Latino artists, community well represented in Downtown Oxnard Art Beat on Aug. 13

The Downtown Oxnard Art Beat will feature a variety of art, music, dancing and dining opportunities from 5 p.m. to closing time on Saturday, Aug. 13 at various venues in downtown Oxnard.

Area art spaces and restaurants will be offering a rich variety of experiences. Highlights this month include the chance to wear a work of art, glow in the dark, try spinach empanadas, watch theatre on the grass, help a family, or be reminded of how to look deeply- all on the Art Beat, Tracy Hudak, Arts Impact Director for the Oxnard Downtown Management District, stated in a media release.

“Art With A Heart,” at Cafe on A, is an exhibition and fundraiser that joins the forces of art and community to help the Hernandez family, whose members were injured by a hit and run accident.  Featuring work by over 40 artists, a raffle and as well as live music and live painting. Click here for more information.

The evening offers three different takes on portraiture with Mexican and Latin American themes, Hudak reports.

Casapueblo will feature Dennis O’Leary’s beautiful cubist portraits of historical Latin American figures.

In the exhibition, “The Vanishing of a People,” at Tomas Cafe, Augustin Bravo’s lush oil paintings revere the characters and traditions of his native land.

Greg Arbeene, of At Downtown Center For The Arts, presents his ‘pop portraits,’ which use heightened color and simplicity of line to capture the essences of famous Mexicans and Historical Mexican Icons.

At Alert On B, the guerrilla gallery that now has a name, Eric ReeL presents a solo show of all new works called, “Markings”.  ReeL’s layered and primal acts of marking in paint and on paper help us to reset the state of looking by providing refuge from the noise of marketing and manipulated reality.

The Carnegie Art Museum extends its hours into the night so guests can get another glimpse of, “Splash – liquid energy splattered,” a rich exhibition of realistic and abstract imagery playing with water.  The Carnegie Art Beat Spotlight this month shines on the work of photographer Edwin Souby, who has mastered the digital print to create optic fantasies and beautifully realistic scenes.

The optic play continues at The Kitchen with” The Glow Show”, Pistol Production’s 2D, 3D and 4D glow-in-the-dark art extravaganza.

We’re throwing performance in the mix for August as well, Hudak said. In Elite Theatre’s new production, “As It Is In Heaven,” an 1830’s Shaker community is changed when a non-believer has an ecstatic experience. Acapella hymns punctuate the scenes and the end explodes with joyful Shaker singing and ecstatic dance.

In the walk-around spirit of Art Beat, Teatro de las Americas will present skits in different locations downtown through the evening.

The two original fifteen minute pieces take a humorous glance at the immigrant experience.

The audience gets to jump into act and wear a work of art at McMullen’s Japanese Art & Antiques by modeling kimono’s from his collection as part of a Kimono Show that traces two hundred years of the garment’s history.

From 9 p.m. on area restaurants and nightclubs will offer all flavors of food, music and dancing to take you into the wee hours of the morning.  Shoot some pool at Oxnard’s gastropub, The Kitchen while enjoying delicious food and their hand-picked craft beers on tap.  Jump on stage for Killer Karaoke at the La Dolce Vita Lounge where you’ll find hot music and cool drinks.  Ruby’s Adrenaline Night has Oxnard’s hottest dance floors- two to be exact, featuring hip hop and cumbia to get you moving.  Enjoy an elegant dinner at Sugarbeets Restaurant and Bar with live jazz in the early hours and come back for a late night cocktail and dancing as the evening rolls on.  And if all that is just too much, take a walk in the park or slip into a late show at Plaza Cinemas for a movie and some popcorn.

The website, www.oxnardartbeat.org, will feature a map to print or load up on a mobile phone, as well as detailed listings and links to the art spaces and restaurants.

The Downtown Oxnard Art Beat is coordinated by the Oxnard Downtown Management District. Call Abel Magaña, executive director of the ODMD, at 805.385.2705 for more information.