ARTS & THEATRE | Provided by Kathleen Kaiser

Winning artists announced in the Jackson Pollock Art Challenge

Works are featured each week during production of “Bakersfield Mist” at the Ojai Art Center Theater.

(Ojai, CA – May 16, 2018). “Bakersfield Mist,” currently playing weekends through May 27 at the Ojai Art Center, has opened to the visual artist community by using a different piece of artwork each week. The play is about a suspected Jackson Pollock painting found in a thrift shop and now the third character in this raucous 90-minute tour de force between Maude (Lee Ann Manley) and Lionel (Paul Sulzman).

To create this third character, director Susan Kelejian reached out to the arts community in the Ojai region with a competition for the best “Pollock.” A four-judge professional artists panel selected four winners and two honorable mentions. Each weekend, one of the winners is used as the “Pollock” and after the show, the audience is invited to talk back to the painting’s creator. These have become lively sessions, opening the discussion into the truth of art, the value of art, and an underlining theme of the play, the value of people.

“This has turned into a dynamic exchange,” says Kelejian, who moderates each evening. “First, people are so surprised by the play, its quick wit, rapid-fire dialogue, surprising laughs and more. But they are also affected by the themes of not only the value of a painting and how who has the right to decide, but the value of a person just because they aren’t like you. I took on this play because it was about truth. Now joining the acting and visual arts elements of Ojai together, ‘Bakersfield Mist’ reflects a wider meaning to the community.”

Paintings of adult winners Vonder Gray from Ventura (May 4-6) and Kenny Dahle of Ojai (May 11-13) have already been featured in the play and are now on the theater walls. The remaining two winners are:
May 18-20   Gary Best from Ventura (will not be in attendance Saturday)
May 25-27    Clay White from Ojai
Honorable mentions to Steve Grumette and Gayle Childress

Along with the adult artists competition, there were 21 entries from Ojai students ages 11 – 17. The student winners were rewarded following the Mother’s Day matinee and are:

• First place winner of $150 cash prize, $25 gift cert at Ojai Creates is Esmerelda Velasquez
• Second place winner of $75 cash prize, $25 gift cert at Ojai Creates is
• Third place winner of $25 cash prize eachwas a tie with
• Best Thomas Fire Representation (split winnings) :$50 cash prize each

All of the artwork is on display in the theater through the end of the play. A silent auction is underway for each piece. The proceeds will be shared between the theater and the artist.

The public is invited to view the painting and place bids before and after each performance. Tickets are available online at www.OjaiACT.org or can be reserved by calling 805-640-8797.