At this Wednesday’s Hearts for the Arts Benefit Event (6pm-9pm at Alex Bult Gallery) artists, community leaders, and Sacramento’s finest convene to celebrate and raise funds for Any Given Child Sacramento. This initiative, spearheaded by For Arts’ Sake, strives to ensure that art experiences are accessible to every child in grades K-8. As a part of this fun, alternative event you can treat your Valentine to a night like no other, all while supporting a great cause and enjoying an evening of art, music, cocktails, and refreshments. Esteemed auctioneer David Sobon will auction off “heart-works” donated donated by over 24 local artists, including Raphael Delgado, Shane Grammer, and Micah Cr

Surrounded by midtown's most famous venues including Club 21, Mezkal and Cam's Salon and Spa on 21st Street sits a new art gallery open to the public.  Alex Bult, an 18-year-old entrepreneur, opened this gallery for the first time on November 12, coinciding with midtown's Second Saturday event.  He is perhaps one of the youngest gallery owners that Sacramento has seen but is no foreigner to the world of art.  "I've been interested in art for about four years," Alex Bult says. " I've been around art my whole life and have wanted to open a gallery since I was 16." Although Alex Bult's father, Matt Bult, and his grandfather, Wayne Thiebaud, are both artists, this young gallery owner is no

Public Agency Lawsuit to Seize $21,000 Home from Rightful Purchaser near Sacramento, California... In the rustic, antique wood-built town of Locke, California, founded from 1912 to 1920s, the Locke Management Association (LMA), a thirteen (13) member board put in place in 2003 to maintain, preserve and manage the town is prioritizing its limited $60,000 operating budget to attempt to undo a recent property purchase that occurred. The buyer, Martha Esch, struck a deal to purchase one of the town’s dilapidated properties with seller, Dona LaBlanc for a $21,000 purchase price. The LMA claims both women circumvented the agency’s rules in order to complete the sale. The property was previously

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission is developing a new fundraising strategy to help offset continued cuts in public funding that have slashed the agency's primary financial sources by 70 percent in the last four years. The strategy includes an expanded arts public service campaign, a donors' "Walk of Fame" on K Street Mall and new types of fundraisers, such as one involving City Council members and a celebrated local restaurateur. As of Friday, public funding for the joint city-county agency will be just under $900,000 for fiscal year 2011/2012 – down from $2.6 million each year in July 2008 and 2007. Last year's public funding totaled $1.04 million. That doesn't include money f

An alley art project is growing in Midtown. Three new pieces featuring the Sacramento skyline and a desert scene were installed on an alley off K Street within the last two weeks.  Many people are already stumbling on this cache of alley art. By early June, residents will be able to take walking tours of this growing outdoor gallery, thanks to tour maps being printed and posted online as part of the Midtown Alley Project (MAP) led by artists and an art-loving property owner. "The whole thought is to take these alleys back, make them more aesthetically pleasing and also provide points of interest," said Gallery 2110 owner Clare Bailey, a muralist and fine artist who started the alley art

Saturday, VIBE organization will be organizing and hosting a cake-decorating contest where local bakeries will showcase their designs in Midtown for the Second Saturday Art Walk. Cake Craze is a fundraiser and all proceeds will benefit the VIBE Foundation and the new teen center that is being built. VIBE is a youth organization which was founded in 2007 and officially became a nonprofit organization about a year ago. “The VIBE Youth Board was brainstorming ideas and came up with the Cake Craze contest,” said VIBE spokeswoman Mylesha Ramey. Julia Hildago, chairwoman of VIBE, said this is the first time we’ve done an event like this and we’re very excited. The youth organization is made

Artists have spent the last few nights preparing Sol Collective for an anniversary show Friday. But they're not installing framed paintings and sculptures. Sacramento's very own activist art collective is celebrating six years by becoming art. Show organizer Shaun Turner, a 29-year-old muralist, has brought together at least 19 artists from Sacramento, the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Colombia, by way of New York, to create art on the interior walls and ceilings of the building at 2574 21st St. The big, bold pieces are the artists' way of giving back to a community organization that has given so much to so many of them, said Turner and local artist Gabriel Romo, who also goes by the name 2

The duo behind Bows & Arrows is reinventing the business in a new space devoted to nurturing local artists. In spring, artists Olivia Coelho and Trisha Rhomberg plan to open a new concept rooted in the vintage clothing store they've operated in Midtown for three years.  Coelho and Rhomberg, who are both clothing designers, will continue to sell vintage and repurposed clothing at the new space at 1815 19th St. But Bows & Arrows' new location will also be a place for the creative class to eat, drink, sell art and be exposed to other talent.  "We're the poorest philanthropists you'll ever meet," Coelho said.  Coelho's parents bought the building in June. Coelho and Rhomberg will lease it

Mayor Kevin Johnson formally introduced Deborah Edward as the new project manager for his “For Art’s Sake” initiative at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. After reviewing 250 resumes and conducting 18 interviews, Johnson said Edward was the best candidate to implement the three main goals of the initiative -- strengthen Sacramento’s cultural infrastructure, improve access to the arts and arts education, and invest in creative talent. Edward’s qualifications for the position are evident in her involvement as co-founder and executive director of the Austin Children’s Museum, as well as her consultation experience with museums in California, the Czech Republic, Russia and Texas in reg

SACRAMENTO – Mayor Kevin Johnson insists Sacramento’s popular Second Saturday art walk is alive and well, and this month includes a different kind of gallery to tour: a medical building. “For anyone who thinks Second Saturday is dead, it’s not,” the mayor said during a press conference Tuesday for the grand opening of the Sutter Capitol Pavilion at 2725 Capitol Ave. “Sutter is opening up its new medical facility to the public for Second Saturday in order to showcase its art installation and the local artists who created the pieces.” The public open house is billed as “Art & Medicine” and will feature tours of the artwork installed throughout the medical office building and outpatient ser

The Sacramento Art Complex has gotten a major makeover. New gallery owner Clare Bailey has transformed the artists' building at 2110 K St. since taking over the master lease with building owner Thomas A. Roth in May. The colorful and eclectic two-story structure, which has always been packed for Second Saturday Art Walks, was reworked to draw more people into the many smaller studios at the heart of the complex. The building now has a sophisticated new look featuring a 1,200-square-foot anchor gallery, a parking lot that doubles as an art courtyard and an alley patio with a giant metal peacock sculpture. Resident artists like sculptor Gary "Garley" Dudley and photographer Alister Oliver

 Whimsical ceramic characters that wink as you walk by, domestic and exotic animals who allow you to pet them, a fairy who paints a glittering swan on your face, and musicians whose songs are brand new each time they perform. These are only some of the imaginative artists and activities that await kids and adults at the 4th Annual CurtisFest on Saturday, September 11th. Presented by the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association (SCNA), Curtis Fest will be held from 10am until 4pm in Curtis Park, an eighteen-acre parcel of ground surrounded by quaint bungalows and shaded by heritage trees. CurtisFest was established in 2007 to give local artists a venue at which to exhibit and sell their work

Sidewalk chalk isn’t just for kids, anymore. This Labor Day weekend, Sacramentans can get in touch with their inner child at the 20th annual “Chalk it Up! to Sacramento” chalk art festival in Fremont Park. Saturday through Monday, 200 professional artists will be on their hands and knees, creating two-by-four masterpieces on the sidewalk. Non-professionals can purchase their own squares for $10, which includes a box of chalk. A communal space with communal chalk on the interior of the park will also be available for kids and adults alike to chalk it up. Darby Flynn, president of Chalk it Up! said this type of event is special to Sacramento. “We want to make sure that our arts remain vi

The Sacramento Social Media Club (SMCSac) held another successful panel and networking event last week, this time focusing on “The Art of Social Media."  Four area artists--all working in different media--and an artist’s representative discussed their uses of social media platforms to further their art and their careers. Participating were Jen Stewart of Jen Stewart Photography; Eben Burgoon, co-creator of Eben07 webcomic; Marianne Bland, visual artist and manager of SactoMetro Etsy Street Team; Veronica Delgado, owner of Vera Icon PR; and Jeff Musser, visual artist and blogger. The evening began and ended with active networking sessions, fostered by a selection of artisan pizza (from Hot

Downtown is home to the region’s oldest and most recognized public art. From sculpture to large-scale murals, these works enhance public space and foster Sacramento’s identity as an arts-friendly city. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) recently announced an opportunity for local artists to participate in a temporary public art exhibit of original paintings and drawings, titled K Street: The moment is NOW, that celebrates this pivotal moment in Downtown Sacramento’s revitalization efforts, in a medium befitting the subject – street banners. Artists are invited to visually express their distinct interpretation of K Street’s rich history as a vaudeville and entertainment hotspot or lo

Old Sacramento in the fall would be a little more lifeless without its scarecrows. Every year for at least a decade, the scarecrows have turned up on balconies, wooden sidewalks and a spooky-looking park to enchant visitors. But the scarecrows fell apart as they grew older. Business owners have become reluctant to adopt them for storefronts in recent years. So six Sacramento artists -- most who live in the grid -- were recruited to breathe new life (death?) into more than two dozen scarecrows in time for Halloween. Melissa Martinez, the Old Sacramento Business Association's new leader, is playing up Halloween in the business district this year to draw more visitors and shoppers. "This

Their backgrounds are as different as their ages but the love for their art consumes them. “When I first cut into stone something happened to me,” says 81-year-old Tony Cano. “I know it’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” Cano grew up in San Francisco, was raised primarily by his grandmother. Down the street from his grandmothher’s house lived a five foot tall, Italian-born, sculpting giant Beniamino “Bene” Benvenuto Bufano who handed Tony his first piece of clay. “I watched Bene, I learned from him but then I rebelled,” says Cano. Tony turned his back on his art in his late teens. Over the years he thought of sculpting but he had his family, his job, a busy life. He was a truck driver f

Dinner for the Arts will kick-off on June 30th at 7:00 pm on the patio at Head Hunters. Join host and entertainer Courtney Parks and special guests ICUP Comedy Troupe, Hot Spot Street Team Belly Dancers and featured vocalists. The event will also feature live art demonstrations. Dinner for the Arts is an event that will give local arts organizations the opportunity to promote their productions or events and reach out to new audiences. The event strives to put the spotlight on local arts organizations and artists and to promote the arts in Sacramento. There is no cost for the event but reservations are required.  Reservations are limited to 50 people. Featured drinks include the Judy Garl

It was a veritable who's who of Sacramento artists, arts organizations and art supporters inside KVIE Public Television's offices Friday morning. Nearly 100 invitees gathered to listen to Mayor Kevin Johnson's remarks in a meeting entitled "For Art's Sake." "Performing arts, visual arts and literary arts -- we need all three to reach the potential of what Sacramento can be," Johnson said in his speech. "Our commitment: We are going to promote the arts in a real way." The mayor stressed that the arts community doesn't just use city money, it creates revenue for the city. Therefore, the relationship is a reciprocal one. He then introduced Sharon Gerber, founder of arts and event planning

Hoping to meet more people and bring them to our office as well as support social media, we at The Sacramento Press will be holding our first Tweetup this Thursday, May 28, from 6 - 8 p.m. We were very lucky to team up with Ricardo Robles, from Capsity Offices, Ronnie Ledesma, from Sacramento Social Media Club and Darby Flynn, from Chalk it Up! to connect with all sorts of artists and local businesses. Thursday evening will be filled with belly dancing from Red Tent Belly Dance, performance art from Phoenix Gallery, wine tasting from MAS Wine and James David Cellars, break dancing from Capitol Roots Dance Studio, chalk drawing from Chalk it Up! artists, a presentation from the Sacramento