It may be a bit chilly tonight, but don’t use this as an excuse to skip out on the opportunity to hit the street in search of great art. Below is my short list of spots that will be hosting the hip haps tonight.

The Granada will be hosting Karaoke Karoling tonight, letting visitors get into the holiday spirit with some seasonal favorites.I can only hope that it takes place on the stage and that it is as hilariously terrible as karaoke can be.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will also be open and is hosting “California Conversations” with Joe Goode and Joan Tanner at 5:30pm in the Mary Craig Auditorium. This is the last in the series of three conversations with artists featured in the wonderful California Calling exhibition. If you haven’t seen this two part exhibit, add it to your “must see” list tonight. It’s only up for a little while longer.

Local artists Erika Carter and Liz Brady have a show at the Frameworks and Caruso-Woods Gallery. Carter is a long time painter and gallery owner who specializes in small folkloric devotional paintings on tin or wood . Brady explores the different compositions of plant life under a microscope and unveils the diversity and beauty of these organic forms through her new  paintings. I love visiting this gallery, if for no other reason than it gives me the opportunity to wander around in the labyrinthine innards of  the El Paseo building.

At Caligreen the wonderful Andi Garcia has put together an intriguing  show of street art called “Concrete to Canvas”. The title says it all as graffiti artists will be putting their talents down on more traditional surfaces. Artists from all over the country will be represented and there will be live art and music created on the spot. Donations of warm coats and sweaters to be collected for Unity Shoppe  Live art piece will be auctioned off with proceeds to benefit Heart2Hand youth art scholarship.

The final spot I’d like to highlight is the Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27, which will have a juried show of student works. The exhibit consists mainly of fine art photography and many of the photographers will be there to discuss their work. This is a great spot to show and see art. It has a much more urban/industrial feel than anywhere else currently in Santa Barbara and while inside you could easily convince yourself you were in a larger, hipper artistic city.

I hope to see large crowds out on the street tonight. As always if you see anything that blows your mind, make sure to share it by posting your comments on the blog.

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.

I hope that the weather won’t keep too many people from heading out for First Thursday tonight, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m going to start the evening at the Blackbird Gallery, which I mentioned in a recent post, and which  I haven’t ever been to before. From there I’ll be heading up State Street to Perch where there will be an assortment of assemblage Valentine’s Day themed works. I do not know what exactly to expect, but I do know that the owners are very excited about the show. From there I’m going  head across State Street to geek out at the underwater photography exhibit at the Brooks Institute. Next, I’m hoping to get to the Contemporary Arts Forum before the performance by Sara Paul Ocampo starts. Let me mention once again that I think having a performance on First Thursday diminishes both the performance and the art. I’m going to CAF to see what I’ve been lead to believe is a new ceramics show (though they’re website has no mention of ceramics), if the performance is going on there will be no chance of seeing the art so I’ll leave. It’s not that I’m in any way making a judgment about the performance, but First Thursday is a fun event that requires making visits to many places over the evening. That’s the idea anyway. A performance, on the other hand, is meant to get people’s attention and keep them in one place for longer periods of time. So by definition the two are in conflict. If any one at CAF is reading, I promise I’ll come to your performance if you move the date. …Promise.