NoirFest Santa Monica Continues With, an Artist Talk With Helen K. Garber!

Just shy of a month, NoirFest Santa Monica, a three-month arts festival kicked off at dnj Gallery at Bergamot Station. The first of many events to come was an opening reception for "Encaustic Noir" featuring the work of Helen K. Garber. Each week, as part of NoirFest Santa Monica, various events have occurred and will continue to do so, all over Santa Monica celebrating Noir.

NoirFest Santa Monica was a longtime aspiration of multi-media artist, Noirist, and thirty year resident of Santa Monica, Helen K. Garber. Garber conceived the idea and has been working endlessly since 2010 on NoirFest Santa Monica. The three-month festival is reminiscent of the Getty Foundation´s Pacific Standard Time Initiative, however, NoirFest Santa Monica is more of a community based festival and takes place in one city, the city of Santa Monica.

Inspired by the cinematic ventures of the 1940s and 1950s, NoirFest Santa Monica proposes to capture noir moments in time. Santa Monica's ever present mist has inspired both filmmakers and novelists to use the city as a setting in many detective stories.

When asked how it came about, Garber replies, "Back in 2010, I went to the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs first." Once Santa Monica Cultural Affairs agreed to produce a Beach=Culture event at the Annenberg Community Beach House, Helen knew she was able to move forward. She continues, "First in line was connecting with SM city-wide reads as they are in their 10th year of producing the kind of programming I had in mind. An amazing coincidence was that they had already chosen Raymond Chandler as their author for 2012, and as I don't believe in coincidences, I immediately knew that the festival was meant to be."

Then, Noir experts, Judith Freeman and Alan K. Rode jumped on board along with the American Cinematheque and the Santa Monica Conservancy. She further explains, "Another amazing coincidence...The gallery who represents me, dnj moved from LA, to Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Then, I got a call from Otis about wanting to have me teach a night photography class during the winter semester and added that to the festival."

The first class was held this past Saturday at Otis College of Art and design, however, the rest of the rest of the class will take place at Helen´s favorite shooting location, the Santa Monica Pier. Garber also enticed Pinot Days (Pinot Noir Festival) about participating at the historic Barker Hanger, which happened two weeks ago. Other venues include Vidiots and Upper West Restaurant and Hotel Casa del Mar will host the closing party with live Jazz starring local legend Barbara Morrison and friends on March 28.

The Festival continues through March 28th and includes art, film, photography, literature, music and spoken word at various historic venues throughout Santa Monica.

Saturday February 11th, at 4:30 pm, Helen K. Garber will be giving an artist talk about her current exhibit, "Encaustic Noir" at dnj Gallery (J-1) at Bergamot Station Arts Center (2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica). Curated by Pamela Schoenberg, this exhibition features Garber´s work in one gallery and in the other, a tribute to Vintage Noir photography by legends such as famed Parisian photographer Brassai and several of his contemporaries. "Encaustic Noir" will remain on exhibition until February 25th. For more info, contact office@dnjgallery.net.

NoirFest Santa Monica is a labor or love, a grass roots, community based festival, created to celebrate Noir in one city, the beautiful city of Santa Monica. For a full list of participating venues and an event schedule, go to www.noirfestsm.com. For a free listing of art and entertainment events in the LA area, see www.laartparty.com.