Mixed Bag of Events
If you don’t know what to do with your weekend, we’ve got a grab-bag of tips that should inspire you--from a java-crazed art walk in Ventura to a quirky museum exhibit in Santa Paula to a sunset hot-dog roast on the sand.
On Saturday night, you can get a coffee buzz and a look at some incredibly diverse art when downtown Ventura hosts another ArtWalk & Java Jump. From 6 to 10 p.m., some 40 art galleries, museums, coffee houses and businesses will exhibit the work of local artists.
Head for the Stoneworks Studio off Ventura Avenue and you’ll spot the labors of Michelle Chapin and M.B. Hanrahan before you get there. The artists have painted a 130-foot-long mural that wraps around the rambling studio grounds. Funded by a city grant, the Park Row Mural Project makes its debut at the ArtWalk.
The gigantic mural is designed to be portable; the 32 panels are connected by hinges. At the studio, it hides the chain-link fence that surrounds the property, but it could be moved anywhere.
“It’s another way to get art around the town,” Hanrahan said.
They designed it purposely to create an uplifting feel, and with its bright, splashy colors and happy images, it does the job.
“It’s life circumstances put to mythological symbols,” Chapin said. A jester juggles a house, a car and other typical responsibilities. A skeleton sports daisy eyes, a cracked egg produces a heart in the frying pan, and birds flutter throughout the mural. Some of the ideas came from the Berlin Wall, some from Tarot cards.
If the mural is too tame for you, stroll into the Stoneworks garden where you’ll find another portable art project--this one on wheels. It’s an art car, a conglomeration of station wagon and Volkswagen parts, designed to look like a giant green psychedelic bug. It’s the creation of Hanrahan and a slew of other local artists who entered it in Houston’s zany art car parade last April.
During the ArtWalk, the socially conscious artwork of another grant recipient, Paul Benavidez, will be on display in the windows of several businesses, including Bonnie’s, Ventura Bookstore and Ventura County Business Machines.
Other art offerings range from the works of Ventura high school students at the Westside Police Storefront to the display of erotic art at Art City.
Pick up a map of the art locations at the information booth at California and Santa Clara streets. There’s more than art, though. The entertainment lineup includes music, dancing, poetry--even a body-painting demonstration.
It’s not quite body painting, but the newest exhibit at the Santa Paula Union Oil Museum is hardly the nuts and bolts you’d expect at this no-nonsense outpost. The Santa Paula Historical Society rounded up a couple dozen curiosities from its archives, but it’s up to visitors to figure out what purpose all these historical has-beens served.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. One intriguing little gizmo has a hand crank with a tiny metal nub that delivers a pleasing tingle on the skin. (If you’re stumped, refer to the cheat sheet. This little gadget is called a Vibrolife, patented in 1906.)
Others are equally mystifying, like the circa-1890s white lace-up shoes that the display indicates were worn by many but never touched the ground. You’ll see a portable typewriter from the 1880s, but five of the keys are in an unaccustomed place. A metal gadget looks like a toilet bowl plunger, but it’s not. The exhibit, open until the end of September, includes some other knickknacks from early Santa Paula businesses: the 1912 guest register from the Glen Tavern Hotel and an old wooden sign that reads “Watkins Hardware--Pipe and Fitting, China Ware, Paints.”
If you like sunsets on the beach, hot dogs roasted over a fire, and those old corny camp songs, we’ve got an event for you. California State Parks is hosting the first of three “Cookin’ at the Coast” soirees Saturday at Point Mugu State Park.
You bring the wieners and roasting sticks, and they provide a wood fire on the beach at Sycamore Cove, along with those essential condiments. Led by Jim Holt, the group will also take a stroll on the beach for about 45 minutes. He’ll also lead the singing.
It starts at 6:30 p.m. and runs about two hours. Others are scheduled Aug. 17 at 6:30 p.m., and Sept. 14 at 5:30 p.m.
BE THERE
ArtWalk & Java Jump runs from 6-10 p.m. Saturday in the downtown Ventura area. Free. (805) 658-4726.
Santa Paula Union Oil Museum, 1001 E. Main St., is free and open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (805) 933-0076.
“Cookin’ at the Coast” starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Sycamore Cove in Point Mugu State Park, off Pacific Coast Highway. Free, but $6 parking fee. For information, (310) 457-8142.
