In this episode of the VC Social podcast, three friends, Raya, Cristian, and Devonte, share music with each other, spotlighting artists with under 500,000 monthly listeners. From musicians in the community to musicians worldwide, there is so much undiscovered talent and, together, they are here to share it with you. Hopefully, you can find some new music and new favorite artists over the next 45 minutes.
Interested in the songs played? Here is the playlist, which is not in order of discussion, but it’s all there for your listening enjoyment!
If you want to see more from this trio, you can check out their socials!
The Ventura College Art Department with Sharla Fell as Chair, continues to evolve, expand and launch more opportunities for Art students. With the support and enthusiasm of Philosophy Professor Ron Mules, Sharla and her team of professionals in the department and supportive administration have an announcement.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Ventura College, history and inclusivity of its students, we are proud to announce a collaborative large scale Mural Project! This 20’ x 16’ painted exterior mural on the New Media wall will enhance our campus environment. The Art department is now calling on local Artists to beautify the campus by Designing a Mural!
A non-profit mural painting company,muralism.org, will be painting the large work of art with the help of our Ventura College students in fall 2024. To oversee the mural process, there will be a new class offered here as well. Mural Painting: History and Practice, ART V21. There are no prerequisites for this Mural class but any of the the following are recommended prep: ART V11A, ART V13A, ART V15A and V16A.
“This is something for everyone to enjoy, from the Art Department, that will be enjoyed for many years.” said Chair Sharla Fell.
Furthermore, this involves an AWARD of 3,000 for the Best Design!
This is a unique opportunity for Ventura County residents, students and faculty. Eligible artists must reside in Ventura County. Please join us as we participate as a local community in sharing creative visions. It’s time for a Call for Entries NOW! Get creative, design and submit your vibrant, diverse, thought provoking imagery/artwork. Entries are due by August 2nd, 2024 ~ 5:00pm
Please Email your submissions to: VCSocialSci@vcccd.edu Include your full name and cell phone.
Submission Details
File size – No larger 20mb.
Format – JPeg or PDF
Include short description of the artwork and how it meets the Mural Details section
Artists must be residing in Ventura County
Mural Details
Mural must include elements celebrating:
Ventura College and its History
Ventura Colleges 100th Anniversary
Diversity and inclusivity of our students
Projects Specs
Location: Ventura College New Media Gallery ~ Exterior Wall
Want a relaxing activity to do while drinking mimosas by a harbor? This upcoming event will be just that. I found out about this event through the visit Ventura CA website. They have lots of different events and other things to do in Ventura. If you are ever wanting to go out and find something to do in Ventura that site is a good place to start.
This event will show you a step-by-step process on how to create a beaded wire wrapped bird cage. It’s meant to be a decretive piece for your garden or even your room. It will be held in Ventura on April 26th from 1pm to 3pm. The entry will cost $35 per person and everything will be supplied. It’ll be a nice way to relax because on top of it being by a harbor they will also have complimentary mimosas.
For the location or more information about the event(s) click on the link(s) below.
Image depicts the market’s March event linked from dnfmarket
From nostalgic toys to hip hop dancing, the Dated ‘N Faded night market is not your typical pop-up event. Vendors, performers, and attendees from and around Ventura County come with eagerness looking for the next big thing. Dated ‘N Faded is a free night market open to all ages and is hosted every 3 months at Ventura’s Topa Topa Brewing Co. With about 40 vendors of all sorts, this night market builds its own cultural curation through live entertainment, fashion, music, food, drinks, and more!
Dated ‘N Faded Origins
Established in 2023 and soon approaching their one year anniversary, Dated ‘N Faded is more than just a night market. It is where one brand brings three friends closer together to serve Ventura County, all starting with the South-Oxnard based brand, Retour. Retour is a streetwear clothing brand inspired by Oxnard culture founded by clothing designer Ryan Yere, and co-founders Byron Bucao, and Steve Rivera, all of whom share the same vision for the brand: “Our story, through product, vintage curation”. This mission statement is extended onto the Dated ‘N Faded market, as Ryan Yere described during his time on the Capsul Talk podcast. Retour embodies the story of the city of Oxnard and its culture, bringing forward the talent in the community and strives to carry that purpose with Dated ‘N Faded. While all the creators are multi-hyphenates, this market heavily reflects the creators’ main influences: Ryan in clothing design, Steve in vintage clothing, and Byron in choreography and photography. They venture to showcase the community’s creativity by opening up this platform in collaboration with local talent.
The Experience
After having attended their fourth event, I can confidently say that talent from the Ventura County community reflects identity through their craft. Every event hosted comes with its own unique theme, and coincides with the Retour merch drops posted on their main Instagram accounts dnfmarket and retourco. The announcement of this recent event, which took place on March 16, 2024, featured a Chicano-esque theme along with the market’s reappearing astronaut figure. (see above image)
Navigating through the bustling crowd during the live stream on vcsocialbrand‘s Instagram account, I saw both the revival of old trends and timeless fashion. One of my favorite booths I came across was a ‘90’s/00’s photo-op with airbrushed backdrops, hosted by pdogs00snaps, showcasing this trend that is resurgent, predominantly within the Latino community.
Chiquesfc had a creative storefront display (in collaborations with serhumano.ig and apartworldwide), featuring day-to-day products found in Latino households, to represent a part of their clothing brand De un Campo a Otro. The other part is represented through their clothing designs which highlight the story of hardworking field workers from Oxnard. The word “Chiques” in the brand name refers to an Oxnard nickname coming from the city’s first established neighborhood, La Colonia. As a connection to the mexican community, “Chiques” is a term that has been recoined from being a gang related label to a positive form of identity in which Pacifica High School teacher Cesar Calderon told the VC Star journalist Wendy Leung, “Chiques means Oxnard […] it means that fighting spirit of you making it out and proving them wrong.” All this comes together as a form of empowerment where providing representation for farm workers carries that identity of a fighter who pushes through with resilience.
Of course, we also saw the partnership between the co-founder’s businesses, Retour and Stevescloset99 as they shared the same booth. Besides sharing the same brand vision, story through product, co-founders Ryan and Byron collaborated with Capsul Talk to host a Q&A panel where selected local business owners and creatives got to interact and share answers to the public’s questions.
Multiple booths displayed their best curated streetwear, vintage apparel, jewelry, toothgems, tattoos, dance and music performances, food, drinks, and much more than I could describe here in this blog. Thanks to the teams at Topa Topa Brewing Co., Retour and Dated ‘N Faded who support the mission of providing a platform for cultural curation and storytelling in collaboration with local creatives and small businesses, curating a space for all. If you’ve made it this far into the blog, follow dnfmarket on Instagram, where you can follow along to hear more about their first upcoming anniversary event in May 2024, and connect with the rest of the previous vendors, with their own resilient stories to share.
The art shown above is the work of Sunimari Madrigal, a student at Ventura College. The art was made for her small business called The Moon’s Canvas. The art was made on a canvas about 13×9, made up of different art mediums such as paint, gouache, paint markers, and acrylic paint as well. The inspiration for this piece came from the beauty of the land we are lucky to have on Earth and also the beauty of the stars in the Universe.
Below is a video of her showing us how she created their piece.
In my first blogpost for VCSocial I wrote about the future of Ventura College’s New Media Gallery. It was my vantage point looking through the windows at a gallery that had weathered the global pandemic essentially by shutting down. In this post, I get the chance to share with you the insight of Cara Lasell Bonewitz, the artist whose work hung in the gallery, in the shadows, for over a year.
Cara speaking to Ventura College students about her process in creating Current in the Shadows. Photo by Gallery Director Jesse Groves.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak with Cara one on one in the gallery that has now opened its doors to the public. She was preparing to take down her exhibition after a brief but well-deserved re-opening of her collected works that embodied Current in the Shadows. Below is the audio recording of that conversation.
“(The shadows)…the most ephemeral part of this show…have ended up being the constant.” -Cara Lasell Bonewitz
As the art world grapples with the complications of a post pandemic future, the questions are many and difficult. The conversation you’re about to listen to shares Cara’s insights as an artist, reflecting on her work and her experience with an exhibition that opened as the world shut down, hung in the shadows in a closed gallery for over a year, and then reopened for a final viewing as the world reopened its doors to a reality we never expected to face.
Snapper Jacks Taco Shack is currently celebrating their 25th anniversary. They offer a mix of Mexican and seafood from three different locations. These locations are in Venture, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. With a wide variety of items on their menu, and nine different savory salsas to spice up any item on the menu at their salsa bar. In this episode we dive right into the core of customer experience—from the ocean-themed ambiance to the enticing sound of fresh fish cooking on the grill to welcoming smiles, the relaxed beach-town vibe, or the ideal Baja-style taco, which embodies the Snapper Jack’s, accompanied by positive vibes.Jana SinsonVC Social: About MeInstagram: @_jxnxmxysnJazlyn PonceVC Social: About MeInstagram: @jazlyn_p
For the past 30 years William “Bill” Hendricks has been teaching photography to Ventura College students, helping them hone their skills and learn to see the world through their artist eye. His work has taken him on many adventures around the world, including Cuba, Northern India, and South Korea. His work has been published in titles such as the Cosmopolitan and People Magazine and most recently he completed PROOF, a 15 year project with Cuban writer Orlando Hernandez, set to be released in 2021.
Vid. Gunnþra. Gjoll. Leiptr. Elivagar, Elivagar. A well-taught purveyor of norse mythology would recognize these terms as a handful of the eleven rivers associated with the Élivágar, or “ice waves” that existed in the primordial void at the beginning of the world. A connoisseur of the new and experimental, however, may recognize them as lyrics to the Heilung song also titled “Élivágar”, with text from both old norse texts and the poetic edda and set to music in a chant meant to be felt down to the bones. Heilung, meaning “healing” in German, is an experimental folk band founded in 2014 by Kai Uwe Faust, Christopher Juul, and Maria Franz, describing themselves as a music journey. When asked about the name, Faust states “The listener is supposed to be left at ease and in a relaxed state after a magical musical journey that is at times turbulent”. So why am I talking to you about this?
Music has always been a big part of my life. I have a music note tattooed behind my ear, have studied a variety of instruments throughout my life, and even my stories are meant to sound like the songs that are constantly going through my head. It was the first thing my mother introduced me to that I fell in love with, and the thing we have always bonded over. So in 2018, she sent me a video, believing that the music as well as heavy themes of nature, spiritualism, and culture older than almost any country around today would be right up my alley. It was by a band called Heilung, one I had never heard of before, and the song was called “Krigsgaldr”, roughly translating to “war chant”. The lyrics were pulled from the Eggja Runestone, sung in proto-norse, with a music video created from the Tanum Petroglyphs of Sweden. I was immediately in love. I found a full recording of a live concert on YouTube and watched the entire thing when I got off work, and as soon as tickets were announced for a show in Los Angeles we were in queue to buy them. I painted our faces, and that night we went to a show that began with a smudging ritual and ended feeling more like a ceremony than a concert. It was the last concert I went to before COVID started, and it is the best show I’ve been to.
Anaheim, CA – Jan. 2020
Heilung is a band that stems from spiritualism. The founding members have all embraced paganism and/or shamanism in some shape or form, and their instruments are made from bone, ash, and pelts. They wear elaborate outfits on stage, partially based on the traditions of the Eurasian circumpolar populations as well as reproductions of Nordic bronze age attire. Their beats are built to induce the same trances that would have been attained during these ceremonies. When performing in the US they invited representatives of local tribes to participate with them, beginning their shows with “Remember that we all are brothers. All people and leaves and trees, and stone and wind.” Their music gained immediate traction from their release of “Ofnir” in 2015, having tied for the World Tradition Award in the 18th Independent Music Award for their song “Norupo” and been selected to compose the soundtrack for “Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II”. It is also a band that, in a few short years, has come to mean much more to me than ever thought it would. I’ve never been a person who says any song is “just music”. Music is powerful. It is meaningful. It is one of the things that connects us across time and space. In the case of Heilung, most of all, it is a healing.
VC Social 