Tag archives: museum

This chunky Botta’s Pocket Gopher (Thomomys bottae) at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History lived his life at the Santa Barbara Airport, where he was collected October 29, 1963. A robust male, he’s one of the largest specimens preserved in the drawer in the background. Before preparing this taxidermy, scientists measured him as over 11 […]

If this curious pattern looks familiar, perhaps it reminds you of something you’ve seen at the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf. The life-size model of an adult Gray Whale is speckled with clusters of whale barnacles. These are small invertebrates that hitch a ride on the world’s biggest vertebrates. As the whale swims, they filter-feed […]

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) held its second annual Gilded Gala on Saturday, February 28, at Rosewood Miramar Beach. Proceeds from the event support the museum’s commitment to art, education, and community. Guests arrived in elegantly fashionable black-tie and formal attire. The reception featured a formal step-and-repeat area with a Getty Images photographer, […]

Pierre-Joseph Redouté was among the great flower painters of any age. During Napoleon’s reign he was commissioned to paint the roses in Empress Josephine’s garden at Château de Malmaison, her villa outside of Paris. She was devoted to horticulture and filled gardens with both native and exotic roses. Redouté’s fine detailed watercolors were translated into […]

What happens when ocean mist meets mountain light? When a brush meets canvas, and local talent meets natural wonders? Where the Mountains Meet the Sea, a new exhibition of landscape paintings by 12 predominately Santa Barbara-based artists, is soon to be on view from January 22 through March 29, 2026. This absolutely ‘must see’ display, […]

Most museum drawers don’t look anything like this. To help researchers find the specimens they need to consult, a typical drawer of specimens is organized based on how organisms are related to each other, and therefore contains specimens that look similar. This feast for the eyes represents a slice of the mollusk marine diversity preserved […]

This is Ficus eospila, a carnivorous snail from the fig shell group with a dazzling foot like the train of a black-and-white ball gown. Howard/Berry Curator of Malacology Henry W. Chaney, Ph.D. photographed this individual on a 1993 collecting trip in Western Australia with Barry Wilson PhD then at work on the two-volume compendium, Australian […]

About 70 art lovers braved the wet weather for the opening of Between Planes: Exploring Sculpture Through Print on Nov. 13 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. The unique show examines prints made by sculptors, offering a glimpse into artistic thought process of an artist prior to creating a sculpture.  A highlight of the […]

Enlightenment intellectual Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, undertook to describe and classify the royal collections of France and to relate his findings to the broader laws of nature. His book Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux was a landmark in the science of ornithology and helped broaden contemporary interest in natural history. François-Nicolas Martinet engraved the plates […]

Behold: an octopus with a shell! Known as an argonaut, this octopus lives in the open ocean rather than on the sea floor. Females build paper-thin shells to protect their eggs. They live in warmer waters to the south. Summertime currents sometimes bring surface-dwelling warm-water species like this up into the transition zone of the […]

To all my art-society followers, in the words of Hunter S. Thompson, it is time to buy that golden ticket and take the ride to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s 2nd Annual Gilded Gala scheduled for February 28, 2026, which as you read this, is close to selling out (say no to #fomo). Do […]

In life, the skull of this Duck-billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) contained a lot of sensing tools for finding prey underwater. The Y-shaped bones at the front supported a bill full of receptors, thousands of which could sense the electrical fields created by the movements of other animals in the water. Echidnas are the closest living […]

Judy L. Larson arrived at Westmont in 2008, four months before the college broke ground for the Adams Center for the Visual Arts and the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. As the inaugural R. Anthony Askew professor of art and the director of the museum, she taught an art history course while organizing her first […]

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum new exhibition The Swiftest Recovery: Island Fox Chronicles, features a photographic showcase by Chuck Graham (who also contributes to the MJ) that highlights one of the most remarkable conservation success stories in recent history – the tiny fox at Channel Islands National Park. This exhibition, which offers a glimpse into […]

MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovations, hosted its annual spring brunch + learn event, an inspiring and informative showcase of MOXI’s educational programs and commitment to providing access opportunities for all youngsters and families. The event, co-chaired by Angie McGrath and Sabina Vohra-Miller, focused on the benefits of early childhood education and STEAM […]

The long-awaited Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center is a project that dates to 2005. That inaugural impulse two decades ago was itself based on ideas that had begun germinating some thirty years before. All those decades of thinking and planning were seen as actually coming to long-awaited fruition when construction began in 2018. […]

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly Garden has received a BEST in the Nation nomination for USA TODAY’s 10BESTReaders’ Choice Awards. Join the effort to make this happen by voting online at the link in the 411. Voting can be done daily from April 14 to May 12. The nomination by USA TODAY 10BEST […]

Twelve graduating art majors will display their capstone art projects from April 3rd to May 3rd at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free public reception opens Twelvefold: Westmont College Graduate Exhibition 2025 on Thursday, April 3, from 4-6 pm. The exhibition offers diverse themes focused on identity, relationships, and place. The artists include […]

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 […]