Happy Holidays!  Tonight is the night for a particularly festive First Thursday on State Street. The tree is up outside the Arlington, and the lights are out on all the trees that line the street I’ve been so busy preparing for tonight that my monthly recommendations are a bit late, but I hope you will put these stops on your itinerary for the evening.

Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative Art Crawl
After the success of the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative‘s  first ever First Thursday Art Crawl last month, we are going to be making it a monthly event. This month I got local contemporary art super hero, Andi Garcia to curate the crawl. She has put together a truly impressive line up of stops and Art Crawl exclusives that  should create a very special and unique evening. All you have to do to participate in the Art Crawl is show up at Coffee Cat at 5:30 tonight. Look for the lady with the Art Crawl badges. From Coffee Cat Andi will be making stops at many of the places listed below, and other unexpected places.

100 Grand at SULLIVAN GOSS
I’ve spent most of the last week preparing for this show. It is one of my favorite shows of the year and I’m not alone. People have been asking about his show for months already. The idea: 100 works prices at $1000 or less. The 2010 version of the show boasts a roster of 47 contemporary artists all in one room. The show gives the gallery to exhibit work by local contemporary and emerging artist, which is why I get so excited about the show, and why I want to highlight the show on the blog.

SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART
Two of the five exhibitions in the series Reframing America…will be on view: An American Century: 20th-Century Master Drawings from the Collection and American Modernism: Selections from the Permanent Collection. A selection of short (under 10 min) films by Stranger Than Fiction artists Erin Cosgrove and Allison Schulnik will be screened continuously in the Mary Craig Auditorium.

Family 1st Thursday: Picture This.
Bring the whole family to enjoy 1st Thursday together in SBMA’s Family Resource Center. Pose for a Polaroid, then play with places and create your own story by inserting yourself as a character in one of the photographs in the exhibition American Modernism. 5:30-7:30pm.

Quire of Voyces
This amazing group returns to Ludington Court to entertain SBMA 1st Thursday visitors. 6:30–7pm.

The 13th annual Brad Nack 100% Reindeer Art Show
Roy, 7 W. Carrillo St, Santa Barbara
Brad Nack‘s annual show of Reindeer paintings is one of this city’s most popular shows of the entire year.  A show so popular that even during the Great Recession it can sell out. This year’s “herd” is apparently quite limited, so if you want to get first pick of these awesome paintings, I suggest you get there early.

‘HOHO’ UNDERGROUND ART SHOW
125 E. Carrillo
The ‘CHICA BOW WOW’ Team is pre-celebrating Christmas with their last Underground Art Show for this year 2010! We are inviting everyone who would like to celebrate with us not only Christmas but also Art, Creativity and Inspiration. The featured artists will be Ulrike Kerber from Viva Design Inc. and also the founder of lovetoread.com, Ulrike will be showing several experimental films. In collaboration with Ulrike Kerber, Inga Guzyte will be showing her new series of skateboard sculptures. Ms. Guzyte’s work is the hottest thing in Santa Barbara’s emerging artist market. Her show just last month sold out. And there is a good chance that this one will as well. The work is unique and beautiful, so this show should be on your “not to be missed” list.

Forum Lounge: Marco Pinter, Gravitational Forces
SANTA BARBARA CONTEMPORARY ARTS FORUM
653 Paseo Nuevo, 2nd Floor 7PM
Gravitational Forces explores technology as a medium for artistic expression by using dance and video to create a multi-sensory experience. This performance represents the emotions and struggles we face as humans through a fusion of dance, video, and generated sound. Dancers Anaya Cullen, Kaita Lepore, and Steven Jasso pull from the audience’s “kinesthetic sympathy” with the aid of Pinter’s direction and technological additions.

Dave Cooley at Elsie’s Tavern
117 West De La Guerra Street
I have been a fan of Dave Cooley’s work for a long time. It is completely unique, imaginative, and meticulously crafted. The more I see of his work, the more I love it. His latest show opens tonight at Elsie’s Tavern. This would make a great final stop once the main event on State Street closes down at 8pm.

I hope to see huge  crowds on State Street tonight taking part in the festivities. If you have any other recommendations to add to this list, please post a comment with the details. Also, if you see anything particularly wonderful and want to share it come back here and post a comment about what you saw. See you out there….

If you’re heading out tonight, make sure to put Elise’s Tavern on your list. This is another great show put on by one of our favorite local art lovers, Andi Garcia. Details below.

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Santa Barbara gets the sneak peek of some of the up and coming again !! We scooped the big gallery in our sleeping giant soon to be the next art mecca !!
And artist from other areas are swarming to get here .

Over 35 works from the best  with several “ones to watch ‘

Art featured is acrylic on plexiglas by FrijolBoy/Juan Muniz  who was in attendance and announced he was just selected for a show  at La Luz de Jesus Bliiy Shire’s gallery in Los Angeles.
FrijolBoy is  also working on an illustrated book that will sneek peek  in  2010.
Also presenting and in attendance  was NomeLove / Robert Duran a native of  Santa Barbara of Chumash decent  with his mystic visually intriguing works and  will soon be in a show  Ms. Garcia will  be curating  Las Vegas this  April .

Other artists in attendance  included  Aeda of Las Vegas , Sheryl Schroeder, and Leo Jurado handling live art on lifesize UnValentine’s Card.
Another guest live artist was Sharif of ImanDesigns who is on his way to Barcelona , Spain for a group show .

Special guest artist from Arlington, Texas is Loretta Gonzalez  also  announced by phone call  she has just been selected to be published in the July issue of Blue Canvas .

This show at Elsie’s Lounge/gallery was the launch of “AftergLOW” an official 1st Thursday after hours art event  with a sexier funkier side of Santa Barbara’s art community !

Music was provided by Dj Tru and Xander that transcended the laid back vibe of our comfortable spot into the chic artsy settling like never before .

Yummy treated were donated  by Bella Dolce ‘s  Bakery  who just had a great write up in SB News Press.

Andi Garcia presented another Heart2Hand youth art fundraiser during the same week the fund’s first donation was made to La Cuesta High School at DPHS .
As with all shows 15% of all art sales will go to this worthy grassroots cause.

Show closing party scheduled for Saturday, Feb 27 at Elsie’s 117 W. De la Guerra St. Santa Barbara 7pm-10pm  with live art by Yuki Miyazaki resident artist from HIVE Gallery in Los Angeles and Leo Jurado .

For More information ,please see contact  information below

Andi Garcia – WEV graduate

andig2@gmail.com
Heart 2 Hand  Artists’ Resources / Youth Scholarship Fund
https://sites.google.com/site/heart2handyouthartscholarship/

Once again blog favorite, Ms. Andi Garcia, has put together a show of work by talented, young, up and coming artists who will be invading Elise’s Tavern for Santa Barbara’s upcoming First Thursday. With THREE after hours (anything open passed 8 pm is “after hours” on First Thursday) venues, we seem to be heading towards a critical mass of unusually edgy shows for this small, artistically conservative town.

If this is the kind of art you are into, it is absolutely critical that you go out and show your support for the hard working souls who bring this kind of art to Santa Barbara. Go out and look for something to fill that blank space on your wall. Or just go out with your friends, have some Agave Margaritas, and support the places that volunteer their wall space for you to enjoy.

Details of the Elsie’s event are below.

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This is a unique presentation of Acrylic on Plexiglas by Frijol Boy / Juan Muniz of Las Vegas.
We will also have a life size UnValentines card for all to sign !

Agave Wine Margaritas for $5
Food by Local Small Biz to be announced

Amazing Live Art by  The red hot !!, Yuki Miyazaki
( resident of The Hive in Los Angeles and more ! )
Links :

Frijol Boy – http://www.artrenegades.com/the_art_of_frijol_boy.htm
Yuki – http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/10047-yuki-miyazaki
Loretta Gonzalez – http://www.lorettagonzalez.com/
Nome1er – http://www.myspace.com/nome1er


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.

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.