Spring Ahead Weekend

This past weekend was jam packed with all sorts of good things to do ... but it being 80 at the beach kind of trumped all the other stuff. So hot and gorgeous, it was all I had to do to leave the actual sand ... but I did ultimately manage to hit some other spots.

Like Bergamot Station for the Fault Line opening for my friend Gary Palmer's work at Robert Berman Gallery. Palmer is a longtime Venice dweller, and one of the best Irishmen around. He's working on creating a big, cool chalk festival for Venice to call its own. When it happens, people will be able to have their minds blown in the streets, like they did at the gallery Saturday night. Check out his abyss in the middle of the floor ...

I have no idea how he does that, but I'm glad he does. (*Note - that piece was done along an actual fault line crack in the gallery. Food for thought.) It was a more fun and interactive opening than usual ... clearly. Palmer shared the space with John Valadez, whose California looking pieces were the big hit of his Como Fregas/What Now show. Really great stuff all over.

Then it was across town to the Subliminal Projects space to see the Paper Cut show.

The night featured incredible work (all cut from paper in some way) by Adam Feibelman, Aurel Rubbish, Bovey Lee, Gregory Euclide, Nicola Lopez, and Swoon. One piece was cooler than the next.

Shepard Fairy was there to hold court and spin tunes, along with Benjamin Lee Ritchie Handler and DJ Babydonut.

The space was packed with scenesters, in a great turnout for a Saturday night with a lot of stuff going on.

By then it was just enough time to skedaddle over to Hotel Cafe to see our friend Matt Ellis bring it with his excellent backing band to celebrate the release of his new video for Thank You, Los Angeles, and just to rock out with friends.

Which we did. Ellis's band Saturday featured special guest drummer, Andy Clockwise, who was extra feeling it, adding pizzazz to his drum riffs, and further riling us all up. I always love to watch Tim Walker play his pedal steel, and this night he was so good that I felt like going home and learning that thing on YouTube. Stay tuned.

Ellis and his wife, Vavine sang together for my favorite "Seven Years At Sea", and it was a gorgeous testament to love, friendship, and sticking with something good. Glancing around at a whole slew of my friends moving and shaking together ... it just felt good.

As did sleeping in the next day on the spring ahead clock day, and spending the day feeling awesome to be a woman for International Women's Day (which is kind of dumb to even have, but a fine reason to celebrate us, I guess. Every day.) with more of that love, friendship and sticking with something good.

So we're back to Monday. Back to work, probably feeling kind of beat, but happily so, because you know that when you leave this evening, it will still be light out! A spring will automatically come to your step, just because now you know that those long Summer nights are coming up ... and that it's all been worth it.

We're almost there ...


Faultline is up at Bergamot through March 21st.

Paper Cut is up at Subliminal Projects through April 11th.

The 4th Annual Surf And Skate Auction For Venice Family Clinic - A Very Favorite Event

The Fourth Annual Surf and Skate Auction for the Venice Family Clinic was held last night at the Robert Berman Gallery at Bergamot Station. It is one of my very favorite local events of the year, so cool and creative, and all for the very worthwhile cause of helping to give medical care to our Venice families that need help.

 It was a gorgeous, balmy night in Santa Monica, so there was a great turn-out of people, all in that endless summer kind of mode. The indigo skies and the sliver of a silver moon set the scene for good times and generous hearts.

Artists, skaters, surfers, and artist/skaters/surfers donated their works of art on surfboards and skate decks, and one was cooler than the next.

My brother, Paul Gronner, had a skate deck in the auction, and it was fun to hear him talk about his art with some collectors, explaining his methods and making new friends. It was wonderful to see old friends too, like contributing artists Neil Carver and Jennifer Wolf (and their fresh boards).

Elwood "Woody" Risk had a surfboard and a skate deck in the auction, and I was happy to finally meet him in person after admiring his work for some time.

There were boards from everyone from Tesla Motors to Tony Hawk ... though the art on the pro decks was from the factory, and just had autographs as their original art. Cool still, but cooler if those guys really did some original art ... and it would fetch more funds for the clinic. None of those boards had any bids on them by the time I left, so ... get creative, Pros!

Lots of the works were great because they were so OF the area ... like the Dogtown and Santa Monica Airlines ones ...

Like the ones featuring beach scenes and local sights ...

Even though these are all meant for the walls, not the water.

As the sun set, it got more packed, inside and out. It was boiling hot in the gallery, so you had to take periodic breaks to get fresh air and/or a cold beer. Folks mingled around, artists and skaters like Ed Moses and Jeff Ho were checking out the scene, where you could ham it up for a photo booth or get trucker hats screen-printed by Volcom.

There is a lot of imagination at play with these works, like the deck covered in foliage from Big Red Sun, next to an image of Gene Simmons shredding a bowl in the full Kiss get-up (probably photo-shopped).

In my own bidding, I was torn between the very cool (and close to my heart) Venice Beach one by Jeffrey Manpearl that he somehow cut out of steel ...

... and the one I wound up winning, that I'm so thrilled about, the beautiful deck by Sephira Salazar. She photographed these indigenous people in Peru that gather the sacred water (I need to hear the story again ...) and painted brightly around it, and then there's a little shelf in the front for a candle. I cannot wait to hang this lovely piece in my house and love it every day, even more so knowing that it helped a little bit to help someone out.

The surfboards were all gorgeous, and people were lining up to be photographed next to them all evening long.

It was one of those nights when there are just too many things going on at once, and I had to cut out of there before the band played or the auction and raffle ended. It wasn't easy to get out of there, though, because every time you turned around, you saw another cool person you hadn't seen in a while and had to catch up quick. That's what I like so much about this event every year, it's all very community-minded, and everyone's cool.

Perhaps none cooler than these two little dudes, looking at the art and looking out for each other.

The next generation of skater, surfers and art lovers taking it all in ... you could almost see their own ideas formulating under their little caps. I can't wait to bid on what they come up with at maybe the 24th Annual Surf and Skate Auction ...

Put this great opening on your seasonal list of things to do, it never disappoints, and really helps the Venice Family Clinic a lot. And until next year's auction comes around ... Surf, skate and make art!

Venice Family Clinic Surf and Skate Silent Auction Fun

Last night was the Surf and Skate Silent Auction at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica. It seemed like the whole surf and skate community of the state turned out, as packed as it was in there for the party. Hot. Awesome.

A sister/brother event to the Venice Art Walk, the Surf and Skate Auction also benefits the Venice Family Clinic, so everyone was on board - pun intended.

Some of the very best art around can be found on skate decks, as we all know, but the artists involved in this auction took it a step further in many cases, building up and off the decks, or making cool things out of the decks. I wanted pretty much every piece in the show ... some more than others.

It was a lot to take in, especially when there were so many great people to see and catch up with. Many of the artists were present and mingling, sharing stories of surf and skate and art.

In other words, a perfect Southern California evening, considering wine and IPAs were also flowing freely.

The sunset outside threatened to overshadow the art inside, but it faded soon enough.

There were designs by Tesla engineering students. There were surfboards painted by father/son artists Ed and Andy Moses.

There was a non-surf-able board made out of concrete by Laddie John Dill.

Husband/wife artists Neil Carver and Jennifer Wolf had their board creations hung side by side, beautifully.

Venice artist Sephira Salazar had her cool chalk and photo board hung right up there with the Hosois and Hawks.

Tanja Skala made a first aid kit out of a board, which made me laugh and think about all the cuts and scrapes I helped tend to when we had a half pipe in my backyard growing up. Clever.

Some boards lit up, and some were so deconstructed you could barely tell that they had been boards to begin with. Love it.

There was political commentary, humor, sexiness, and even plants flowing off the board by Big Red Sun.

Pro skaters, surfers, and legends from both worlds talked shop and clinked bottles, anticipating their next sessions together. Happily.

The centerpiece (and poster) for the event was the classic Endless Summer design by John Van Hamersveld, who I hung out and chatted with, so that he could know that his pink and orange poster adorned the bedroom wall of my Minnesota youth, and kept me going through the dark winters, knowing I'd someday be living out here. He gets told that a lot.

As people hustled to place their bids before the auction closed, there was already talk about next year's auction. Having seen how great it is for this work and these communities to come together (for GOOD!) to show off their creativity, everyone wanted to be a part of it next time. A true success, especially for the families that will be helped by the care given at the Venice Family Clinic.

The excellent time had at the fantastic auction was only improved upon by a respite at Paco's Tacos, followed by the badassness of Jason Heath and The Greedy Souls at the Cinema Bar.

As it begins to wind down, we can be happy that here, we really do get to inhabit an Endless Summer ...