Art Abounds: Assemblage, Landscapes, New Gallery and More

Chaos meets curation at CAW, as the exhibition Little Shop of Hoarders opens this weekend. The show brings together 10 local assemblage artists whose work will be on view from opening night on September 12 through the 21st. But the first Saturday morning (September 13) is what gives the show its extra oomph, as CAW turns into a swap meet for artists and anyone else looking to reuse/recycle all sorts of stuff. It’s an opportunity to clear out the storage unit, the garage, your secret stash of postage stamps, your strange collection of doll heads and other ephemera, treasures or junk. Which also means it’s an opportunity to augment your collection, or amass more stuff for assemblage art. Visit www.sbcaw.org/upcoming. 

SCAPE’s (Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment) annual juried autumn art show returns to Lehmann Hall at the Music Academy of the West September 12-13. Dubbed Nature’s Palette and juried by OAK Group member Michael Drury, the exhibition immerses viewers in the beauty of the Central Coast from scores of artists, with a portion of proceeds benefiting Explore Ecology’s environmental education programs. Visit www.s-c-a-p-e.org. 

Rubenstein-Chan Contemporary Art gallery opens September 13 at the Palm Lofts, the live/work complex space reimagined century-old lima bean factory in Carpinteria. The new gallery comes from Irene Chan, a photographer who has a background in fashion, and Bonnie Rubenstein, who ran Silo118 gallery in the Santa Barbara Funk Zone for six years. The opening exhibition, Unfold, features L.A. artists Sijia Chen, Chiho Harazaki, and Kaoru Mansour whose work explores themes of identity, belonging, and human connection. Patricia Houghton Clarke will also open her photography studio at Palm Lofts featuring a special presentation from the Environmental Defense Center. Visit www.RubensteinChan.com. 

UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum opens three exhibitions for the fall 2025 season on September 13, headlined by Beyond the Object: Selections from the Permanent Collection that features painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper highlighting recent acquisitions and gifts – primarily from the past five years and spotlighting Joan Mitchell as part of the centennial celebration of her birth. Mexican Prints: The Garcia-Correa Collection features 61 Mexican prints, including lithographs, etchings and linocuts from the 1920s-’80s gifted from local collectors Gil Garcia and Marti Correa de Garcia. Environmental Communications: Big Bang Beat L.A. focuses on the Venice-based collective of architects, artists and sociologists who championed an expanded understanding of architecture that considers the totality of the built environment. The opening reception is at 5:30 pm for all three shows, which remain on view through December 7.  

Visit www.museum.ucsb.edu.