Virtual First Friday

Welcome to Virtual First Friday for May 7. Live events begin at 5 p.m. 

This event is brought to you by volunteers at ArtsVentura and the Ventura Artists’ Union and is a monthly compilation of work by local artists in all mediums. Some entries are live and others will stay up. If you see something you would like to purchase, email editor@artsventura.org.

Hiroko Yoshimoto is a visual artist from Ventura. She was born and raised in Japan and moved to Los Angeles as a teen. She has a BA and MA (summa cum laude) in Art from UCLA and has exhibited worldwide. Her most recent ongoing series of more than 120 canvases is called “Biodiversity,” and began in 2012. Hiroko was one of the founders of artist co-op Studio 83, and the Ventura College Friends of the Arts, a non-profit art scholarship fund-raising organization. She taught studio art as a tenured professor at Ventura College. Upcoming shows are scheduled at the Red Bud Gallery in Houston, Wichita Falls Art Museum in Texas and at the Santa Paula Art Museum. We’ve posted some of her current work here and a video interview. To view more, go here. 

Live Event

Rima will guide you through a process of creating works of abstract art by tapping into your sensuality and reclaiming your joy and creativity. If you want to paint along, suggested art materials are: Paper (thicker, heavier) or canvas, graphite, acrylic or oil paint, brushes, and water. Click on the image below to join. Passcode: 492278

Enter the drawing for a free 4″x4″ original painting by Rima Muna, plus other gifts.

For more art fun, visit BAA’s last several First Friday demo videos and “Getting to Know” discussions on the BAA YouTube Channel

Virtual Art Galleries

Helle Scharling-Todd is a Danish-American contemporary glass and mosaics artist who has created public artworks around the world. She regularly teaches and exhibits her work internationally. Helle has been busy during the pandemic. She writes, “I will introduce some new works: some in mosaics, some in steel/glass. I was happy to rent one of my larger sculptures, steel with glass to Redlands City, and O’Fallon City, Missouri, and an exhibit in Denmark is coming up.

“In the meantime I explore the joys of new forms and color. During COVID time, I have concentrated on producing a series of wall sculptures titled ‘dialogues.’ We have all been missing dialogues this past year.”
You can see more at https://www.glassandmosaics.com/

The ARTLIFE Foundation called for artists throughout the world to mail in 6” x 9” postcard-sized works of art for an exhibition. The show honors artist Joe Cardella, whose ARTLIFE magazine collected mail art for more than 25 years.
Artists from 22 countries submitted more than 237 pieces of art. Entries came from the USA, Greece, Japan, Romania, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, Uruguay, Hungary, the UK, Denmark, Macedonia, Spain, Turkey, Serbia, Norway, Belgium, and Sicily (Italy).
The exhibit is on display until May 14 in two downtown Ventura locations. Walkers can view the postcard art in the windows at 47 S. Oak St. and around the corner at 365 E. Main St., near Oak St. (Namba Arts). You can also view the entire show by clicking on the photo below.

New work from Ines Monguio

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Muralist MB Hanrahan is working on a new piece at Citrus Glen Elementary

New work from Kimberly-Ann. You can find more of her work at https://www.facebook.com/LA.Photo.KAT

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New work from Janet A Gervers

Janet A Gervers is an abstract painter immersed in art and digital media worlds which she expresses through painting, digital art and photography. Janet’s primary focus for the past seven years has been painting abstracts expressing positive energy with huge swaths of textured acrylic on canvas. You can find more at https://janetgervers.com/
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Performance Video

Watch the May 2021 edition of John White's 5x5x5 performance art series. Featuring John Wisda, Paul Lindhard, Scotch Wichmann, Jason Brock Band, Unknown Blues Player.

Black Sheep by Steven Aguilar

Jessica Llamas and Ballet Folklorico Bell Arts perform an online dance

Poetry

Two older videos from Steven Aguilar featuring gauvin, who we lost in 2012