Tag archives: art

My two grandchildren (both under six years) are now old enough to experience an art museum; thus I “family” membershipped the Santa Barbara Museum Art, the Maritime Museum, the Contemporary Art Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. I am ready for my second set of new eyes with which to […]

Marianna Victoria Mashek is a Santa Barbara native, a Santa Barbara High School Don, and studied Studio Art at UCSB. She later studied Arts Administration at Antioch University, worked for the Santa Barbara Arts Council and Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, and Santa Barbara City College. If you detect a theme you’re not mistaken – […]

As the season nears its end, social gadabout Rebecca Brand hosted one of her last dinner party art classes at the Middle Road estate of Jim Melillo, the site of the first Santa Barbara Polo Club. The colorful bashes held every month, accompanied by delicious gourmet-style food, attract an eclectic crowd with guests at the […]

Jeremy Tessmer, gallery director at Sullivan Goss, regaled more than 80 guests at the historic Santa Barbara Club, where the Montecito Bank & Trust MClub lunch featured stories of early artists who traveled West. A number of these came for free on the Santa Fe railroad, which sponsored them in exchange for illustrations to publicize […]

Dozens of people packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum on May 15 to see Adam Belt’s selections for On the Edge and hear the winners of the Tri-County artist exhibition.  “This a very vibrant arts community – you can see all the support that you share for each other,” Belt said. “It was a privilege […]

When we yet had the luxury to do so, my friends and I chose art, with the result that one evening in the bar-spangled early 1980s I found myself in the restroom of a chicken sandwich joint, dressed in a New Wave rock n’ roll getup and helplessly retching over the single sink. Ah, I […]

Montecito’s longest running juried exhibition for tri-county artists will run from May 15 – June 14 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A public opening reception for On the Edge, featuring juror Adam Belt, is Thursday, May 15 from 4-6 pm. The museum received a record 458 entries by 216 artists. From these submissions, […]

BL, a budding Gen Z art afficionado, asked if the fine art print market is a good investment. A great question, and the answer is “YES!” for some types of prints created in select eras in certain styles (for example Pop Art is strong today). Let’s look at the world of prints, often called “multiples,” […]

I authored a little book prior to the Pandemic titled No Thanks Mom: The Top Ten Objects Your Kids Do Not Want – to my surprise it went viral. The heart of the book is my generational differences chart (I cover amusing and accurate differences in homeownership, design trends, and acquisition styles between the generations). […]

Patricia Iglesias Peco (born in 1974, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is part of the SBMA’s current exhibition featuring Latin Women. Titled Accretion, the exhibit is curated by Lauren Karazija, SBMA Curatorial Assistant of Contemporary Art. In her interview with me on the exhibit, Karazija explained, “Accretion celebrates the rich diversity of Latina experiences, moving beyond and […]

In what will turn out to be setting the bar for galas in our town, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s 1st Annual Gilded Gala Fundraiser was held on Friday, February 28 at none other than the Rosewood Miramar Beach. The gala’s mission is to raise funds for the SBMA’s “…dawn of a new era, […]

My friend Joan Curran and I were walking up State Street on a Tuesday afternoon when she called out, “Hey Nathan!” Sitting cross-legged on the curb was a casually clad guy with softly curled blonde hair and an array of beaded jewelry. As I squatted down to the pavement to behold his work, I immediately […]

Security was paramount at the Granada when Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company performed as part of UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures program. A small number of protesters were present, carrying disparaging placards. More than 18 Santa Barbara police officers were stationed in and outside the theater and guests had to go through metal detectors placed in […]

Bring the whole family to the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art for a day of fun, free activities with food, crafts, games, music and storytelling focused on our environment. “Living Earth: A Family Day of Exploration” – on Saturday, March 1, from 11 am to 4 pm – focuses on the immersive exhibition WILDLAND: Ethan […]

Gloria, who wishes she were as lucky as the picker who found a so-called Van Gogh, sent me a Wall Street Journal article about a small 18×16” painting at the center of a $15 million dollar battle. Is it a real Van Gogh? The world of scientific art analysis says it is a Van Gogh […]

LW called me while her friend’s house in the Palisades was still smoldering. She asked me this important question: “Elizabeth, W didn’t have an appraisal for his contemporary lithography and modern art collection. He assumed the artwork was insured under the fine art category in his general homeowner’s policy, and he seems to recall the […]

Faherty Montecito, the eclectic clothing store on Coast Village Road that opened in December, is accentuating the negative. It has launched its first photographic exhibition displaying works by local lensman Paul Greene, with 15 of his shots dotted around the shop’s two floors showing keen surfer Greene’s love of the ocean with impressive black and […]

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art features the multimedia creations of Ethan Turpin, whose works are grounded in the natural cycles of wildfire, devastation, and recovery and regrowth from January 9 – March 22. The public is invited to a free opening reception of WILDLAND: Ethan Turpin’s Collaborations on Fire and Water on Thursday, January […]