VENTURA COUNTY WEEKEND : Arts Scene Sure to Be a Vibrant Presence for the Coming Year : Museums and galleries will showcase a variety of work from murals to photography, ceramics to paintings.

Ventura County is certainly not going to be mistaken for an artists’ mecca. But the scene here is a surprisingly healthy one, especially for a region too often stereotyped and unfairly dismissed as a cultural backwater, lurking in the shadows of the metropolis to the south.

The artist population here is solid, evolving and highly varied. While there is cross-talk and interaction between artists of differing temperaments, there are established patterns: Certain artists show at certain venues and aesthetic lines are drawn.

Economic woes notwithstanding, the Ventura art scene has prevailed, and a fairly reliable constellation of art spaces satisfies most needs.

The new year begins, aptly enough, with the opening of a new art space, Gallery One, at 111 S. Dos Caminos Ave. in Ventura. Erotica is the theme of the inaugural show, which presents itself as showcasing the “uninhibited” and “unexhibited.”

Elsewhere in the scene, diversity rules. The Buenaventura Gallery, a perfectly pleasant place that leans toward art for art’s sake, is several blocks--and yet a conceptual world--away from Art City II’s edgier provocations. Art City II is showing the work of sculptor JoAnne Duby, photographer Rick Bury and painter Julia Pinkham-Kimbrell.

In between, on Main Street, there is the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, whose art quotient has improved notably since curator Tim Schiffer came on board over a year ago. Schiffer has orchestrated handsomely acquitted exhibitions of local luminaries such as Jessie and Cornelius Bottke, Otto and Vivika Heino (just before Vivika’s death from cancer last summer), and the current show of ceramic work by everyone’s favorite 102-year-old, Beatrice Wood.

Coming up at the museum is a photography show by John Calvin Brewster, who came to Ventura in 1875. Following that there will be an invitational exhibition for Ventura County photographers.

In terms of space and breadth, the prize art venue in the county is in the heart of downtown Oxnard, the neoclassical edifice that is the Carnegie Art Museum. The exhibitions, culled from far and wide and sometimes specializing in fine art with Mexican roots, tend to have long runs.

Shows by mural artist Frank Hyder and the “mystical realist” Hamid Zavareei are there through Feb. 25. Next up is the exhibition, “Impressions in Tin,” from the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, from March 10 to May 19. In June and July, photography takes over with the concurrent shows, “Georgia O’Keefe: Photos by Todd Webb,” and “George Hurrell: Hollywood Stars.”

The third annual juried show, “Ventura County Classic Competition,” runs from Aug. 3 through Sept. 4.

Some of the more intellectually stimulating art can be found in the two galleries at Ventura College. This spring, look for a show by respected Ventura College art faculty members Gerd Koch and Carlisle Cooper, from Feb. 6 to March 1, and the work of Tari Brand, Polly Victor, and Marilyn Groch from March 5-29.

Starting on Jan. 11 and running through Feb. 22, there will be a group show by students in the acclaimed art therapy program at Camarillo State Hospital. The program also hosts its own massive annual group show at the hospital early in the summer, in addition to running a regular gallery on hospital grounds.

In Ojai, the Ojai Arts Center presents rotating exhibits, of varying quality. One upcoming group show is entitled “The Creative Bloc,” with work by Ojai artists Gayel Childress, Barbara Hoff, Jane McKinney, Carole Milton, and Louise Owen.

For an insider’s view of the Ojai art realm, mark the calendar for the annual Studio Artists’ Tour in October, a passport to the creative sanctums of numerous artists who have settled in the area.

Wheeler Hot Springs regularly presents art worth seeing, without the usual insistence on innocuousness you might expect in a restaurant setting. To find watercolor work, head down to the Gallery Restaurant at the Doubletree Inn in Ventura, which presents art provided by the Gold Coast Watercolor Society.

East of the Conejo grade, the art gallery scene is underdeveloped, no doubt partly because of the proximity to Los Angeles and its gamut of art spaces. The demise of the Conejo Valley Art Museum (at the old Janss Mall) has left a void in terms of serious art exhibition in the east county. Shows of varying depth and focus may be seen at the Thousand Oaks Community Gallery, a sizable space at the Newbury Park branch of Thousand Oaks Library.

There is hope yet. Art tends to make its way, flying in the face of what might seem like apathy, defying the world’s naysayers. Even in the backwater of Ventura County.

Josef Woodard is an avowed cultural omnivore who covers art and music.