The second coming of The Representational Art Conference (TRAC) will take place March 2-5, 2014 at the Crowne Point Plaza hotel in Ventura. The 4-day conference is packed with presentations, demos, and panel discussions given by an international cast of artists, curators, philosophers, and art writers. The brain child of Michael Pearce and Michael Lynn Adams, the conference was founded in 2012 responding to a need for more writing and organizational support for our growing contemporary figurative movement.


The headline presenters this year include: Roger Scruton - a philosopher based in the UK, Juliet Aristides - founder of her own atelier school in Seattle, and Odd Nerdrum - the pre-eminent old master painter of our time. Running concurrently with the conference are two group exhibitions featuring work by several of the presenters.

“Women by Women” is on display now through April 12 at the California Lutheran University’s Kwan Fong Gallery. Curator Michael Pearce asked invited artists to submit works that focus on women as their subjects in order to explore what female artists make of their own gender. The exhibition includes works by Sharon Allicotti, Juliette Aristides, Candice Bohannon Reyes, Kathiucia Dias, Pam Hawkes, Kathryn Jacobi, Teresa Oaxaca, Carolin Peters, Kate Savage, Betty Shelton, Terry Spehar-Fahey, Ruth Weisberg, and Sadie Valeri.

“Resonating Images III,” curated by Jeff Phillips, will by held at CLU’s William Rolland Gallery and features works by contemporary artists in multiple styles. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 1. A second reception will be held from 5:10 to 6 p.m. Monday, March 3, as one part of TRAC. The exhibit will continue through April 17. Exhibitors will include Van Arno, Bayo, Sandow Birk, Davis Cone, Ron English, Helen Rebekah Garber, Wes Hempel, F. Scott Hess (above), Alec Huxley, Ruth Grace Jervis, Eric Joyner, Gegam Kacherian, Michael Knowlton, Ira Korman, Brin Levinson, Adam Miller, Odd Nerdrum, Billy Norrby, Michael Pearce, Michael Rosenfeld, Randye Sandel, Christopher Ulrich and Peter Zokosky.

for more info visit: TRAC2014.org