Tag archives: art

Art Exhibit Straddles the Intellectual, Spiritual
By Scott Craig   |   August 22, 2023

Celebrated Santa Barbara artist Linda Ekstrom offers a wide range of poetic, imaginative, and spiritual works of transformed fabric, paper, books, and gloves in an exhibition (August 31 – November 11) at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free opening reception Thursday, August 31 from 4-6 pm at the museum, honors Straddling Circumference…The Art […]

Giving Art a ‘Voice’
By Richard Mineards   |   August 22, 2023

To La Cumbre Plaza to view the new 3,500-square-foot Voice Magazine and Gallery that has been opened by the dynamic duo of Mark Whitehurst and accomplished sculptress Kerry Methner with rotating shows of around 60 artworks each month. Works from Santa Barbara Visual Arts currently adorn the walls to be replaced in due course with […]

Art in the Club
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2023

The Art Foundation of Santa Barbara took over the historic town club for its annual members’ art exhibition, which featured 45 works scattered throughout the venerable Chapala Street venue. The Santa Barbara Club’s featured speaker was British artist and gallery owner Ralph Waterhouse, who with his wife, Diane, recently opened a new gallery on Coast […]

Art in the Castle
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2023

It was quite the celebrity turnout when the Santa Barbara Museum of Art launched its latest exhibition The Private Universe of James Castle, which runs through September 17. With more than 90 works, the show features many of the most beautiful and accomplished drawings created by the extraordinarily gifted, profoundly deaf, self-taught artist, many of […]

SEE the Sistine
By Richard Mineards   |   June 13, 2023

No need to crane your neck seeing Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Vatican’s iconic Sistine Chapel. The internationally acclaimed exhibition of the glorious artwork has just opened at the Old Mission with the reproduction in a format that allows art lovers to get face-to-face with the legendary masterpiece through 34 artfully displayed reproductions, including world renowned […]

Orianna Cacchione: New Assistant Director at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum UCSB
By Joanne A Calitri   |   May 30, 2023

The Art, Design & Architecture [AD&A] Museum at UCSB’s newest acquisition is the hire of Orianna Cacchione, PhD, as its Assistant Director. Filling a long vacant position, she brings new perspectives, background, and for certain, relief, to its Executive Director Gabe Ritter, PhD.  Our interview on Wednesday May 17, was at the museum, during the […]

Famed Ceramist Juries “Mixed Up”
By Scott Craig   |   May 23, 2023

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art highlights the exceptional talent of local artists in its annual Tri-County Juried Exhibition, “Mixed Up,” from Thursday, May 18, to June 17. The public is invited to a free, opening reception on May 18 from 4-6 pm. Award winners will be announced at 5:15 pm.  Rae Dunn, popular Bay […]

Empowering and Supporting Individuals with Mental Illness
By Ann Pieramici   |   May 23, 2023

May has long been recognized as National Mental Health Awareness Month, yet never before has the issue of mental health commanded the national conversation as urgently as it does today. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has made mental health his top priority, declaring it “the defining public health crisis of our time,” much like when Dr. […]

Fringe Festival: A Gathering of the Arts 
By Scott Craig   |   April 25, 2023

Westmont’s Fringe Festival, an annual smash-up of experimental theatre, dance, film, and performance art, kicks off for four days from April 20-23 around Porter Theatre, and downtown at the Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop. Tickets — $10 for a day pass, $20 for an all-access pass, and $15 for a student/senior all-access pass – may […]

A Mission of Art and History
By Richard Mineards   |   April 25, 2023

Social gridlock reigned at the historic Santa Barbara Club when the Art Foundation of Santa Barbara staged How Art Helped to Save the California Missions, a two-part program with a talk by Jeremy Tessmer, curator of Vintage American Art at Sullivan Goss. The program explored the life and work of Henry Chapman Ford, who died […]

Barbareño Hosts a Cross-sensory Concert and Dinner Experience
By Zach Rosen   |   April 18, 2023

Barbareño has already proven themselves on the plate – crafting dishes that blend central coast tradition with colorful flavors and engaging plating. Their ingredient choices highlight the abundance of the area while emphasizing the locale in which they are served that seemingly captures the laid-back yet sophisticated style of Santa Barbara. But the upcoming event, […]

Art Museum Offers ‘a space of her own’
By Scott Craig   |   April 18, 2023

A large crowd packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art to see the stunning capstone projects of six senior art majors on April 6. A Space of Her Own – which features art projects ranging from paintings to prints, and from photography to sculptural installation – will be on display through May 6 at […]

No Fooling at this Spring Sing
By Scott Craig   |   April 11, 2023

Westmont’s longest running on-campus tradition, Spring Sing, was held at the Santa Barbara Bowl on April 1. Students from off campus – and the Ocean View Apartments – were the big winners of the competition. They produced an original skit, “The Day Scott Lost His Mind,” about campus pastor Scott Lisea, deftly incorporating an homage […]

Waterhouse Gallery Opens on CVR
By Richard Mineards   |   April 11, 2023

Social gridlock reigned when dynamic duo Ralph and Diane Waterhouse opened their first art gallery on Coast Village Road, formerly the site of the Scoops ice cream store. The Waterhouse Gallery is an extension of their nearly four decades old La Arcada emporium in Santa Barbara, next door to the popular French eatery Petit Valentien. […]

Waterhouse Gallery Takes a New Stand in Montecito
By Amélie Dieux   |   April 4, 2023

After having contemporary, abstract, and fine art galleries color the town of Montecito, there’s another one on the horizon ready to captivate your senses. The Waterhouse Gallery, located at the Coast Village Plaza (1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 3, formerly the Scoops store), is where traditional contemporary works engage your art spirit, delight your eyes, […]

What Gets Buried
By Stella Haffner   |   March 7, 2023

Santa Barbara’s young art scene emphasizes identity, voice, and change. All three can be found in the work of 21-year-old Isa Saldivar. Working their way out of the foster care system, Isa came to Santa Barbara as a queer, Chican@ outsider – a perspective that continues to inform their art. In our conversation, Isa reflects […]

SB Museum of Art Women’s Board New Members’ Luncheon
By Joanne A Calitri   |   March 7, 2023

On Feb. 21, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) Women’s Board held its annual New Members luncheon at the Santa Barbara Club downtown. The event was chaired by board Vice President Karen Tenzer and the event committee was President Paula Farrington, Jean McCourt, and Linda Wortham. The private gala was artfully done with fresh […]

Talk Explores ‘Street Art Now’
By Scott Craig   |   February 28, 2023

G. James Daichendt, art critic, curator, art historian, and dean of the colleges at Point Loma University, examines how street art is changing the art world and how we engage art in a free public lecture, “Street Art Now,” on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. […]

Black History Month Part 1: Darrell M. McNeill and Sally A. Foxen-McNeill SB Black Culture House
By Joanne A Calitri   |   February 21, 2023

Black History Month (BHM) is an annual national celebration during February that commenced with Negro History Week (February 1926) initiated by Carter G. Woodson, founder of Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). Later in the 1940s, Blacks in West Virginia began to celebrate February as Negro History Month, and by 1960 […]

Student Artists Honored at Museum
By Richard Mineards   |   February 14, 2023

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has honored 23 student artists during a presentation and reception at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Chosen as winners of the foundation’s Art Scholarship competition, each received a scholarship and their selected art submissions will be exhibited in the museum’s Family Resource Center through Feb. 12. “This was […]