Tag archives: arts

The venerable Granada Theatre was the place to be when UCSB Arts & Lectures launched its latest season. Author and historian Tara Westover, 33, whose memoir Educated debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list, and was a finalist for myriad awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, spoke to a […]

Just a short note about this weekend’s Fifth Annual Santa Barbara Sea Glass & Ocean Arts Festival, featuring ocean-inspired art made by artisans from across the U.S.A. and that’s set to take place at the Earl Warren Showgrounds on September 14 and 15. In addition to some fifty-or-so artists’ creations on display (and for sale), […]

The John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts just held their 20th Fiesta Finale in the historic El Paseo Restaurant. That was the epicenter of Fiesta in the olden days so it’s a perfect venue. John Edward Profant was born in Santa Barbara in 1928. His parents, Dr. Henry J and Mabel Profant were very […]

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art has organized a touring retrospective exhibition of Don Reitz, one of the most experimental and ingenious ceramic artists of the last century. “Spontaneous Response: The Innovative Ceramics of Don Reitz” opens August 29 and runs through November 9 with a reception Thursday, August 29, from 4-6 pm. “Don Reitz […]

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art is showing off its newest treasures this summer in “The Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collections,” through early August. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm and closed weekends and college holidays during the summer. For more information, please visit westmont.edu/museum or contact […]

UCSB Arts & Lectures 61st season promises to be a cracker! With 60 world class events, including 11 Santa Barbara debuts, two world premieres of new works commissioned by the popular program, a U.S. premiere, and a West Coast debut, Miller McCune executive director Celesta Billeci described it as events for the “intellectually curious, the […]

The Farmers & Merchants Trust Company office on Santa Barbara Street is fast becoming an art gallery of note. Since opening two years ago manager Frank Tabar has made the company’s conference room available for art students from the city’s various schools to hang their works to be viewed by the public. Frank’s wife, Marika, […]

President Donald Trump‘s three-day state visit to the U.K. to meet with Queen Elizabeth and other members of the Royal Family, as well as celebrating the 75th anniversary of D-Day, brought KEYT-TV anchor Beth Farnsworth to Maison Mineards Montecito for an interview in my cottage garden. The visit by Trump and his willowy wife Melania […]

Every three years, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Women’s Board takes on a monumental task of an event called “Off The Wall” to raise funds for the Museum’s acquisitions, exhibitions, and education programs. This year it was under the direction of Leigh Shreves and her committee: Susan Bradley, Leisa Cosentino, Wendy Darling, Paula Farrington, […]

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum also just opened its newest exhibit “Rum Running, Sailors & Prohibition” which covers more than 400 years of history and connects Santa Barbara to those times. Why Santa Barbara? Because we have more coastline than any other county in the United States including the Channel Islands. A perfect place to […]

It was all about accentuating the negative when Cabana Home, the interior design store, just a tiara’s toss from the Funk Zone, hosted a reception for Santa Barbara artist George Legrady. Legrady, 69, described as a multidisciplinary digital media artist, had 13 of his interesting works, based in Transylvania, Athens, Greece, and Montreal, on display. […]

Montecito attorney David Gersh has just published his sixth book, How to Collect Great Art on a Shoestring. David, who studied at UCLA and Harvard, says his latest work talks about how to acquire paintings by artists who are in the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and MoMA for just a few thousand dollars, not tens or […]

The Morris Squire Foundation (MSF) Santa Barbara exhibit opening for their spring artist in residence, Manjari Sharma, was held Thursday, March 21, at their Via Maria Villa location. The artist presented her current project, The Shower Series, with prints, an interactive video installation, and book release. Ashley Hollister, Executive Director of MSF, says, “The Squire […]

Locals dreaming of warm summer weather have a chance to do so while viewing new local art, and at the same time help the Montecito Association get a jump on planning the popular July 4 parade, where I have become a regular participant as King George III. The benefit art show Postcards from the Beach, […]

Lotusland hosted a fabulous feast of folded artwork with its new opening representing the work of 12 renowned origami artists throughout the U.S. The overflow crowd for Lotusland in Origami: Flora, Fauna, and Ganna included Asian art historian Meher McArthur and Montecito’s own artist Holly Sherwin, co-curators. Origami is no longer limited to Japan, with […]

I hadn’t been to the MCASB (Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara) for several years. What a nice surprise to see it flourishing with a new exhibit and a new director and chief curator Abaseh Mirvali. There was an exclusive preview for an hour before it was open to the public including a wine and […]

Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff and Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner‘s luxury beachside club, the Coral Casino, hosted a boffo bash for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, which last year helped 3,297 animals in distress. The event, Love Our Wildlife, was a “friend raiser” to also help garner funds for the 31-year-old organization’s busiest […]

Kevin Claiborne curated his first exhibit at the Arts Fund Santa Barbara Gallery, titled Sisyphean Justice, on now through Friday, March 1. From the Washington, D.C. metro area, he has a BS in Math and Computer Science from North Carolina Central University and a Masters in Education from Syracuse University. He currently works at UCSB […]

More than 20 student artists were honored by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara during a presentation and reception at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, with each of them receiving a $2,500 scholarship and their artwork exhibited in the museum’s Family Resource Center. “Much of their work reveals a remarkable maturity and sureness of […]

Davis & Taft, the upper village antiques store, was socially gridlocked when Summerland artist Gerald Incandela staged his latest exhibition, including benches clad in astroturf and a number of his innovative works of art. Tunisian Gerald, a good friend for many years, has works in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of […]