This weekend doors typically closed to the public will open to create opportunities for those in need of health care. The Venice Art Walk events, “The Original Venice Experience,” are taking place May 20 through May 22 to benefit the Venice Family Clinic, an organization devoted to providing free health care for close to 25,000 patients throughout nine sites in the Venice and Santa Monica area.
The Venice Family Clinic was founded in 1970 by doctors Phillip Rossman and Mayer B. Davidson. It is now the largest free clinic in the U.S., serving low-income patients who are without insurance. More than 2,000 volunteers and physicians contribute their efforts to the clinic at a value that is estimated at $2 million annually.
Proceeds from this weekend’s events will all go to help the clinic. The first of these is the Art Walk Skate and Surf Auction, which takes place May 20 from 6 to 10 p.m. at Track 16 of Bergamot Station. The surf auction is a new event this year, and it is free and open to the public. Reused, recycled and recreated skate and surfboards by more than 50 artists will be auctioned. Track 16 is located at 2525 Michigan Avenue.
May 21 kicks off the architecture tour and silent auction preview. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. the West L.A. portion of the architecture tours will take place, featuring flats north of Olympic Boulevard to the hills north of Sunset Boulevard. The tour will be led by architecture experts and includes a contemporary house by architect William Hefner and a steel house by architect Barton Myers that he has described as an “elegant warehouse,” created in the postwar Case Study Houses tradition. Tickets are $175 and include a box lunch and admission to Sunday’s art walk and auctions.
The remaining architecture tours are May 21 from noon to 4 p.m. in the Appleton Block in Venice, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 22 in the water and tree-lined streets of Venice within walking distance of the art walk’s artist studios. Tickets for each of these tours are $125 and include admission to Sunday’s art walk and auctions.
The silent art auction items can be previewed from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Westminster School. Admission is free and open to the public. At 10 the following morning the actual art walk and auctions will open, and continue until 6 p.m. Registration is also at the Westminster School, and tickets are $50. The art walk studios open at 11 a.m. and close at 4 p.m.
This year, 15 new artists have agreed to open their studios, including sculptors Alex Andre and Stephen Glassman, painters Judy Nimtz and Michael Webber, and glass blower John Mooney. New special exhibits will also be on view.
New to the 2011 walk is a community fair that will take place on the green at Westminster School and will feature music, food, coffee, and Art Within Reach, a limited edition print store showcasing 14 up-and-coming artists’ digital ink jet prints at affordable prices. A gallery of home items, Artful Living, will also be available at the fair. The community fair is free and open to the public.
Tickets can be purchased online at theveniceartwalk.org or by phone at 310.392.9255. Westminster School is located at 1010 Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
