07/02/2026
Chumash & Tlingit Elder
BRENDA MERCADO
Presents
An Exhibitionof her Oil Paintings
Location
Art City Studios Gallery
175 Dubbers St, Ventura, CA
Reception
Thurs July 2nd
7pm Poetry and Book Pre-Sale
8pm Music
Exhibition
June 26th to July 31st
"Paddlers" Cover Art for Brenda and Jon's upcoming book "Listening to the Light"
At once sacred and intimate, Brenda's work captures the natural world in the ancient ways of mystery and magic.
Her portraits (and self-portraits) rely on known objects and symbols to create a new realm, a subtle interpretation.
True to her Chumash heritage, she retrieves the world for us: the world we walked past at street level, the world we drove right by on our way somewhere in our human-scale automobiles, the insurmountable evidence we ignored.
As a visual artist, she fulfills several roles at once: healer, village elder, Tomol Paddler, poet and seer, to remind us what we have forgotten.
-Jon Obermeyer
Brenda Mercado and Jon Obermyer are collaborating on a book of her paintings and Jon's poetry based on his observations of Brenda's paintings. Artworks and words that represent nature and life within Chumash culture and the lands and waters they inhabited for thousands of years. Today the Chumash are recognized as the original people of this land, they are rebuilding the culture that was stolen trom them, creating a vibrant and thriving new future. Celebrate this with Brenda, Jon and our entire community.
Check in with BrendaMercadoArt.com for updates on book release.
Also on exhibit- sculptures by Constanza Di Gregorio
