From Ojai Valley Museum: Turning Corners is an art exhibition featuring work by more than 60 artists. Join us, and many of the artists, for the free exhibition opening reception on Friday, June 30, from 5 to 7 pm. 

Featured Image: I Need Space by Joce Aucoin

Opening July 2, 7-9pm
Performance by Jehanne at 8:30pm on July 2

Special performance July 21, TBA

Featuring work by: 

Ali Williams
Andra Belknap
Ava Frisina
Cara Bonewitz
Dave’s Clubhouse
Elise Arnold
Emma Sher
Jehanne
Joe Manfredi
Lorien Stern
Marina Weiner
Miles Matis-Uzzo
Steph James

OPENING AND ARTIST’S RECEPTION:

1ST THURSDAY, JULY 6TH | FROM 5-8pm

FROM SULLIVAN GOSS: Sullivan Goss is excited to announce a contemporary artistic collaboration with Ganna Walska Lotusland to present Where the Wild Things Grow. The exhibition will showcase work by over twenty-five local and regional artists inspired by the rare specimens and unique atmosphere of Lotusland’s cultivated landscape. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the artwork will be donated to the Garden.

FROM PARTICIPATING ARTIST CARA BONEWITZ:

I am excited to share that my work has been included in a group show at Sullivan Goss in collaboration with Ganna Walska Lotusland. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the artwork will be donated to the garden.

Over the last several months, I’ve grown fascinated with the weekly display of yard waste bins dotting the neighborhood, and this piece is the first in a new series that examines and celebrates such displays. 

Terry Frost (1915–2003) was a highly regarded British artist known for his vibrant and abstract works. Born in Leamington Spa, England, Frost initially pursued a career in painting after being captured as a prisoner of war during World War II. He developed a distinctive style characterized by bold colors, geometric shapes, and a sense of joyful spontaneity. Frost's artistic journey took him from Cornwall to London and eventually St. Ives, where he became associated with the renowned St. Ives School of artists. Throughout his prolific career, Frost's work evolved and embraced various mediums, including painting, sculpture, and printmaking, earning him international recognition and numerous awards. His contributions to the art world continue to inspire and captivate audiences today.

Featured Image: Red Harbour, 1953
oil on canvas 20” x 24”
© 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London

From Tom Pazderka:

It has finally happened. A Secret Plot has moved into the streets with a variation on the ‘micro gallery.’ These boxes will hold temporary artist ‘installations’ in a semi-anonymous manner in the streets of Ojai for the foreseeable future. The mission of the project is to move challenging art into semi-public spaces where art is not expected to exist. The idea is to generate chance encounters with the strange, uncanny, and radical notions of art outside of galleries, museums, and institutional spaces and to give artists a chance to create work, exhibit, and communicate concepts in non-traditional ways.  

The idea for Micro Plot came to me in the beginning months of the Pandemic; it just took a while to materialize in concrete form. But the story of how it came about goes back years. When we still lived in Santa Barbara, I used to walk past a house that looked as though it was abandoned. It wasn’t, but it had the ‘look’, overgrown vegetation, an unkempt yard, peeling paint, and dingy windows. The last paint job seemed like it happened sometime in 1976. In the evenings, a single light could be seen through the front window, betraying the presence of the occupants. But outside was another ‘tell’, a small white box perched on a four by four staked into the ground in the middle of the front yard, two or three feet away from the picket fence. Inside the box were displayed random newspaper clippings and notes, presumably from the owner(s). The clippings and messages would change with time, but the whole concept of this ‘message board’ was ultimately intriguing. I never understood any of the clippings that were cut out of decades-old newspapers or the messages. The messages may have been unclear, but the idea wasn’t

We’re all familiar with the tiny library concept – small wooden boxes, usually near mailboxes, filled with random and cast-away books – and the  ‘take a book, leave a book’ idea. Micro Plot is something along the lines of ‘leave an idea, take an idea,’ and so far, the feedback has been mostly positive, although Bart’s did apparently receive a complaint that the first box made someone ‘uncomfortable.’ I’d venture to say that even that can be seen as a positive development, especially if the whole notion of the project is to put out challenging ideas.

Meg Jorgenson is a self-taught Abstract-Impressionist painter. With inspiration from traveling the landscape and ancient ways of painting, she gathers clays, rocks, floral and earth elements to create pigments and dyes that are the grounding energies that give essence to her practice. Meg Jorgenson’s work is visceral in meditative storytelling and explores the ways in which our external and internal worlds mirror one another through the spiritual presence of nature. Intentionally textured in a romantic fresco tone, she Intimately plays with color and light in an expression that is ethereal and floats between defined realms. In a nuanced sense, Meg Invites the viewer not so much to discern as to absorb.

Buddy’s is open from 3 pm every day but Monday.

Cover: Sally England’s residency at Taft Gardens by Marc Alt

PAST EVENTS:

Cover: Jules Weissman