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 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/

This weekend there is an art and music extravaganza at Santa Barbara’s own SOHO. From Friday through Monday the club will feature some great art and tons of great music, including a return performance by local favs Volt per Octave, who have come down for a show from their new home in Portland. Local artists include Jimmy Bell, Rebecca Ladow, Champion, John Pearl, DOA, and Forrest Rucker.  There is not a great list of all the acts on-line, so for more information you can call the venue805-962-7776, or check out the latest Independent, there is a great article on the show which you can read here.

This Saturday Jimmy Bell will be hosting a reception for his current exhibition of work at Muddy Waters. The show is up now and I can tell you that there is a lot of great work up. Make sure to bring your checkbook and get there early because there is a good chance that this stuff will start flying off the wall.  See you there.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

6 – 10 pm at Muddy Waters 508 East Haley St.

First of all, I wanted to extend a personal congratulations to the ambitious young artists who put together the Young Folks Art Show this weekend. If you didn’t see this beautifully utilized space,  you really missed something special. The show was located in a bit of an out of the way location just of the corner of Chapala and Micheltorrena, in what appears from the front to be a fairly non-discript single story house with lots of windows. The space, however, was much larger and much more conducive to showing art than one could have imagined.  Once inside you were free to wander around the many multileveled rooms, which lead to a surprisingly large open room in the back with tons of natural light-perfect for showing art. Each of these rooms had been beautifully hung with paintings, constructs, and photos, amongst other artistic works. The house has apparently been up for rent for some time, and these industrious young folks worked out a deal to rent the space just for the weekend. A win-win for the artists and the owners and I’d like to salute them both for their intestinal fortitude. For more information on the artists that put this show together see my previous post.

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In other exciting news, blog-favorite Jimmy Bell will be having a show at Muddy Waters in June. As a build up for this show, Jimmy has released his first limited edition print. They are an edition of 25, archival giclee prints. The print itself is 12×7 inches and matted to 14×11 inches and you can have your very own for just $25. Click on the image to the right to check out Jimmy’s website where you can order a print. Make sure to keep this show on your radar, and I’ll post the details as the opening reception approaches.

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Finally, urban clothing boutique, Fuzion, recently made the move from upper to lower State Street and can now be found between Figueroa and Anapamu Streets in a deceivingly large space. I found myself drawn into the store by some very nice photographs hanging on the walls. Eventually, I found my way downstairs to what could accurately be called a cavernous space populated by a couple of sofas and some very cool graffiti art scattered here and there on the walls. The room was still in a period of transition while I was there and the potential of the space had not been realized, but that potential is HUGE. Between this space and the AG2 space that just opened up behind the French Press on the corner of Figueroa and State, this block has all of the sudden become a focal point of Santa Barbara’s New Art scene.  Make sure to stop by Fuzion to check out this space.