Aug 2, 2016 | Art+Photography
Janet Gervers abstract paintings were included in several exhibits in 2015 and 2016, which marked the return of her painting. Janet’s an abstract painter and after a time away from her art where most of her time was spent on the computer, it was time to delve back into art.
Notably, Janet Gervers was included in the invitational art exhibit by VICA, Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, curated by Venice Artist and VICA Founder, Juri Koll. The exhibition featured Venice artists in “Venice Here and Now”, from October 29 – December 29, 2015 at NextSpace Venice. In addition, a Silent Auction was held on December 10 as a benefit for VICA.
Two paintings from Janet’s Wave Painting series were included in the exhibit.
In 2016, the two Wave Paintings plus several more were exhibited at the Venice Art Crawl, a monthly popup art show in Venice at NextSpace Venice.
Nov 8, 2014 | Blog
Janet Gervers: Fine Artist, Photographer, Painter
From her love of painting and drawing as a child with encouragement from her parents, others noticed her artistic abilities: from teachers to students, family and friends, plus winning local art contests, Janet Gervers developed into an artist and art curator.
While Janet was in high school taking Studio Art AP classes (Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, OH), she was invited to participate in drawing classes at the famed Art Academy of Cincinnati and took the opportunity to learn life drawing skills. She also took Art History AP class while at Walnut Hills High School, a well-known college preparatory school.
Janet-Gervers Photography, Paintbrush, 4×5 format Photography 1985
From there, Janet decided to focus on design with a major in Graphic Design from the School of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning at the University of Cincinnati. This was a 5 year program that included internships as an integrated part of the program. Janet worked in New York City, Chicago and Boca Raton Florida during her school internships and learned real world skills in competitive environments and got to live in some exciting cities.
Janet Gervers graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design in 1987. While she had some computer experience from her internship at IBM in Boca Raton, the school taught traditional layout and pasteup/mechanical art methods used to create printed graphics. Janet really wanted to learn how to use the computer and took it upon herself to learn how to use the Mac, when it was still in its infancy. She took night classes at her alma mater and started using the computer for freelance projects.
A memorable project that combined her art and design skills was a hand drawn logo that won in a logo contest for an office at the University of Cincinnati, The Office of Women’s Programs and Services. She went on to design posters, communications material for the office and several other offices at the university.
She won several design awards from the esteemed Art Directors Club of Cincinnati for her design projects for the University of Cincinnati and Federated Department Stores. She had a position in the advertising department for 4 years at the Mid Western department store headquarters for Lazarus (now Macy’s), when it was headquartered in Cincinnati. Her photography was also accepted into a juried art show during this time in Cincinnati.
Janet Gervers Digital Art, Calla Moon, 2005
Eventually, moving to the West Coast in 1994, starting out in San Francisco, moving to Pasadena, then Venice (aka Venice Beach) the creative community in Los Angeles. This got her start back into the art world. Janet concentrated on digital art, namely the combination of multiple photos, manipulated in Photoshop to form a new image, in addition to art completely generated on the computer.
Janet Gervers Photograph, Maui Waterfall 2007
Janet’s digital art was included in several exhibits, both invational and juried, in addition to exhibits she curated. She started the Venice Art Collective in 2003, providing a forum for local artists to be seen in a gallery setting, which was almost unheard of at the time in Venice and Los Angeles. After a few shows, her friends and art mentors suggested that she include her art in shows, so that got the ball rolling again and her art was in shows at the well known Sponto Gallery, LACDA (LA Center for Digital Art) and the first Venice Art Crawl among others. She also wrote about the Venice Art Crawl in her popular Venice Blog, Abbot Kinney First Fridays and help raise the visibility of the local art event, which has become recognized in the LA art scene. She also curated and organized an art show of Los Angeles artists at Electric Lodge for the Other Venice Film Festival.
Janet Gervers, Digital Photograph, Car Wash & Roses 2013
The digital artwork seen in this First Venice Art Crawl, “Angel Over Venice” (featured at top of page) was also displayed in Los Angeles 11th District, Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s West Los Angeles office from 2008-2009. “Angel Over Venice” was also exhibited in 2009 for the inaugural Juried International Exhibition for the World Art Foundation in Southern California.
More recently, Janet has focused on photography and delved into painting and drawing again!
Oct 21, 2014 | Blog
Abbot Kinney First Fridays – Venice, CA Lifestyle: Fashion, Food, Fitness & More!
Janet Gervers is the creator of Abbot Kinney First Fridays Blog, a Page 1 Google Blog in a dozen+ categories.
In addition, over 60 websites link to AKFF including the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, Huffington Post, LA Weekly, UCLA, Trip Advisor and more!
The blog creates original content that attracts Los Angeles millennials, interested in beach lifestyle, fashion, food, fitness and tech in Venice, CA and surrounding beach areas, including Santa Monica, and Marina del Rey.
The AKFF Blog is a great vehicle to spread the message about your brand to the Los Angeles Market!
Jul 22, 2014 | Blog
The local scene in Venice and Santa Monica, CA is very active – with numerous events, including festivals, art openings, live music, restaurant openings. Janet Gervers is a Writer/Blogger that serves up the scoop on the local scene with her two blogs: My Venice Life and Abbot Kinney First Fridays.
She started Abbot Kinney First Fridays, in 2008 when the First Fridays of the Month event launched in Venice to a handful of people. Being a Venice local that wanted to help spread the word, she created the blog and out the 1st Fridays event on the map! It has a steady following, with thousands coming to the event each month, that read the blog to get the scoop on it and Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
My Venice Life , started in 2014, is the sister blog that covers the Venice and Santa Monica local scene. Articles range from topics like the annual Venice Art Walk at Google to “Mainopoly” A Taste of Main Street, a first time event in 2014, to local nightlife with an emphasis on live music, local restaurant openings such as Locali Venice, Manchego on main and art openings. The blog gives a local spin and most often is seen before it’s published in print and other local blogs.
There is also exclusive content on both blogs.
See both blogs:
My Venice Life
Abbot Kinney First Fridays
Dec 19, 2013 | Blog
Janet Gervers is a Venice Beach, CA based artist, designer and blogger.
Design:
Janet is a digital design specialist, whether it’s interactive website design, social media graphics, branding or SEO with her digital media studio, Jagmedia. Starting with a graphic design degree from the University of Cincinnati, in the School of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning that included assignments in New York, Chicago and Boca Raton, FL during school. A Graphic Design at a Division of Federated Department Stores in Cincinnati, Ohio for four years came about after graduation. Eventually making the move to San Francisco in the mid-nineties sparked an interactive design path that led to Venice Beach in Los Angeles.
Art:
Digital art has been the focus of Janet’s art career in the past decade. She is a digital pioneer and one of the first to experiment with interactive technologies to create art, in addition to painting and drawing. Janet founded Venice Art Collective, an art group that gave opportunities to local artists to exhibit their works of art in a gallery setting from 2003-08, at a time when this was not the norm and was a precursor to the current Venice Art Crawl.
Blogging:
An extension of Janet’s interactive digital career trajectory led to the founding of Abbot Kinney First Fridays.com – a popular Venice lifestyle blog focusing on where to eat, shop and play in this famous beach side town in Los Angeles. The blog also covers Silicon Beach: the Venice and Santa Monica local startup, creative, tech and entrepreneurial scene and celebrity events such as the opening of new restaurant, Rock and Brews at LAX with rock legends Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from Kiss and the Venice Holiday Sign Lighting with Robert Downey, Jr. In addition, Janet previously wrote an events column for Venice Patch.
Janet Gervers abstract paintings were included in several exhibits in 2015 and 2016, which marked the return of her painting. Janet’s an abstract painter and after a time away from her art where most of her time was spent on the computer, it was time to delve back into art.