Tag archives: artists

Art Grads ‘Reencounter’ the Self
By Scott Craig   |   April 14, 2026

From April 9 to May 9 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum, fourteen graduating art majors will present their capstone projects in an exhibition that reencounters their cultural identity, family history & patterns, and art historical traditions. There will be a free, public opening reception for Reencounter on Thursday, April 9, from 4-6 pm in the […]

Art Lost & Found
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   March 3, 2026

MD enjoyed buying storage lockers whose owners had defaulted on payments. He bought one in the early 2000s in San Diego and stuffed boxes of books and papers into his own storage locker here in Santa Barbara. Newly retired, he had the time to sort through boxes of paperwork. In one old box he found […]

Museum Hosts Event with Local Artists
By Scott Craig   |   December 16, 2025

Local artists Dane Goodman and Dug Uyesaka will speak about their works in the current exhibition on Monday, Dec. 15, from 4-5 pm in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. The event, which includes refreshments, is free and open to the public.  “As accomplished artists across a breadth of media, Goodman and Uyesaka will share […]

Montecito Fire Family Friday and Other News
By Montecito Journal   |   October 7, 2025

Montecito Fire Chief Neels honored Montecito Firefighter/Paramedic Carlos Luna, September 12. MFD shares Luna’s story, “Carlos grew up in Michoacán, Mexico. His family moved to Oxnard, CA, when he was 8 years old. Luna played high school and college football, and on the University of Houston Division I team. In 2014, he put his education […]

There’s Paint in Them Thar Hills
By Richard Mineards   |   June 17, 2025

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 […]

Local Artists Earn Praise for ‘On the Edge’
By Scott Craig   |   June 3, 2025

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 […]

Local Artists Featured ‘On the Edge’
By Scott Craig   |   May 20, 2025

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, […]

Santa Barbara Museum of Art
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 3, 2024

When Amada Cruz took over as Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s new Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Director and CEO about 13 months ago, she had a clear idea of how she viewed the museum’s evolving role in the community.  “I see a lot of value in the arts beyond the aesthetic,” she said in these […]

Art & Letters Anniversaries
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 5, 2024

A couple of major theaters in town have been celebrating centennial anniversaries of a sort this year, while in February the Santa Barbara International Film Festival will turn 40. But in between, two well-established art galleries are also having 40th birthdays, and the city’s most enduring bookstore is marking a major milestone as well – […]

Carlos Pillado’s Via Vai Collection at Studio 44
By Jeff Wing   |   October 8, 2024

Beloved local restaurant/living room Via Vai lost its Upper Village lease following a three-decade run. As the longtime crew tearily bade their homestead farewell, artist Carlos Pillado moved about the twilit rooms in a cloud of memory, carefully removing his art from the walls. “The day that I took down my paintings, I cried. That […]

Alum Shares Wildlife Art in ‘Fins, Feathers’
By Scott Craig   |   September 10, 2024

Alumnus Casey Underwood ’14 has returned to his alma mater to exhibit his diverse talents as an outdoor wildlife artist in “Fins and Feathers: The Art of Casey Underwood” from Aug. 29-Dec. 21 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art’s downstairs gallery. Underwood, an illustrator and outdoorsman living in southern Montana, has become one of […]

Exhibition Offers Glowing ‘Night Visions’
By Scott Craig   |   August 27, 2024

Duncan Simcoe, a Southern California artist and former chair of the College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design at California Baptist University in Riverside, offers his signature limited-palette paintings on dark construction-grade tar paper in Night Visions: The Black Drawings of Duncan Simcoe, 2014-2024 from Aug. 29 to Nov. 9 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum […]

Art Happenings: Two Studio Artist Tours to Support Local Art
By Joanne A Calitri   |   August 20, 2024

It’s that time of year for the Santa Barbara area and our neighbors in Ojai to host their annual Studio Artist Tours. Both tours’ ticket proceeds are to benefit a charity they are supporting this year. The artist tours and their respective reception kickoff parties are an all-ages event. The tours are self-guided with maps […]

Fiesta’s Centennial Finale
By Richard Mineards   |   August 13, 2024

The 100th anniversary of Fiesta came to a glorious close with the 25th anniversary of the Fiesta Finale when 170 guests descended on the historic El Paseo restaurant raising around $100,000 for the John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts which helps musicians, dancers, artists, actors and authors chart their career paths. More than $250,000 […]

Santa Barbara’s Newest Art Collective: double dutch
By Beatrice Tolan   |   August 6, 2024

Look at your shelves. It’s not the framed photos or unread books that make those shelves uniquely yours. It’s those knick-knacks, collectibles, and tchotchkes you’ve kept, moved, and refused to throw away over the years.  What do these trinkets mean about us? Sam Fitz and Bella Vasquez, the co-founders of Santa Barbara’s newest art collective […]

Italian Artist Luca Barberini at Helena Mason Art Gallery
By Joanne A Calitri   |   August 6, 2024

Society Invites was invited by Natalie Olivas Sanchez, owner of the Helena Mason Art Gallery, to meet with their newest artist, Luca Barberini (b. 1981, Ravenna, Italy) and view his works before he returned to Italy. His exhibition, titled Inner Landscapes, is on view through October. It was fab to reconnect with Sanchez; its #beenaminute, […]

Montecito Union School Students’ Art Project with Rod Lathim
By Joanne A Calitri   |   April 30, 2024

Students in Montecito Union School’s second-grade art class were recently taught about using neon in sculpture by local neon multimedia artist and theater mainstay Rod Lathim.  MUS K-6 Art Specialist Alyssa Gonzalez requested that the Montecito Journal report on the project. For the annual art project, the students create an art collage using their music […]

SBCC Atkinson Gallery Art Students Show
By Joanne A Calitri   |   April 30, 2024

The Atkinson Gallery and Art Department at Santa Barbara City College presented the 2024 Annual Student Exhibition. SBCC first year and second year students submitted their artwork for consideration to be in the show, and to compete for an art studies scholarship.  I attended the Opening Reception on Wednesday, April 17, at the Atkinson Gallery. […]

Art Majors Revealed ‘In Between Moments’
By Scott Craig   |   April 2, 2024

Six aspiring Westmont art graduates will exhibit their capstone projects at Between Moments from April 4-May 4 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free, public opening reception will celebrate the graduating senior art majors on Thursday, April 4, from 4-6 pm.  The students include Danielle Anderson of Palm Desert; Clare Carey of Bonsall; […]

Poster Artist Rick Sharp: Ambassador of ‘70s-era Santa Barbara
By Jeff Wing   |   November 21, 2023

There are people who so inhabit and illuminate their respective epochs, their lives can seem almost foreordained. Add to that list a starry-eyed surfer from Houston named Rick Sharp, whose canon of poster art so deeply captures the ‘70s ambiance it can truly be said to have helped define it. Sharp will be discussing and […]