santa ana | OC Art Blog

Django Replayed: The Gypsy Jazz of Hedgehog Swing

Aug 28, 2012 | 1 Comment

The legendary music of 1930s jazz virtuoso Django Reinhardt is alive and well in Orange County… if you know where to look. Long Beach-based Gypsy jazz band Hedgehog Swing plays every first and third Wednesday at the Gypsy Den in downtown Santa Ana, along with members of the Orange County-based Gypsy jazz band Riff Raff. Riff Raff have hosted this event for many years, leading the song choices on the first Wednesday of every month, with Hedgehog Swing hosting every third Wednesday. Their lively...

ISM turns 10

Jul 6, 2012 | 2 Comments

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." If you have had any contact with the Orange County art scene over the past decade then you know what ISM: a community project is, what they do, why they do it and who they are. Right? Well, partially. In the spirit of the above saying by Abraham Lincoln, ISM is as an organization as elusive and open-ended as the classic definition of the term and that is...

Behind the Copper Door: Adventures at Santa Ana’s Pacific Building, Part One

Mar 1, 2012 | 3 Comments

The Pacific Building: Part Two When refurbishing the Pacific Building, real estate developer Davin Gumm hoped to attract arts-oriented tenants to the upstairs offices. What I discovered when I climbed the stairs was a colony of intriguing artists creating some interesting work... Coming Soon… in Part Two.

Diana Markessinis

Feb 21, 2011 | 0 Comments

This Wednesday, Diana Markessinis is celebrating the installation of her third public art, Untitled Tree #2, which she is donating to the City of Santa Ana in an effort to promote and encourage art in the public realm. Date: Wednesday the 23rd of February Time: 7pm Place: Santiago Park Nature Center, Santa Ana Address: 600 E. Memory Lane, Santa Ana. Click here to view the flyer. Check out Diana Markessinis' blog.

If you heart lowbrow art: Suggestivism now up @ Grand Central Art Center

Feb 13, 2011 | 0 Comments

Santa Ana-Recently, I attended the much-anticipated opening of Suggestivism at the Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana. Beautiful ladies in hooded onesies (I did not know they existed either) paraded around the galleries serving chocolates and energy drinks throughout the night. Many of the artists attended and Academy award-nominated actress Amy Adams also made an appearance. Grand Central always knows how to throw a party!...

This Week In The OC

Jan 30, 2011 | 0 Comments

It is another eventful week! This week we have a lot of art openings in colleges and universities; Irvine Valley College (IVC), University of California, Irvine (UCI), California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), and Chapman University. Check out this calendar for more events! Don't forget Art Walk in Santa Ana is this Saturday! Thursday, February 3rd: Irvine Valley College (IVC) Art Gallery Presents: Digital World On view: February 3rd - March 3rd Location: IVC Art...

The OC Art Blog was created in 2004 as a way to build community and promote the marginalized but dynamic Orange County art scene.

Awakening: Moncho at Gallery Sonder

Jun 2, 2026

By Mason Fujikawa Awakening at Gallery Sonder is the first exhibition in the United States by Mexican artist Moncho. Moncho takes an instinctive approach to his practice. He doesn’t sketch or even plan before painting. Instead, he draws from his subconscious, working...

Low and Slow at Danger Gallery

May 28, 2026

By Alisa Ochoa Low and Slow is on view at House of Danger Gallery, nestled in an unassuming shopping center just off the 55, beside a Circle K and below the Attic Skateshop. The space is operated by Jackie Danger, a visual artist and brand strategist who opened the...

On Creativity, Constraints, and Staying Alive to the World

May 24, 2026

By Chris Hoff I’ve been messing around with learning to play guitar for as long as I can remember. It’s been a story of starts and stops for years. In a more recent start I picked up the book How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy. I thought it might provide some...

Art Confronts Infrastructure in UC Irvine Langson OCMA

May 24, 2026

By Maggie Luy What shifts when the ground beneath everyday life begins to move? Infrastructure is usually what disappears first. In “Breakdown/Breakthrough: Art and Infrastructure," it stayed exposed. The exhibition, on view at UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum...

Legacies Come Alive, Spring Blooms at Irvine Fine Arts Center

Apr 8, 2026

By Maggie Luy What does it mean to be remembered, and who gets to be seen? Through textured brushwork and carved forms, Sergio O’Cadiz Moctezuma honors labor and ancestry. That legacy continues in Edgar Fabián Frías’s layered digital collages and psychedelic video...