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Museum of Ventura County — What’s hot this summer? Your Museum

by Community Contributor • June 22, 2022 • Comments Off

Ivor Davis: Up Close and Personal with Steve Binder

Thursday, June 30th from 6:30-8pm

at the Museum of Ventura County

Free for members,

$10 for non-members in-person,

and $5 for non-members on Zoom

Steve Binder is paramount in the history of music on television, having directed Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special, Diana Ross Live in Central Park, andThe Star Wars Holiday Special. He’s worked directly with Elvis, Liza Minnelli, and Patti LaBelle, and will be portrayed by Dacre Montomgery, breakout star of Stranger Things, in Elvis, directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Ivor Davis will interview Steve Binder in this special evening. Registered members will be entered into a drawing to win an autographed copy of Steve Binder’s Elvis ’68 Comeback: The Story Behind the Special.

Click here to RSVP.

Play-Well TEKnologies Summer Camps:

Adventures in STEM with LEGO® Materials

Monday, June 27th-July 1st

from 9am-12pm

at the Museum of Ventura County

$155

Ratchet up your imagination with tens of thousands of LEGO® parts! Build engineer-designed projects such as: Space Stations, Fire Trucks, and the Eiffel Tower. Click here to RSVP.

Play-Well TEKnologies Summer Camps:

Minecraft Engineering using LEGO® Materials

Monday, June 27th-July 1st

from 1pm-4pm

at the Museum of Ventura County

$155

Bring your favorite Minecraft adventures to life with our enthusiastic Play-Well instructors.

Click here to RSVP.

Story Time at the Museum:

Read Beyond the Beaten Path

Friday, July 1st from 3-4pm

at the Museum of Ventura County

Free

Your Museum with the county library have bilingual Story Time every first Friday of the month at 3pm. That way kids will have time to come right after school. Join us for stories, then play and learn in the Evelyn and Howard Boroughs Children’s Garden, a fabulous and FREE outing for ALL!

Life Drawing Sessions

Wednesdays:

July 6th, July 20th, & August 3rd

from 6:30-8:30pm

at the Museum of Ventura County

$50 for members and students,

$65 for non-members

Join other artists for a series of three open model drawing sessions. Models will be clothed and nude. Note: this is not an instructional class. This is a great opportunity for artists of all skill levels to develop their life drawing skills. 10-35 participants per class. Click here to RSVP.

June Meme Contest

Entries due by Thursday, June 30th

Write your own text to go with the featured image for your chance to be on the Meme Hall of Fame, and win a Museum of Ventura County mug, a collection of our custom pens, or a unique magnet with a vintage photograph of a bird’s eye view of Ventura! Together we make our history free, accessible, and engaging for all. Click here to join the fun!

Digital Jigsaw Puzzles:

Colorful County

For Pride Month, we’ve curated a collection of colorful photographs and illustrations from our archives. Featured here is a photograph of Ojai artist Beatrice Wood, who has a piece in our current exhibit Chromatic: The Museum in Six Colors. Click here to enjoy more puzzles!

Brought to you in part by the

generous support of

Ellen Brokaw and

Al Lowe Construction

Journal Flashback

In the Curl:

The Evolution of Surfing

in Ventura County

Just in time for summer, this month’s Journal Flashback presents an article on the history of surfing in California and Ventura County. Surfing itself dates as far back as 200-400 C.E. and was an important activity in Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures.

Click here to read more.

MVC Then

The Water Witch of Simi

Water witching is centuries old. The first written references date to 16th-century Europe. The practice of dowsing was commonplace in the late 1800s in Simi Valley when new settlers needed to find a reliable source of water. Almost everyone gave it a try, but few had Grandpa Stones’ touch.

Click here to read more.

Brought to you in part by the generous support of

Ventura County Credit Union and Chrisman Estate Co.

Echoes of Nature

Works by Contemporary Chinese Artists

June 4th – 25th

at Studio Channel Islands

A month-long celebration of contemporary Chinese art brought to you by Studio Channel Islands.

Click here to learn more about unique figure painting classes, performances, and artist talks throughout the month.

The Museum of Ventura County and the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula are open Thursday—Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Admission to both Museums is now FREE.

All That Glitters

Is Not Gold

A surprising history of the 1920s and Prohibition in Ventura County. As population and wealth boomed, creativity flourished – but so did a tide of repression and exclusion. This exhibit tells the local story of the jazz age through our collections and archives.

This exhibit made possible in part by the generous support of:

The John Hammer Family,

The Heritage Fund at VCCF,

The DeArkland Family, and

Chrisman Estate Company

Chromatic:

The Museum in Six Colors

MVC’s permanent collection, amassed over 100 years, ranges from everyday items belonging to real people who lived and worked in the county, to rarities and precious works of art. Each object has a story to tell, and this exhibit opens the door to those stories.

This exhibit made possible in part by the generous support of:

and Pierpont Racquet Club

Always Keep Creating:

The Resiliency of Carol Rosenak

Renowned local artist Carol Rosenak (1925-2002) was known for her still life paintings featuring exquisite textures and intricate details. Spanning over 30 years of her career, this exhibit highlights her early printmaking, still lifes, and the abstract style she adopted later in life.

This exhibit made possible in part by the generous support of:

The Bonita McFarland

Endowment Fund

Behind the Curtain:

An Insider’s Look at The George Stuart Historical Figures®

People argue about whether the Figures are works of art, historical objects, or maybe something else entirely. Mr. Stuart himself objects to both the titles of Artist and Historian. Investigate each Figure closely so that you can decide for yourself. Learn more here.

Funding provided by the

Fred W. Smith Gallery Fund

Tomols to Trains:

County Transportation

through the 1900s

at the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula

Tomols to Trains explores how transportation played a role in Ventura County’s history. Visit the communities that struggled with the changes brought about by new modes of transportation.

See how towns and cities changed, how suburbs grew, and how our farms and other industries became part of regional, national, and international economies.

Learn more here.

Made possible by the

Heritage Fund at VCCF

Farm to Market

at the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula

An interactive exhibit promoting healthy lifestyles through role-play, the Ag Market is an immersive environment where children and families identify healthy food choices in a market-like atmosphere.

Learn more about what the

Agriculture Museum has to offer here.

Special thanks to

Santa Paula’s Mayor Carlos Juarez for volunteering his time and

talent in building our

fun-filled indoor market

Save the Pollinators:

A Youth-Led Environmental Restoration Project Exhibit at the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula

The Save the Pollinators Project was developed by Ojai youth to combat the dramatic depopulation of our vital pollinators through a community restoration project. Through photography, music, and art our teens hope to share everything that they learned while working to save the pollinators. Click here to learn more.