Renowned artist Alison Saar and Dr. Joy Simmons, physician and prominent contemporary African-American art collector, discussed the therapeutic nature and healing power of the arts.

The event also launched La Curandera, a benefit edition created exclusively for Venice Family Clinic by Saar in collaboration with Mixografia.

Shana Nys Dambrot, Arts Editor at L.A. Weekly, had a conversation with artists Amir Fallah, Alexandra Grant, Bettina Hubby and Gregory Siff. Each of these artists draws references from history, memory and popular culture in exciting, diverse ways in their works – from elements of personal and literary text and a celebration of life’s small details, to larger themes of knowledge, love and enlightenment. Grant’s meditations on chaos and control, Fallah’s interest in systems of becoming one’s self, Hubby’s witty mindfulness in community culture, and Siff’s emotional poetry of Americana all speak to the charms and frights of human experience.

Watch arts manager, writer, and the founder of Dominique Gallery, Dominique Clayton, share in a conversation with first-time Venice Art Walk participating artists Hasef, Alicia Piller and Trotter.  Together, they’ll discuss the evolution of art and activism.  They also discussed the power and allyship community organizations, local artists and patrons can create as they strive to address social and racial justice.

Lindsay Preston Zappas, artist, writer and the founder and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla), and artists Andrea Chung, Alex Olson & Analia Saban discussed materiality, surface, and the ways in which mark-making translates into meaning in their works across painting, collage, and sculpture.

Terry R. Myers, arts writer, curator and educator, hosted a dialogue with artists Kim Fisher, Jennifer Moon and Mario Ybarra Jr.  As former students of his who have gone on to international careers as artists while also becoming important arts educators, they joined him for a lively discussion about their work as well as the relationships between art, teaching, and community.