VENTURA : Students’ Work to Be Shown at Bank

Finance and art will collide today when a gallery spotlighting the work of Ventura Unified School District students opens at a bank on Chestnut Street.

Downtown Ventura’s newest exhibit space is dubbed the Wells Fargo Fine Art Gallery For Young Emerging Artists. Painters from grades one through 12 will have about 75 pastels, oils, collages and other pieces on display at the bank at 101 S. Chestnut St.

“This is to provide them a marketplace for their work--to have a window to the world,” said Patricia Robinson, a professional artist and Ventura resident who was instrumental in opening the 400-square-foot gallery. “It will enable parents to see the quality of the work that is being done now in the schools.”

Robinson, a native of Britain who formerly taught at the Royal College of Art, said she has instructed educators on how to teach art at district schools for the past seven years.

When bank officials noticed the quality of the work being done by students, they offered the exhibit space so bank customers could enjoy watercolors following their transactions.

The goal is to stage four student shows a year, Robinson said.