Tag archives: museum

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History announced the newest members to its Board of Trustees: our town’s Hiroko Benko and Amanda Lee. Both women have long histories as professional businesswomen and philanthropists.  Benko is renowned for her historic ocean exploring vessel, The Condor Express, founded by her late husband Fred, for which she is the […]

A lively and enthusiastic crowd packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art for the opening reception of “5×5: Westmont College Celebrating 85 Years” on November 30. There is certainly a lot to see with more than 675 small pieces of art hung in the gallery – all of which are being auctioned off to […]

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) Board of Trustees held its sponsor supported Black Tie Autumn Dinner titled “Art’s Artful Affairs: Seasons of Change” at the museum on Wednesday, November 15, from 5:30 to 9 pm. The elegant event commenced with a champagne and wine reception in the museum’s Ludington Court Gallery amidst the […]

Iconic artist and art gallery owner Ralph Waterhouse celebrated his 80th birthday in style with a party for 90 guests at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History with his bubbly wife, Diane. The dynamic duo have owned an eponymous gallery in La Arcada for 39 years and last April opened a new outlet on […]

What is Art if not Pivotal? This week, I talked with the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA), Larry J. Feinberg PhD, at his office about the legacy of his brilliant leadership since being appointed in 2008. Under his progressive vision, we find his […]

Social gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum when it hosted its annual La Fiesta del Museo for 220 guests raising around $100,000 for the popular institution with all tickets selling out in two hours. Ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri emceed the bustling bash and conducted the auction, with an etching by cowboy artist […]

Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s latest exhibition, Project Fiesta, marking the 99th anniversary of Old Spanish Days, was a Herculean task. Museum president Dacia Harwood and her colleagues had to sort through thousands of photos in the institution’s Gledhill Library to pick just 99 shots, mostly black and white, taken since Fiesta was founded in 1924. […]

Oenophiles and gourmands were out in force at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History when the popular venue hosted the region’s premier food and wine event, attracting 1,400 supporters to the sprawling 17-acre Mission Creek campus, raising more than $200,000 for the museum’s programs and exhibits. Around 200 VIP tickets, giving early access to […]

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has three new board members – Don Barthelmess, Tom Elliott, and Chad Makela. The 21-member board provides oversight to the stewardship of the harborside organization, and the tony triumvirate brings a unique skill set and experience to the role.

Inclement weather and a time change marked The Power of MOXI brunch for 100 guests at the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, which has welcomed more than 790,000 visitors since opening in 2017, just a tiara’s toss or two from Stearns Wharf. Normally the event, which raised more than $40,000 for the institution’s education […]

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 […]

The 2003 epic period war-drama Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World concerns a British captain pushing his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a French war vessel off the South American coast. Based on Patrick O’Brian’s beloved series of novels set in the Napoleonic Wars, the film received 10 […]

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has a new deputy director, Jessica Tade. Tade, who holds a Ph.D. in art history from UCSB, has worked for more than a decade for organizations either promoting the arts or providing access and opportunity to the community. Among other positions, she has served as the director of communications and marketing […]

MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, was first incorporated in the 1990s as the Children’s Museum of Santa Barbara. It was the brainchild of many dedicated community leaders with Jill Levinson, Alixe Mattingly, and Nancy Sheldon spearheading the campaign to construct the sandcastle-shaped building. Groundbreaking didn’t occur until 2015 and its iconic, arched […]

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has just opened its latest illuminating exhibit, The Lure of Lighthouses & Dancing Waves, an impressive collection of more than 35 large-scale images and panoramic photographs of waves and lighthouses around the world taken by renowned Emmy Award-winning surfing photographer and videographer Dan Merkel. “I first met Dan when he joined […]

Society News is pleased to share the 2023 Legacy Award Winners of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH), which were announced at a private Leadership Circles of Giving soirée last week. The Legacy Awards went to philanthropists Elisabeth and Greg Fowler; Renee Grubb,owner of Village Properties; andornithology supporter, John O’Brien. In his speech […]

A pertinent historical and classical portrait exhibition is on view at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum titled, “Clarence Mattei (1883-1945), Portrait of a Community,” curated by the museum staff in conjunction with Santa Barbara historian Erin Graffy. Mattei’s portraits feature local to international luminaries, politicians, film stars, and the elite. His father Felix founded Mattei’s […]

It was a spooktacular Halloween weekend when the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History hosted a fearsome fundraiser for adults with all 250 of the $120 tickets being snapped up for a spine-tingling bash, with ghostly halls and spooky woods. Creatively costumed guests met frightful and delightful curiosities around each and every corner and at […]

I attended the opening of Ishi Glinsky’s solo exhibit titled Upon a Jagged Maze at the Art, Design & Architecture (ADA) Museum at UC Santa Barbara, sponsored by the ADA Museum’s Council. The exhibit is on view through January 22, 2023.  The 25 works from 2009 to 2022 were selected by museum Director Gabriel Ritter, […]

With students about to swarm back to the seaside campus, UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum is opening its fall-winter exhibition, “Ishi Glinsky: Upon a Jagged Maze.” The show is the first solo museum exhibition of L.A.-based Glinsky, an early career survey of 25 works made over the past decade including painting, works on paper, […]