GALLERY OCHO GETS MADE
Gallery Ocho’s co-curators Anna and Casson Demmon have announced that the Victoria Court gallery (located at 1221 State St., Ste. #8) is being converted into a private studio for the couple. The new project, titled the Make Studio, will be devoted to the duo’s private film and video post-production and media design endeavors.
THE PUN IS MIGHTIER
For the second year running, Santa Barbara resident Dr. Michael L. VanBlaricum has been named a runner-up in the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. The competition, an international literary exercise in honor of Victorian writer Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, asks contestants to write bad opening sentences to faux works of fiction. Categories range from romance and sci-fi to purple prose and adventure. VanBlaricum took home second place in the Vile Puns category.
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Montecito’s Tecolote Bookstore (1470 E. Valley Rd.) will celebrate its grand reopening with a signing for writer/illustrator Gabriele Rose de Ginant’s latest book, Rosabella, on Friday, August 22, at 5 p.m. Proceeds from the book’s sales will benefit the Profant Foundation for the Arts, which grants scholarships to Santa Barbara artists of all ages. Call Tecolote at 969-4977 for more information, and to see images from Rosabella, visit independent.com/ginant.