MAST-erful Art and More

The Mesa Artist Studio Tour reaches of-age status with its 21st annual event, a much more compact and community-focused little sibling to the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour every Labor Day weekend. Just eight studios encompass the tour around the neighborhood, although two are the site of two artists, meaning a more intimate and personal experience in some of the community’s “hidden creative spaces.” All of the studios are in-home at the free, self-guided tour that encompasses a range of media from painting and photography to sculpture and mosaics. Several longtime participants return and a few new ones join. A downloadable online map and available brochures make finding the stops easy. A highlight includes photographer Brian Kuhlmann’s Walking Among the Trees, an exhibition of works from his Song of Absolution series that reflect his 18-year journey photographing extraordinary and meaningful trees around the world as well as new landscapes on wood panels. Drop by any time 11 am-4 pm Saturday, November 8, and Sunday, November 9. 

Visit www.sbmesaartists.com.

A single site, single sex alternative in the art world over the same weekend takes place at the Community Arts Workshop (631 Garden St.) where the Institute of Absurd Affairs inaugurates a local women’s collaborative working to produce a platform supporting artists and creative adventures. The organization “powered by a bunch of women artists ranging in age from 9-75” presents HOME, with featured artists Sarah Avila, Adrienne De Guevara, Emma-Jane Huerta, and Maddie Medina along with dozens of others exhibiting pieces representing a huge range of pieces from painting, fiber art, sculpture, photography, and mixed media to botanical art, performance art, conceptual art, textile art, and immersive installation. Hours are 11 am-3 pm Saturday & Sunday. 

Visit www.sbcaw.org/upcoming.

Plant Power: Get Yourself to the Garden 

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden & Nursery kicks off the fall planting season with a special one-day sale on Saturday, November 8, to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and expected wet weather to get California native species in the ground. Garden members get early access to the large assortment ranging from tried-and-true cultivars to unique species from across the state, with staff on hand to help with selecting the right native plants for your garden. Non-members can also shop the special sale beginning at 1 pm, with reservations required for both groups. Purchases support Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s mission to conserve native plants and habitats for the health and well-being of people and the planet. 

Visit https://sbbotanicgarden.org/classes-events/fall-plant-season-kickoff. 

For intriguing indoor options, check out the pop-up plant sale the same day at Yoga Soup put together by the studio’s indoor plant yogi Daniel Geiger, who presents a selection of uncommon orchids, tree ferns, pitcher plants, and more, including several mature plants from an estate that are looking for a new home. Geiger will be on hand at the 8:30 am-2 pm event on Yoga Soup’s patio to provide expert advice on how to make your new companion thrive on a shelf, in a windowsill or bell jar, or a terrarium. Supplies are limited, and donations as low as $10 are accepted, with 100 percent of proceeds supporting Lotusland. 

Visit www.yogasoup.com.

Talk It Up: Humor, Haight, and Huge Fish

David Sedaris, the diminutive humorist and author with the outsized capacity to make people smile broadly if not laugh out loud just simply reading his writing, makes his annual Arts & Lectures appearance at the Arlington on Friday, November 7, when the audience can anticipate hearing excerpts from new work and fresh diary entries full of personal observations and reflections on the absurdities of everyday life.

Chaucer’s Books hosts UCSB anthropologist Michael Gurven on Thursday, November 6, to talk about Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer, which uncovers new evidence for the evolutionary origins of human longevity as opposed to advances in medicine and the availability of clean water. Understanding how our capacity for long life came to be – which Gurven partly gleaned from his field experience among Indigenous societies – can transform how we think about aging…. Local author and musician Max Talley brings his mystery novel Peace, Love & Haight to Chaucer’s on Tuesday, November 11, when he’ll share about the post-Summer of Love tale in San Francisco that Publishers Weekly called a “dazzling tie-dye tapestry.” 

Details at www.chaucersbooks.com. 

“Sea Bass, Selfies & Science,” November’s Museum of Natural History Science Pub at Dargan’s on November 10 from 6:30 pm to 8 pm, finds Molly Morse sharing how community scientists across coastal Southern California are revolutionizing marine science by capturing thousands of underwater photographs of the refrigerator-sized critically-endangered Giant Sea Bass during scuba-diving adventures. Researchers at UCSB are using pattern recognition computer algorithms to analyze the photos, identifying individual fish and tracking their movement across California’s kelp forests.