Ventura Film Festival

The First Annual Ventura FIlm Festival took place March 26th through March 29th. This was my first festival as a film maker. Being part of the Ventura Film Festival and seeing it grow to what it has become has been quite inspiring. The growing number of supporters and community sponsors of the Ventura Film Festival / Ventura Film Society believe that the perfect cultural climate exists for these dynamic, collaborative, and imaginative film and new media events in our city.

“We Heart the Art Barn” is a short documentary of an art space in Ventura, California. In November of 2008, I spent 7 weeks filming and getting to know the life of an art therapist by the name of Lynne Okun. I realized that this place wasn’t just a space for kid’s arts and therapy, but that it also twilights as a musical haven for local artists and musicians.

To View the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA_xvda6mBY

Don Ed Hardy

Known for his famous tattoo designs and illustrations, Southern California native Don Ed Hardy graced Ventura with his presence at The Silvia White Gallery for a book signing of his new book “2000 Dragons”. The photograph above shows a scroll which Hardy painted is where the illustration of his book came from. Also on view is a survey of prints, done over the last 10 years. All the work relays Hardy's familiar sophisticated visuals with a painterly intensity. As an added bonus, Hardy has designed a print, unique to this exhibition, as a tribute to the city of Ventura: California's New Art City. There where a limited number of signed prints available for purchase. All proceeds from the sales will be donated to the new Ventura Museum of Art. You can view Hardy’s work at the Silvia White Gallery up untill April 25, 2009.