Ventura County Art Events, Inc. hosted the Ventura Art and Street Painting Festival at the Ventura Harbor. The event showcased local artists’ work through booths and street chalk demonstrations that were free to the public.

Artists and volunteers showed up as early as 7 a.m. to start setting up on Sept. 11 and 12. During this time, chalk artists would work on their pieces while other artists set up their booths showcasing their art. The event went from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Ventura Art and Street Painting Festival Executive Director Barbara Hinton explained the process of gathering artists to participate in the festival.

“I put out a call to artists, and then they respond and sign up to participate in the festival,” Hinton said. “I am grateful that we were able to hold the event after having to cancel in 2020.”

26 chalk artists drew along the edges of the booths and on the sidewalk of the pier. Their murals all had their unique touches. As a whole, the art lit up the pier with conversations and teachable moments where artists would demonstrate the techniques they used.

Chalk Artist Clif Gold told his story of how he persevered through the cloudy weather over the weekend by coming early.

“I wanted to get as much done as possible before the sun starts coming out because I got really really red yesterday,” shared Gold. “It was hard to tell if it was the chalk or if it was a sunburn… It’s fine. It’s nice to be out.”

Booths consisted of many local artists who showcased their art for festival participants to buy and view. Lanier Bradberry sold her non-linear art that took three-dimensional objects to two-dimensional loose lines. Eric and Tami Chandler from ArtNanigans sold pieces ranging from canvases to resin pyramids. Teacher Gail Weissman displayed painted art along with drypoint needle felting figures.

Ceramic artist Elen Wolstadter created pieces such as mugs, soap holders and trays. Wolstadter talked about her journey as an artist.

“Ceramic art is very therapeutic as you get older and get stressed out with life,” Wolstadter explained. “I used to be a business person and I was very stressed out, so someone said to take a pottery class. I started doing it as a hobby, then I sold the business that I had. I had a back house and we turned it into a studio and I started teaching. Never give up, you can always reinvent yourself at any part of your life.”

Profits were given to two charities: Food Share and the Boys and Girls Club of Ventura. Food Share had a booth where participates and attendees could donate and talk about their success in creating enough stock in their warehouses to feed people reaching out to the organization. Boys and Girls Club fundraised by selling squares of the street where participants could use chalk.

Visit Food Share and Boys and Girls Club to learn more about the supported charities, and visit the Ventura Art and Street Art Festival webpage to see more art from local artists.