OXNARD — After a successful Malibu run in the 2010s and a pandemic pause, Fireball Tim’s Wheels & Waves is back, in its second month and better than ever—this time at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum. Car enthusiasts, families, and community members are invited to experience this lively, free-to-the-public event, held on the first Sunday of each month from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM in front of the Museum at 3900 Bluefin Circle, Oxnard.
OXNARD — The Channel Islands Maritime Museum is excited to announce a new partnership with the Zachari Dunes hotel, located just over a mile from the museum’s home in Channel Islands Harbor. This collaboration, beginning on September 17, 2024, brings a unique maritime experience to hotel guests with the installation of a spectacular tall ship model exhibit in the hotel’s lobby. The first ship to be displayed is the San Felipe, a famed Spanish galleon that sailed from 1690 to 1705, offering a glimpse into that captivating period of maritime history.
Art Comes Alive is one of our most popular and fun annual events, transforming our galleries into an interactive experience where actors and volunteers portray characters both real and imagined right from our art collection, bringing the art quite literally to life. This event provides an engaging way for visitors of all ages to explore maritime history in a unique and exciting way not replicable through an ordinary tour. Be sure to bring the whole family for photo stations, games, prizes and so much more!
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is happy to introduce its new educational mascot, Cimmy the California Sea Lion.
The aptly named Cimmy (the “C” is pronounced as an “S”) made his debut this month in the Museum’s outdoor classroom area, the CIMM Waterfront Learning Club, and will gradually expand to more areas of education. Cimmy will be more fully featured in Museum activities starting in September.
“We want education and learning at CIMM to be a fun, positive and energetic experience for all of our younger visitors,” says CIMM Executive Director Adri Howe. “We couldn’t think of a better mascot than one of the residents of Channel Islands Harbor, the California Sea Lion. Sea Lions are intelligent, playful, and social, which we feel are also wonderful attributes for young people!”
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is thrilled to announce the gift of four exquisite and unique Pacific Ocean sea glass portraits to the Museum. The portraits will be featured in the natural science/whale hallway exhibition area of CIMM. The natural science/whale area features prominently in Museum tours and the Museum’s educational programming for local students.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum is pleased to welcome shipwright and author Will Sofrin to its next Speaker Series event on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. He will speak on his upcoming book All Hands on Deck: A Modern-Day High Seas Adventure to the Far Side of the World.
In the late 1990s, Patrick O’Brian’s beloved, bestselling historical novel series was destined for film with Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World. While the director and stars were signed on, there was only one problem: The Rose, the replica eighteenth-century warship that the filmmakers had bought for the production, was in Newport, Rhode Island, two oceans and thousands of miles away from Hollywood. Enter a ragtag crew of thirty oddballs and tall-ship fanatics, including author Will Sofrin, at the time a 21-year-old wooden boat builder and yacht racer looking for some direction in his life. Together, the crew embarked on an epic adventure, racing a ticking clock and fighting against Mother Nature, and occasionally each other, to deliver The Rose, hopefully in one piece.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be presenting its latest exhibition, The Oxnard Union High School District Student Art Show, in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery through April 30.
Art is a strong, unifying element within the community and students will be showcasing their talents in a variety of two-dimensional and three-dimensional mediums.
“We are proud to host a show where students can share their creative expressions and lived experiences,” said CIMM’s Collections and Exhibitions Manager Olivia Williamson. “We invite you to come and witness the next generation of great artists.”
Beginning May 9, 2023, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be presenting its latest exhibition, PORT/TRAIT, in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
From the inception of photography in the early 1840s, cameras captured the international migrations of sailors around the world. The invention of photography can be credited to Louis Daguerre, a French inventor and artist who first introduced the concept to the French Academy of Sciences in 1839. That same year, the American inventor Robert Cornelius produced what’s considered the first photographic self-portrait. Their creation of portrait photography generated a multitude of encounters between sailors and photographers, capturing their lives at sea for global audiences.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is delighted to announce that it will be hosting a celebration and book launch on Saturday, February 4, 2023, for the new book Coyote Saves Hawk by local author and tribal elder Alan Salazar “Puchuk Ya?ia?c.”
Coyote Rescues Hawk is based on a Chumash story dating back at least 300 years. Mr. Salazar brings humor and insights from twenty-five years of experience in bringing back the traditional Chumash canoe culture to a tale sure to delight readers of all ages. Mr. Salazar will be on hand for storytelling and book signing, followed by time for questions and answers from the audience.
After thirty years, the original logo of the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) has been retired, and a new logo has been created in its place.
The Museum celebrated a wonderfully successful 30th anniversary year in 2021, and it was decided that a new logo should be created as the Museum steps into its next 30 years. The new logo features bright colors with a tall ship silhouetted against the sun. Local artist and graphic designer Brett Bednorz created the new logo.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is pleased to announce a US Coast Guard Live Rescue Demonstration on Friday, January 7 at 2:00 pm. The Coast Guard Demonstration will take place on the water in Channel Islands Harbor directly in front of the Maritime Museum which is located at 3900 BlueFin Circle. This outdoor event is free and open to the public. Visitors may also watch the demonstration from the two inside floors of the Museum. However, the purchase of Museum admission is required for those who would like to view the demonstration from inside of the Museum. (Masks are required for those visitors who wish to view the event from inside the Museum).
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is proud to host a Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) presentation featuring award-winning artist Karen Loew at its Speaker Series on January 19, 2022. This evening will also be the opening reception for the Museum’s latest temporary exhibition “Coast Guard Art” in the Museum’s Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
Ms. Loew will be illustrating her presentation with images of selected works from the COGAP Collection. As chair of the Coast Guard Art Program, Ms. Loew has traveled across the globe to document activities of the Coast Guard and display her work. A recipient of the Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest recognition given to those who have made outstanding contributions in advancing the Coast Guard’s missions, Ms. Loew has had thirty paintings accepted into the Coast Guard Art Program Collection. Ms. Loew as an artist has received COGAP’s top honor, the George Gary Award for Artistic Excellence, for her work “Harbor Rendezvous” (shown below).
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is happy to announce that acclaimed local author and Oxnard historian Jeffrey Maulhardt will be its featured speaker for March.
Jeffrey’s presentation on “Preserving History Through Books and a Museum” will explore the history of Oxnard and his role of founder in the creation of the Oxnard Historic Farm Park Foundation. Jeffrey will also be discussing his most recent book “Oxnard (Past and Present).”
As early as 1910, Oxnard was known as the Biggest Little City on the Coast, when the population was a mere 2,200. A hundred years later, the population topped 200,000, and Oxnard became the most populous city in Ventura County. Built around the largest sugar processing plant in the world in 1898, the city now hosts an 800,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center on the land that once grew sugar beets.
Through March 25, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will present its latest temporary exhibition “Coast Guard Art” in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
The Coast Guard Art Program, tasked with revealing the truth and educating the public through diverse mediums, goes beyond the simple recording of events. Coast Guard Art, made by those who protect our shores, commemorates, instructs, documents, and raises morale at home and at the front.
Beginning April 1, 2022, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be presenting its latest exhibition, The Oxnard Union High School District Student Art Show, in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
Art is a strong, unifying element within the community and students will be showcasing their talents in a variety of two-dimensional and three-dimensional mediums.
“We are proud to host a show where students can share their creative expressions and lived experiences,” said CIMM’s Collections and Exhibitions Manager Olivia Williamson. “We invite you to come and witness the next generation of great artists.”
Beginning May 10, 2022, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be presenting its latest exhibition “71% ? Honoring Vital Waters” in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
“71%: Honoring Vital Waters” is an eclectic, mixed media show of pieces by local artists Shannon Celia and Mary Neville. Through figurative expressionism and colorful abstraction, both Celia and Neville delve into the beauty of our world’s waters, including oceans, freshwater lakes, rivers, swamps, glaciers, and ice caps.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is pleased to announce that Charles Vinick, the Executive Director of The Whale Sanctuary Project, will be its featured speaker in August. Mr. Vinick will speak about the Project and its work to establish a coastal sanctuary where cetaceans (whales and dolphins) can live in an environment that maximizes well-being and autonomy and is as close as possible to their natural habitat.
A member of the Whale Sanctuary Project Board of Directors since 2016, Mr. Vinick brings a unique blend of leadership and experience to the Project. For 25 years, he worked closely with Jean-Michel and Jacques Cousteau (during his lifetime), helping the ocean explorers establish, grow and sustain multiple initiatives. Mr. Vinick shepherded the growth of the Cousteau Society and, from 1993 through 2003 and served as Executive Vice President of the Jean-Michel Cousteau Institute and Ocean Futures Society. During that time, he was privileged to serve as director of the highly-publicized Keiko Project, a pioneering effort that marshaled public and media support to reintroduce to the wild the captive orca made famous through the Free Willy films.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be hosting a new volunteer orientation in August. Orientations will take place at the museum at 3900 Bluefin Circle in Oxnard on Saturday, August 20, from 10:00 am until 12:00 pm.
These orientations will share the history of the Museum, its collections, and the many ways in which volunteers can help to support the Maritime Museum. CIMM has volunteer opportunities in several areas including Museum tours, education, events, the CIMM Building Brigade, and visitor services.
The Museum asks for attendees to please RSVP to office@cimmvc.org or call CIMM at 805.984.6260 if they would like to attend either orientation.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is happy to announce the screening of the film Inhabitants. The screening will take place on October 20, 2022 at the Museum.
Inhabitants follows five Native American Tribes across deserts, coastlines, forests, and prairies as they restore their traditional land management practices. For millennia Native Americans successfully stewarded and shaped their landscapes, but centuries of colonization have disrupted their ability to maintain traditional land management practices. From deserts, coastlines, forests, mountains, and prairies, Native communities are restoring their ancient relationships with the land. As the climate crisis escalates these time-tested practices of North America’s original inhabitants are becoming increasingly essential in a rapidly changing world.
Beginning April 7, 2022, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will present its latest exhibition, “Chouinard Arts.” Original student works of the famed Chouinard Arts Institute will be displayed through the early fall of 2022.
On loan from local collector Ms. Joy Roy, the nine-piece collection brings a wide variety of maritime subjects to life. The pieces are heirlooms of her grandfather, the artist Stan Johnson, who attended Chouinard and traded these small works amongst his classmates more than 80 years ago.
Beginning Sept. 9, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be presenting its latest exhibition, Resilience: Art of the Channel Islands in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
This exhibition will explore how creatives are inspired by the natural world. Five award-winning local artists, Joe Adams, Holly Woolson, Linda Legman, Genie Thomsen, and Christina Altfield, will use unique mediums to explore the flora and fauna of the Channel Islands. Resilience: Art of the Channel Islands will be the Museum’s largest temporary exhibition to date.
OXNARD — The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is thrilled to announce the gift to the Museum of a rare Napoleonic Prisoner of War bone ship model. The model joins and becomes a new highlight in the Museum’s latest permanent exhibit,…
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is happy to announce its March activity in celebration of its 30th anniversary year. Local artist Brett Bednorz has created a wonderful whale “totem” coloring page for the Museum in honor of the magnificent animals that are so often seen off the local coast. Coloring contest participants are invited to let their creativity and imagination run wild. There will be four age categories, Adults? 18 years and up, Teens ? 13?17 years, Kids – 7?12 years, and Kids ? 6 years and under. One coloring winner will be selected in each age group.
Beginning May 13, 2021, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) will be presenting its latest exhibition “Art of the Sailor” in its Brenda and Gary Farr Gallery.
When sailors left their homes to voyage across the sea, oftentimes they faced dangerous and extreme working conditions, horribly cramped quarters, and a journey that could stretch months to years. When stuck in these difficult and wearisome circumstances, some sailors used art to express themselves. “Art of the Sailor” will feature a unique collection of scrimshaw pieces (many of which have never been shown before at the Museum), decorative and working marine knots, unique embroidered items, and other sailor-made artifacts. Several of the items to be featured in the exhibition have never been seen outside of their privately-owned collections.
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is happy to announce its first film showcase event “Home Waters: Coastal Communities and Maritime Traditions,” a selection of four short films. Through animation, cinema verite, and classic documentary formats, four directors take us across North America and Canada to explore coastal indigenous lifeways.
OXNARD — Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) celebrates the world’s most popular beverage and its relationship with maritime history and commerce on Saturday, May 18th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Maritime Tea Time will take place on the museum’s Upper…
