Tag archives: arts

Shimmy Shimmy: Kerrilee’s Goal is Exaltation
By Jeff Wing   |   September 17, 2024

The decorous sunken lawn in front of Pierre Lafond is ordinarily a still point of shade-dappled peace, the calming eye of any given day’s hurricane. The trees lean in with leafy solicitude, birdsong seasons the scented air, and the good people of Montecito engage in lively conversation, gesturing and gabbing. Into this bucolic set piece […]

Local Artists Rally to Support Storyteller Children’s Center’s Annual Gala
By Montecito Journal   |   September 17, 2024

Santa Barbara’s artist community is joining together for a cause that brings advocacy and support to local children facing adversity. Storyteller Children’s Center’s Annual Gala, themed “Color the World,” will be held on September 27, 2024, spotlighting the organization’s role in bringing vibrancy into the lives of those who are experiencing poverty and trauma. As […]

SBMA’s Sunday: Sounds, Sheep and Stories
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 10, 2024

Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Free Community Day features a flurry of family activities both participatory and observational in celebration of its continuing exhibit “A Legacy of Giving: The Lady Leslie and Lord Paul Ridley-Tree Collection.” Music on the front terrace comes from the local ensembles Slideways Trombone Quartet, Bottom Line Brass Tuba Quartet, and […]

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 […]

Sea Glass Half-full
By Montecito Journal   |   September 10, 2024

Welcoming lovers of sea glass and ocean-inspired art, the annual Santa Barbara Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival will take place on Sept. 14-15 at the Santa Barbara Elks Lodge and events venue. The festival gathers collectors and artists from up and down the coast to display their handcrafted creations with showcases, marketplaces, and education […]

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 […]

‘The Lion Has to Be Happy’ Art Exhibition
By Montecito Journal   |   August 20, 2024

A new art exhibition by contemporary Danish ceramist Marianne Steenholdt Bork is making its North American debut at Solvang’s Elverhøj Museum of History & Art, on view now through October 14. The exhibit, titled The Lion Has to Be Happy, is a traveling exhibit sponsored by the National Foundation of Danish America and The Scan […]

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, […]

Feral, Verdant, Romantic and Ethereal: Mikey Putnam’s Walk through the Cosmos has been a Gift to Us All
By Jeff Wing   |   July 30, 2024

The facts are strange. Our Earth is a largish dirt-covered rock, adrift in an endless, freezing vacuum and handily located next to an enormous lamp which ceaselessly dumps life-enabling energy onto our hills, valleys, and fleabag motels. For about 430 million years our dirt-covered rock has been busily sprouting a kingdom of living flora whose […]

‘Grounded’ An Environmental Exhibition & Fundraiser at Lotusland
By Joanne A Calitri   |   July 23, 2024

Lotusland is holding its annual fundraising duo of an art exhibition and gala. Good news art lovers, the exhibition and art works for sale are online through July 20. If you are attending the sold out Lotusland Celebrates: The Way of the Lotus gala this Saturday, you can select and purchase artwork along the garden […]

Exhibition Offers Room for Reflection
By Scott Craig   |   June 18, 2024

Westmont alumna Ella Jennings (’23), education and outreach coordinator at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, shares her paintings of luminous interiors in an exhibition, Abide with Me, at the Fireside Gallery at Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church, 909 N. La Cumbre, open from 10 am – 2 pm on weekdays.  “The everyday buildings we frequent […]

A&L Launch Party
By Richard Mineards   |   June 18, 2024

UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures program is celebrating its 65th anniversary in grand style with more than 47 events in the entertaining lineup for 2024-2025 featuring world-renowned artists, forward thinking speakers, and impressive ensembles. Performance highlights include legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Wynton Marsalis Ensemble, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Itzhak Perlman, the Alvin Ailey […]

‘Godspell’ Director Earns Praise
By Scott Craig   |   June 4, 2024

Mitchell Thomas, professor of theater arts, won a coveted Indy Award for Directing for his role in staging Godspell. The May 20 event was the first time the Santa Barbra Independent has hosted the awards since the pandemic.  Thomas was most recently awarded an Indy for directing Pride and Prejudice in 2019. The jazz band […]

Campus Connection: Art, Theater, Jazz… and ‘Schmigadoon!’ 
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 21, 2024

Incandescent is the intriguing title of this year’s MFA Thesis Exhibition at UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum (AD&A), on view May 17 to June 9. The seven grad students with heritage from Mexico, Nigeria, Iran, the Philippines, and elsewhere, drew on Michel Serres’ notion of incandescence to create art that emphasizes the interconnectedness of […]

‘TBH’: Exhibit Shines Light on Local Talent
By Scott Craig   |   May 14, 2024

The exceptional talent of local artists will be on full display at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art for its annual Tri-County Juried Exhibition from May 16 to June 15. An opening reception for “[TBH]…To Be Honest,” featuring this year’s juror Walter Maciel, a Los Angeles gallerist, is May 16 from 4-6 pm. Maciel will […]

Art & Wine Tour Goes SoCa
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 14, 2024

After focusing on galleries and food purveyors above the 1000 block of State Street in last year’s Downtown Santa Barbara LIVE Art & Wine Tour, the super popular springtime sampling soirée saunters for several blocks south of Carrillo for the May 16 event. The curated tour of museums, other art spots and sundry various venues […]

Beatrice Tolan
By Stella Haffner   |   May 7, 2024

Come one, come all! Beatrice Tolan is getting ready to put on her first art showcase: HORSE$H*T. The exhibition opens May 2nd and continues until July 2nd. Join Beatrice at Elsie’s Tavern to see her new collection and join me below to hear about the creation process! Q. Thelast time I spoke to you, you […]

Artwork in Wonderland
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 7, 2024

Sullivan Goss’ new exhibition celebrates mid-Spring with a splash of color and a bit of buoyancy, turning the downtown gallery into a Wonderland with both new works by the gallery’s regularly represented artists and pieces from four artists who have never shown there before. The latter group includes Roland Petersen, the Danish-born painter whose works […]

Burnishing the Brain 
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 7, 2024

Can visiting a museum help you conquer feelings of loneliness, or even stave off the advent of dementia? It sure can’t hurt. In their 2023 bestseller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross explore the wide variety of connections that contemporary neuroscience has established between artistic practice, aesthetic […]