. Admission is free and the reception is open to the public.

Randy Noborikawa, Mixed Media Neon ©2010

“Once again our focus for Rogue Wave II is to showcase contemporary artists that are influenced or inspired by the ocean and surfing while bringing the edgy, rogue-ish energies of the contemporary art world into the realm of surf culture. Case in point is Randy Noborikawa, an artist we are very excited about as he is pushing the boundaries on what is iconically known as ‘surf art’,” notes Benjamin Anderson, one of the curators of the show.

Highlights of the opening night include music by ‘dalai sonido’ and the auction of a one-of-a kind “Sexy Skull” donated by the Anderson Bros and signed by surf legends to raise money for the Santa Barbara Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

The show runs through August 8 with five percent of art sales and all proceeds from opening night donated to Surfrider.

Anderson ART Collective is located at 410 Palm Avenue, Loft A2, in Carpinteria, CA in the historic Henry Fish Seed Company building at the entrance to Carpinteria State Beach and is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5pm or by appointment. The gallery features contemporary artwork and is a platform to promote the arts, to protect the environment and to support human rights. For more information go to AndersonArtCollective.com or call 805.684.8783.