It’s a bird!   It’s a plane!  It’s Art!   Wandering around the historic Santa Monica Airport, you could easily encounter as many original artworks as airplanes.  Douglas Aircraft once built entire fleets of DC3’s where artists are now hard at work creating paintings and sculptures that will make your imagination soar.  To showcase this cultural hub and all its assets, the City’s Cultural Affairs Division and the Santa Monica Airport will sponsor the second annual Santa Monica Airport Art Walk on March 29th, 2008 from 1:00 – 5:00pm.

Airport Avenue between Bundy Drive and Walgrove Avenue (23rd Street if you are coming from Santa Monica) is home to numerous private artist studios, the Santa Monica Art Studios complex, the Sherry Frumkin and Arena One galleries, the Santa Monica College Ceramic Studios and Art Mentor Program, and the Ruskin Group Theatre.  All of which will be open to visitors during the Art Walk providing a unique opportunity to view the current work of over 60 local artists and explore the spaces where their imaginations take flight.

At the Santa Monica College Ceramic Studios guests can get a close look at the creation of ceramic artworks. Students will be on-site demonstrating the creative process from molding the clay through baking and glazing the finished designs.  Students from the Art Mentor Program will have their work on display in the college facility along with a special sale of student ceramic and glass works.

Santa Monica Art Studios and the more than thirty artists working there will be opening their doors to the public during the Airport Art Walk.  You’ll also find the Airport’s two highly innovative galleries, The Sherry Frumkin Gallery and Arena One, in this converted airplane hangar.

Tucked away into other nooks and crannies of the Airport and along the side of Barker Hangar (originally built by Bill Lear of Lear Jet fame), visitors will find numerous individual artist studios.  These artists include some of the most stimulating established artists of today such as Meg Cranston, Fielden Harper, Renee Petropoulis and Ellwood T. Risk as well many more emerging artists whose works can be found in professional galleries throughout Southern California.  And while the walk is not an art sale, many of the artists participating will have works for sale.

Amidst the artist studios and light industry of the Airport, the Ruskin Group Theater seems an almost unlikely tenant.  However this talented young company manages to present daring new theatre on a regular basis - despite the occasional overhead drone of landings and take-offs.    The theatre will perform highlights from its popular trademark monthly offering L.A. Café Plays at 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Admission is free.  The Café Plays, which have won praise from audiences and the press alike, are unusual because the short pieces of theater go from concept to execution in just 10 1/2 hours.

The City’s Cultural Affairs Division and the Santa Monica Airport, as well as all the venues participating, invite you to discover this hidden cultural resource and its unique creative atmosphere. For additional information on this event, please call the Cultural Affairs Division at 310/458.8350.

Santa Monica Airport Art Walk

Saturday, March 29, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Santa Monica Airport - Airport Drive between Walgrove and Bundy