While Spring has called many Southern Californians out to nearby scrublands to observe Superblooms, we can stay right here in Santa Ana and find a world of color and beauty thanks to our vibrant arts community. But we can't just sit back and appreciate the arts, we have to support them and this month brings several exciting opportunities to engage local artists in community projects that give them visibility and enshrine them as part of our local arts legacy.

The Santa Ana Artists Village is home to dozens of galleries, artist studios, arts institutions and arts events like the monthly DTSA First Saturday Artwalk. If you've ever walked the Promenade or adjoining streets, you may have noticed around 40 street pole banners demarcating the area. Dowtown Santa Ana is refreshing these giant outdoor banners and local artists have the opportunity to submit their work to be on display outdoors. Please visit the Artists Village Banners Project for details and to submti your design. If you have questions, please contact the project curator, Andrea Harris.

The Painter’s Room is proud to present “Somewhere I Have Never Travelled”, an exhibition of
paintings and drawings by Katelynn Mills + Child Workshop. Engaging with a highly generative
mode of creating, Katelynn Mills has applied her systems theory, The Cybernetics of Painting, to
her studio practice and approach to education. For this show, Somewhere I Have Never
Traveled,” she takes images from the history of painting, and runs it through a system of
organization in which the picture is divided into ~50 to 70 cells. That system is then run through
a second ‘system’: children. Children contribute a strong element of indeterminacy and chance
due to their wildly different interpretations of color and scale as they work on their respective
cells. The final paintings, which take 1-3 months to complete by a workshop of 5-13 year-olds,
are then assembled after many hours of mystery and happy confusion. Adding a sort of
feedback loop to this exhibition, Mills will also be showing select closely observed drawings of
her kindergartner’s paintings as well as other works made outside the workshop which have
influenced, and been influenced, by the workshop pieces.

​Though the theory behind this project takes on a hard, critical edge, the viewer may not readily
perceive it upon first viewing. It is through the poetic nature and “serious play” of the process of
making these paintings that the ‘child-magic’ within each of us may be activated. Further, this
project speaks to the significance of trusting in the unpredictability of the creative process. It
requires an abundance of Good Faith for such young students to blindly follow the Teacher’s
instruction: work very hard and accurately on a strange, abstract composition for months on end
without any real perception of what all that focus will amount to. Similarly, it takes a great leap of
faith for an instructor to lead a group of over 100 children in such a state of organized chaos.
This project reveals the joy and beauty of traveling beyond the pre-determined.

The sun rises and three hundred thousand people, riled from their sleep, bring life and color to the streets and avenues of this city in the heart of Orange County, California. Santa Ana, on a mere 30 square miles, boasts a vibrantly multifarious history. And yet, in this city of shifting demographics, seemingly endless restructuring and gentrification, you run the risk of missing the depth of that history. And it is here that the role of art as an engine for conscious empowerment and change is made evident. You may, for example, walk downw the streets of Downtown, and catch, on the side of a building, or tucked behind a trendy eatery, perhaps even emblazoned onto an electrical box, the earthy tones of a mural by “The Heavy” art collective led by Bud Herrera and Kimberly Duran. You will notice the intricate color combinations elaborated using aerosol and paint. You may even be attracted by the playful contradiction between muted earth tones and vibrantly colorful hues which work so well in combination. Perhaps it is the subject matter that draws your eye, that synthesis of cultural icons that transgress the racial and national divides of this hybrid city. Frida Kahlo’s likeness dripping with indigenous beauty and articulation. The beautiful walnut skin tones of revolutionary women carrying the symbolic weapons of a forgotten revolution begging to be remembered, peaceful Buddhas floating through space or the reimagined Catrina, with an Hindu Ajna, or third-eye, agape, looking out beyond the confines of the canvas. Whatever lured your eye to this, their canvas, it has put you face-to-face with art that is in a dialogical relationship with its community.

​“Roll Call” is an introductory exhibition of paintings by each artist, representing who they are as painters individually, and creating a visual dialogue between them collectively. The show, then, is a visual companion to the ongoing dialogue about painting that the group is having. Unexpected similarities and echoes arise from the installation, exposing the painters’ shared love of the medium while still presenting each of their very distinct artistic personalities. The exhibition is rich and rewarding for painters and those already familiar with the language of painting, as well as accessible and rewarding for the most casual, uninitiated viewer. ​

​We are also proud to present, in collaboration with Martinez Gallery, “Soft Self” featuring new works by Santora artist and IPA member Julia Bass. Julia’s paintings are informed by her relationship to nature, with a process that brings printmaking, painting and collage together to create personal and emotionally affecting works with universal appeal.
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The Painter's Room will feature an array of diverse exhibitions by artists outside of the IPA group. The space will also host an eclectic range of events and happenings, relating to but not limited to the practice and discourse of painting. ​

Show info:

The Painter’s Room: “Roll Call”
Martinez Gallery: “Soft Self” New Works by Julia Bass
March 2 – March 31 2019
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Story and photos submitted by The Painters Room

​Santa Ana Secret Society will also be hosting a merchandise booth with art prints, enamel pins, shirts, and original art. IPA DTSA will be hosting a group exhibition at The Painter's Room, and local artist, and IPA member, Julia Bass will be showing works at Martinez Gallery. ​

Story and photos provided by Santa Ana Secret Society

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​In 1999, the City of Santa Ana partnered with California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), alongside local community activist Don Cribb and director of CSUF’s art gallery Mike McGee to convert and refurbish a historic Santa Ana building into a functional year-round art center in the heart of the Artists Village, now known as Grand Central Art Center (GCAC). Now in its twentieth year of existence, GCAC is a renowned and respected force of creativity and innovation, producing four to six exhibitions per year. This art center isn’t an ordinary art gallery. The 45,000 square-foot building is home to three large gallery spaces, as well as a theater space, and rents spaces to third-party businesses like Gypsy Den, Hipcooks, and the Claudia de la Cruz Flamenco Institute. GCAC also offers twenty-six gorgeous apartments of varying sizes and art studios for graduate students in the Art Departments at CSUF. GCAC also offers an exceptional international artist-in-residence program with an apartment and studio space available. ​

Best Intentions: Robert Williams
March 3 – April 29, 2000

The Days of Janice Lowry
May 5 – June 24, 2001

Von Dutch: An American Original
December 7-January 26, 2003

Modern Myths Ancient Fables: James Lorigan
September 6-October 26, 2013

100 Artists See Satan
July 3 – Sept 19, 2004

Heaven on Earth: Thomas Kinkade
April 3 – June 20, 2004

The Saddest Place on Earth: The Art of Camille Rose Garcia
Oct 1 – Dec 18, 2005

Beautiful Mutants: Mark Mothersbaugh
Sept 1 – Oct 21, 2007

Original Photography by Andy Warhol
April 5 – June 15, 2008

Interruption: Joe Sorren
Nov 6 – Dec 31, 2010

Weapons of Mass Delusions: Laurie Lipton
May 1 – June 13, 2010

RIDE
Nov 5 – Dec 31, 2011

Choas Job: Restrain Order: George Herms
Sept 3 – Oct 16, 2011

Empire: Bale Creek Allen
May 7 – June 12, 2011

Suggestivism
Feb 5 – April 17, 2011

Cheers! And Focus: ISM: 10 Project
July 7 – Aug 12, 2012

Cross Cut: Aili Schmeltz
Nov 2 – Dec 31, 2013

Flora Kao: Wind House, Abode That A Breath Effaced
June 7 – Aug 10, 2014

Kenyatta Hinkle and Tyler Oyer: Exploring the Nowannago
Aug – Oct, 2016

Sarah Rafael Garcia: SanTana’s Fairy Tales
Feb – April, 2017

Jen Hofer and John Pluecker: AntenaMovil
June – January, 2017

Kim Zumpfe: outside the length of a room / OR / diving into the blue sun
May 5 – Sept 9, 2018

Rebecca Chernow: #superbloom
Nov 4, 2017 – January 14, 2018

McCallium and Tarry: Exchange
Mar 3 – May 15, 2018

Yevgeniya Mikhailik: A Slow Conflict
Feb 2 – April 14, 2019

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​Is the masterpiece finished?  I’m certain that it is not. After all, art is more than just a product, it is a process.  And I for one, can’t wait to see how this masterpiece evolves in the ongoing process of Arts Roundtables.              
​

​    ​The proposition was simple and straightforward: We would meet at my place around about 12:30, when the afternoon light was just right. And after a few minutes of catching up, we would sip tequila with beer chasers on my front porch, where I would ask Rogelio Reyes (a.k.a Roger Eyes R.) all about his four-month long endeavor to finish 6 medium-sized portraits of day laborers, live, during the coming art walks in downtown Santa Ana. Yes, simple: while I sit before a T.V. dinner table with my typewriter on it and conduct the interview, he paints a portrait of me with my whole arsenal of media at his fingertips—a face-to-face meeting, as it were, and a brutal peeling/picking of artistic minds.
     What else?
    The way I saw it, there was no real better or more fitting way to accomplish this task of outlining what he plans to do and just how he plans to do it. I had to catch the man in action, as he’ll be seen during the bleak icy first Saturdays of the months to come; see what makes him tick; see his style bleed upon paper, and hopefully by being one of the first to hear him speak about blue collar/hump-busters/hard-working/laborers, I could really get an understanding as to why he chose to paint those who truly make the world go round, for the first time in his artistic career.
    He’d seen them all his life; regarded them as something familiar yet too removed from the world that his art tended to gravitate toward, and wanted nothing more than to revolve around: his inner-thoughts, his own world.
    But after several brush-ups and lengthy conversations with assorted laborers at his last job, he felt inspired to make them come through in what he calls “Pop Impressionism.” He basically pops all the colors in a painting that you wouldn’t normally pop--as is my understanding. At first I thought he’d coined the style/technique, but he reassured me that wasn’t the case.
    And the portraits will be, aside from his Pop Impressionistic approach, straightforward, because he wants to make sure that the message is received by as many of those who see the portraits. And that message is that laborers are everywhere, and you more than likely have several in your very own lineage.
    
So, as he drew some starter shapes on the 12 x 10 newsprint paper he had up on an easel, using some black Higgin’s ink I had leftover, he went down the list of the types of laborers he’s (so far) considering.

1) Basket weavers of the Juaneño tribe, natives to the southern tip of the coast now known as Orange County: These, he said, will be drawn from old sepia photos he managed to get his hands on, and are to be interpreted by Roger in “oranges and yellows that pop.”

2) A Ranchero: Possibly tilling the soil of his fertile land, or one of a rancher humbly standing in front of Irvine’s meadowy green and grassy hills as they roll seemingly forever behind him, off into the distance. The concept for this portrait is also dependent on what old photo(s) he’s able to scrounge up and that inspire him.

3) A Business Owner: In red. Roger is considering hitting the pavement and searching for a living breathing subject that hits the spot for this one. He feels it just might be the right type of subject to sort of round off the whole collection: One for the little guy.
He tells me he’s not quite sure who or where to start asking. But he’s not worried. Plenty of time, still, he says.
He eyeballs my hair and adds a couple of more ink lines in a downward motion. I type: B. Owner…To Be Determined.

4) Orange pickers: a fairly obvious choice—but equally a must, considering where we are. Possibly a picture of him committing himself to the kind of work that was once rampant around here not too long ago; before the burnout strip malls and the heavy industrial goliaths arrived and shaved them off the map, roots and all.
Also from sepia photos. Roger plans on doing this portrait in blue.
Bold, I told him. He agreed.

5) Shop Owner(s?): Although similar to #3, he’s considering making it a portrait of a man and a woman who run the show of some small shop, along for the drudgery of earning an honest American buck together. Also T.B.D.

6) Female Machinist for Aerospace: This one is a little down the line so there’s not much to go off of yet, he tells me.

    This brings us to the first Saturday of May, the 4th, Spring of 2019: Artwalk. By this time Roger plans on having all six portraits finished and displayed at the promenade, by the fountain, in the heart of the Artist’s Village, finished and ready to then be hauled to the Fourth Element Gallery in DTSA, where they will more legitimately displayed as a collection of finished works with all the lights and the little signs beside each painting that give you the titles and a brief description of each one.

    But the money melon is the actual experience of standing beside Roger Eyes R., seeing him paint, but also, actually having a conversation with the man. If you find yourself walking toward the fountain on the promenade in the coming months, and you happen to spot Roger, wearing his paint-stained white lab coat, looking like a mix between John Lennon (circa ’75) and Roy Orbison in his heyday, you should talk to him. Tell him where you’ve been. Tell him about what in the hell was bothering you all day today, and why it was a mean gorilla’s hair up your ass. Tell him about your walk down Santa Ana’s dark alleys, feeling the bricks with your fingertips, taking a long drag, thinking that things (and truly believing) could really be a whole lot better than now. He will listen. He will paint. For all the right reasons.
    
Story by Eric Cocoletzi
Photo by Brian Feinzimer​

​Santa Ana Arts publishes articles reported and written by art journalists, and op-eds written by art institutions and practitioners in the fields we cover: visual and performing arts and design. If you have a submission that promotes your organization’s projects or services, please see the sponsored posts section below.   

Articles

​We welcome well-considered pitches from journalists around the city of Santa Ana for our shorter “daily” pieces (250 to 500 words) and our weekly features (around 800 to 1,000 words). When writing to us, you should note which you’re after.

Generally, we report on visual performing art and design throughout the city.  Writers who are the best fit for us have a deep understanding of the complexity of layers that make up Santa Ana's creative culture — including the coverage of issues in our community about the impacts of art in relation to poverty, immigration and affordable housing shortages along with other economic barriers that face our artist community as related to access and the freedom of open cultural expression within the arts — and all the tools needed to overcome these problems (whether effective or not). Our regular freelancers (we’re always looking to expand that roster) are committed to the extensive reporting required to explore these complex issues, and the ways one can successfully  translate how the arts can have to real human impacts within community.  

Our readers are people working daily to make their city more sustainable and more equitable, with regards to economics and infrastructure.  We’re committed to bringing them smart reads about the new ideas and effective people in the arts . We seek to highlight a diverse array of voices and perspectives within the city.

We’re looking for specific story pitches, not topic ideas. You must answer the following in your pitch: Why now? (In other words, what’s the news hook?) Why do Santa Ana Arts readers need to know about this? What’s the problem at the center? How has it been or can it be tackled? (You should have a general idea about possible solutions before pitching. “I want to explore … ” won’t get you an assignment.) How does it translate to a broader urban city context? How has it been covered by other media outlets, local or national? Please include potential sources in your pitch. 

We also are willing to review events, conferences, symposia and meetings related to the arts. We know that you certainly might get a lead while networking on a great story as well. Pitch us after you’ve attended and looked into the idea. We also like  to learn about local artist through artist Q&As.
Please send article pitches to info@downtown-inc.com.

Op-Eds

Op-eds should be topical and relevant to Santa Ana Art's which has the mission of inspiring positive change in cities through the arts and speak to how the arts can and does effect such change. Articles should express a strong, informed opinion. (If you’re writing about your organization or work that you do, please see sponsored posts below.)

All submissions must be original, and not published elsewhere. Maximum length is 1,200 words. We will not consider articles that have already been published, in any form, in print or online.
We don’t pay for op-eds or guarantee publication in advance of receiving a submission. To submit pieces for consideration, please email info@downtown-inc.com with “ Art Op-Ed Submission” in the subject line.

We review all emails with op-ed submissions, but we can’t respond to every one. If you haven’t heard back from us in four weeks, feel free to pitch elsewhere.
Sponsored PostsIf you’re with a for-profit business or nonprofit organization and have a art specific submission that promotes you and the work that you do, you can find rates and details about placing a sponsored post by emailing info@downtown-inc.com.