GOINGS ON / SANTA BARBARA : Artists Head for the Street at 7th Festival

A monkey seemingly pulls itself up through a small fissure in the sidewalk. A few lizards scamper perpetually round and round, at times diving beneath the surface. Nearby, a sophisticated-looking woman is at the wheel of a blue automobile.

These are but a few eye-titillating scenes from past Santa Barbara Street Painting Festivals. The seventh annual I Madonnari will be held this weekend at the Santa Barbara Mission.

As visitors look on, local artists create their vibrant, multidimensional images and elaborate compositions on the pavement using colored chalks.

Here’s how the festival works: A grid is drawn on the pavement in front of the Old Mission, dividing the piazza into 200 squares. The squares--each one bearing the name of its sponsor--range in size from 4-by-6 feet to 12 square feet. Sponsors pay $75 to $450 for a square.

This year’s featured artists Stuart Brandt and Jay Fisher will compose a large-scale painting at the base of the mission steps.

The festival--commonly attracting upward of 20,000 visitors--is a benefit for the nonprofit Children’s Creative Project, which administers fine arts programs in area schools.

Opening ceremonies will be at noon Saturday, and the event will continue from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Besides street painting, a variety of authentic foods will be sold at an Italian market, and live musical performances will include Italian folk, Latin jazz and Peruvian music.

The Santa Barbara Mission is at Los Olivos and Laguna streets. Admission is free. Call 569-3873.

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The Paseo Nuevo shopping center will combine a version of I Madonnari with its first Fine Art and Wine Festival this weekend.

While Santa Barbara-area wineries pour their varietal offerings for visitors, about 50 California artists will display original works in oils, acrylics, watercolors, photography, etchings and sculptures. And students from area schools will transform the mall’s sidewalks into their own colorful chalk creations.

The three-day event also features live musical performances. Festival hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Monday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Wine tasting will be held each day from noon to 2 p.m. on the Arts Complex Terrace. Admission is free. The mall is at State and De la Guerra streets. Call 884-8284.

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This from Carl Jung: “The most important psychological task humankind faces in our century is the re-integration of the feminine divine into our religious experience.”

And from actress-playwright Carol Lynn Pearson: “The human family has always longed for a divine mother, has often exiled her and is now inviting her back into the family.”

Pearson’s search for the female face of God was the inspiration for her one-woman play “Mother Wove the Morning.”

A veteran of more than 200 performances, Pearson brings her play--a depiction of 16 women throughout history--to Santa Barbara’s Center Stage Theater for three shows.

“These women--a Mormon, a paleolithic woman, Egyptian priestess, an agnostic and the others--are searching for God the Mother,” Pearson said. “Each one tells us something about how the human family has viewed God through the ages.”

Dressed in white, Pearson reaches into a prop-filled trunk for various accessories to assume her many identities.

Show times: 8 p.m. today and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15. The theater is on the second level at Paseo Nuevo mall, State and De la Guerra streets. Call 963-0408.

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The Carpinteria Valley Museum of History has recently expanded its flea market/swap meet, which is held the last Saturday of each month. The museum fund-raiser--now accommodating 75 vendors--features an offering of antiques, hand-crafted gifts, jewelry, exotic plants, flowers, and a variety of used goods and junk.

Bargain central hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free admission. The museum is at 956 Maple Ave. Call 684-3112.

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Love. A happy marriage. Kids. A successful career.

The road to having it all can be an adventurous trek, to say the least. And in Wendy Wasserstein’s “Isn’t It Romantic,” it can be humorous as well. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s comedic tale of a pair of twentysomething single women searching for purpose and meaning in life opens tonight at the Lobero Theatre.

Based on real situations from Wasserstein’s life, best friends Janie Blumberg and Harriet Cornwall try to have it all: husbands, careers, children and anything else they can grasp along the way.

This production is the spring season’s second offering of the Lobero’s collaboration with the Pasadena Playhouse. The play will continue through June 13.

Show times are 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, matinees 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets: $28.50 previews 8 p.m. today and Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday. Thereafter, all seats are $31.50. Tonight’s performance is a benefit for the Scleroderma Research Foundation. The theater is at 33 E. Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara. Call (800) 883-PLAY or 963-0761.