Museum of Ventura County update for Feb. 19

Join the Museum’s Resident Artist Ryan Carr for the next scheduled figure drawing session at 6 p.m., February 20, at  Leashless Brewing, 585 E Thompson Blvd, Ventura.

This popular event meets twice-monthly to draw live, clothed models. The group alternates between meeting at the Museum and meeting at local breweries. Bring your drawing pads, charcoal, pencils, pen & ink, pastels, whatever your favorite medium! No liquid mediums, please. All skill levels welcome. Admission is free.

Grab a lunch and head on over to the Museum every Thursday between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for music by local talent. Join us February 22 for music by jazz guitarist John Bardi. Feel free to tip the musicians!  For information call 805.653.0323.

This is a sold-out event! Additional screenings are scheduled. Visitbreakthechainfilm.com. for dates.

The Museum is proud to co-host this screening of Break the Chain on Wednesday, February 21, at 5:30 p.m., featuring a Q & A with filmmaker, Laura Swanson. This award-winning feature-length documentary film addresses the often “hidden-in-plain-sight” issue of Human Trafficking in the United States.

Co-hosted by VCCAHT, The Acorn Project, Interface Family Services, The Polaris Project, Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, The Coalition for Family Harmony, The Museum of Ventura County, Youth With A Mission, and Soroptimist.

The Museum of Ventura County has announced the call for entries for its annual Wearable Art Fashion Show, scheduled for March 30, at the Museum’s Smith Pavilion. This year’s theme, “Wearing Our Stories,” challenges artists, artisans and community members to tell their stories of the impact of the Thomas Fire through an article of clothing or accessories designed for this wearable art showcase. Deadline for entries is March 1. To submit an entry and/or download a prospectus, please visitventuramuseum.org.

The Museum of Ventura County is hosting the City of Ventura’s Public Art Program, noon to 3 p.m., Saturday, March 3, in the Museum Plaza, 100 E. Main Street,  Ventura.

Working with artist MB Hanrahan, the community is invited to participate in an upcoming permanent public art installation, Bee Cause, at the Barranca Vista Center. Through a series of workshops, the community will assist in transforming hubcaps into beautiful flowers for this Bee Cause garden which will create awareness around the plight of the North American Bumble Bee. There is a $15 fee. Ages 12 and up. To register, contact 805-658-4759 or troach@cityofventura.ca.gov.

Join us March 4 for Free First Sunday and learn the gentle art of rock stacking with self-taught artist Juan Manuel Cisneros. From noon–2 p.m. Manuel will be leading a workshop for youth and adults. Known for his wonderful sculptures, made more incredible by their precarious balancing acts, Manuel has been gracing Ventura’s Surfer’s Point for the last several years with his stone installations. Over the next several months, in collaboration between the Museum and Art City Gallery and Studios, Manuel will be creating a series of onsite installations. His work may be viewed along E. Santa Clara Street and Junipero (directly behind the Museum beginning in late February).

If stacking rocks is not your thing, then you can learn the fine art of rock painting from our own local Rock Fairy. The Rock Fairy, who also is a first-grade teacher, porcelain painter, glass artist and Pilates instructor, secretly distributes hundreds of beautifully painted rocks throughout the neighborhoods of Silver Strand and Hollywood Beach. You too can become a Rock Fairy and spread joy through your own neighborhood. All supplies provided.

Free First Sunday offers free admission to the museum exhibits and activities, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information call 805-653-0323.

Free First Sundays are sponsored by TOLD Corporation and Mimi Allin.

Celebrated fashion and celebrity photographer, and Ventura native, Neal Barr has photographed some of the world’s most famous faces, including pitcher Sandy Koufax, actors Warren Beatty and Sophia Loren, designer Halston and boxer Cassius Clay for top publications, such as Harper’s Bazaar, Ladies’ Home Journal and Sports Illustrated. In High Style: The Photography of Neal Barr is an exciting exhibition that focuses on Barr’s extraordinary life and career, spanning more than five decades, from his early beginnings in Ventura to his fashion career in New York City and back again to Ventura.

On display now through April 8 at the Museum of Ventura County, 100 E. Main Street, Ventura. Visit venturamuseum.org for more information.

Working in wood or fiberglass overlaid with automotive paint, local artist Lori Cozen-Gellercreates geometric sculptures with cutouts, creating unique works driven by emotion and intuition. She explains her process as “a journey that begins with a feeling” and develops into a piece of art by “by freezing emotions and placing them into concrete form…as if the emotions themselves dictate the specifications of how the art is developed.” In the final product, Cozen-Geller’s emotions are represented by the sculpture’s dimensions, color and finish. On exhibit now through April 8 in the Main Street Museum’s Nook.

Experience the story of the Mayan civilization, begun nearly 10,000 years ago and inhabiting today’s area of southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and portions of Honduras and El Salvador, as told through Lost Empires: The Conquest of the Americas at the Museum of Ventura County, now through April 2018 at the Museum of Ventura County.

Featuring the highly-detailed and historically-accurate George Stuart Historical Figures Collection, visitors will learn about the early beginnings of the Mayan civilization and its advancements in sophisticated art and mathematics, evident in 500 BC, as well as its architecture which rivaled that of Europe. For more information, visit www.venturamuseum.org.

The museum offers Free First Sundays and free admission for featured groups on designated Appreciation Weekends.

February 24 and 25: Residents of ZIP Codes 93062 to 93065

• March 10-11: Doctors & Nurses

• March 24-25: Residents of ZIP Codes 93041, 93044, and 93065, 93093 (

 Free First Sundays are sponsored by TOLD Corporation and Mimi Allin. 

CAPS Media, Ojai Valley Museum, Ventura County Library and the Museum are collaborating on this project. Over the next few weeks CAPS Media and the Museum of Ventura County are recording personal Thomas Fire Stories shared by first responders, officials and the public impacted by the fire. The recording sessions will take place in locations throughout the county including Santa Paula,
Ventura’s Northside, Ventura’s Westside and Ojai.

Visit venturamuseum.org or capsmedia.org for schedules. Find a convenient day and time to record your story and add it to the museum’s historic archive. Selected stories will air on
CAPS Television and Radio, and stream on capsmedia.org.

Visit capsmedia.org to upload video content. Email your stories or digital images to:
thomasfire@venturamuseum.org