Celebrating Local Life and Culture
In celebration of a gift of more than 100 photographs by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, student interns at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UCSB are organizing an exhibition of selected Polaroids and prints by the famed artist. In conjunction with the show, pianist and UCSB alumna Victoria Kirsch and sopranos Suzan Hanson and Shana Blake Hill present an eclectic evening of music inspired by the iconic pop artist.
Art by Priya Kambli, Courtesy of Charles Guise Contemporary
We’ve all been dislocated as some point in our lives. Maybe it occurred when you transferred to the school across town. Or when you ended up in the wrong aisle of the grocery store. Or, as in Priya Kambli and Kate Connell‘s cases, when you moved to another part of the world. The new exhibit at Wall Space entitled Dislocation (opening May 6) seeks to express the complicated feelings that come with such an event. Through the chronicled dislocations of these two artists into foreign nations, the viewer may better understand how some people struggle to embrace the elements of the new while still clinging to the old. Continue reading ‘“Dislocation” At Wall Space This May!’
Courtesy of UCSB Arts & Lectures
Attention all Andy Warhol fans! Head to Warhol’s World in Song: Musical Snapshots from the 1960s for a production as multifaceted as the artist himself. The performances will showcase music surrounding much of Warhol’s greatest works as well as a student-curated Warhol photo exhibition, Fame and the Mundane: Andy Warhol’s Photography. This dynamic performance is going down on May 8 at 8 p.m. at UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum.
“Christina’s World” by Andrew Wyeth (courtesy photo)
Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) was in the middle of an artsy sandwich—the fixings between two pieces of bread. His father, N.C. Wyeth, was a well-known Brandywine School style illustrator who taught his art to his son. Andrew Wyeth later passed his skills onto his own son, Jamie Wyeth (who paints in the same general areas as his father and grandfather). If you are dying to witness this generational progression of talent, then you are in luck! Andrew Wyeth’s work will be brought to us for the first time on the West Coast (yes – first time!) beginning May 2! Sullivan Goss will present 20 of Wyeth’s works, along with one by his father and one by his son. The exhibit will remain until June 30.
Andrew Wyeth’s work was hugely controversial in the 20th century. As other artists embraced abstraction, he thrived in detailed representationalism. His works spoke to the human heart like poetry—and like poetry, some people loved it and others hated it.
Because Wyeth mostly worked in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and South Cushing, Maine, his work focuses in on nature’s rugged and rural surfaces. His art creates a yearning within the viewer that can only spring from aesthetic experiences. Some of Wyeth’s more famous pieces include “Christina’s World” and the famous 240 “Helga” paintings.
Don’t miss your chance to witness this artsy sandwich! Join in the conversation and understand the controversy over Wyeth’s work by visiting Sullivan Goss sometime between May 2–June 30.
~Elise Kimball
Tea Ceremony, Courtesy of SBBG
Love tea? Love culture? This May, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is set to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the Japanese Teahouse, ShinKanAn, being moved into the Garden. (Yes, they moved a whole teahouse!) Teahouse events will take place May 4 and 5 for the public to celebrate and discover.
At 1 p.m. on May 4, an open-to-the-public tea ceremony will take place. Also, tours of ShinKanAn will take place before and after the ceremony ( at noon and 2 p.m.). There will even be traditional Japanese sweets, Matcha tea and a light lunch on the Garden’s Arbor Terrace for you to enjoy!
Because this event has limited spots, make sure to order tickets by calling 805/682-4726 ext. 102 or visit the Garden website here.
On May 5, an ongoing tea ceremony will take place from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. during the Teahouse open house. The ceremony will be demonstrated by tea school students (Tea school exists! Sign us up.).
Before the Teahouse found its (laborious) way into the Botanic Garden, it resided in a lemon orchard in Hope Ranch for almost 50 years. Mme. Sokyo Kasai is now curator and tea master of ShinKanAn, making it an authentic place for the traditional tea ceremony, Chanoyo. Come to these events to learn more!
There will also be a Bonsai Club display at Blaksley Library on May 18 and 19 that will feature…you guessed it, Bonsai plants! These little trees are constantly being crafted into never-completely-finished, beautiful art forms. There will be a 1 p.m. demonstration on both days. To learn more about the club and their meeting times, click here.
~Elise Kimball
Courtesy of SBMA
Slow Art Day…it’s crawling closer.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art is proud to bring Slow Art Day yet again to our appreciative gazes on April 27! Docents will impart knowledge of different art forms, and we commoners will have a chance to contemplate art at an easy pace and to share what we find. Participants will learn how to observe art and relish the experience of its influences.
These artistic lessons could come in the form of group discussions in front of the Asian Art collection after a moment of
Mount Fuji Seen from Waterwheel at Onden, by Katsushika Hokusai, courtesy of SBMA
contemplation. Or your creative docent might allow for ten minutes of silence in front of a handful of photographs in the collection This World Is Not My Home: Danny Lyon Photographs before a discussion of the pieces. However your particular experience pans out, Slow Art Day is something you don’t want to whizz by.
So peer out of your window with eager expectation and imagine the clouds (I know, what happened to the summer weather?) to be galleries and your mind, an expert. Slow Art Day is coming. And this year, you’ll want to be there—you’ll want to learn about what your mind can do, and the way that you uniquely see and experience art. You’ll want to participate with over 200 museums and galleries in this event on April 27.
Danny Lyon, Crossing the Ohio, Louisville (1966). The Menil Collection, Houston, gift of Kenneth G. Futter. © 2012 Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos. Currently on display in SBMA; courtesy of Edwynn Houk Gallery
For a schedule, click here. There is no additional cost, and you may attend as many talks as you wish!
For more information about Slow Art Day, click here.
~Elise Kimball
Westmont Senior Talia Sheets (on right), courtesy of Westmont College
Westmont College is proud to present 12 Speed, this year’s senior art show featuring work by twelve (telling title, eh?) graduating art major students! The exhibit will be open through May 4 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. Museum hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Monday through Friday and 11 a.m.–5 p.m. on Saturday.
Because there are only 12 graduating art students (last year there were 23), the seniors literally have more room for creativity. Mediums include etching, digital photography, drawing, painting, mixed media, digital painting, assemblage and sculptural installation.
Don’t miss this important capstone project of the budding artists of the world! Congratulations Paige Boies, Benjamin Bisson, Tim Cederwall, Andrew Loy, Avary Mitchell, Amelia Neal, Alisha Paulsen, Bekah Rogers, Talia Sheets, Kalie Stier, Ari Stork and Samantha Watts!
For more information, click here.
~Elise Kimball
One of many Fringe Festival posters, courtesy of Westmont College.
Westmont College is “on the verge” of its biggest collaborative arts effort of the year! Fringe Festival, an annual celebration of dance, theater, music and art, features over 70 students involved in creating works of art in unique ways.
From April 11–13 and 18–20, these students will put on a nightly show, with overlapping performances around Westmont’s Porter Theatre and patio. The theme is “On the Verge”—fitting, as the students must push their limits to prepare for this mega production.
“It’s all student-driven,” says senior choreographer and dancer Candace Adams. “They write the plays, they direct them, I’m choreographing and dancing. It’s really fun to work with everybody, because it’s a big collaboration; you work with art students to design posters, and you get to show off whatever you want to present.”
This year’s festival includes eight plays written by Master of Fine Arts students at UT Austin and UC San Diego as well as various dances across every style.
The program begins nightly Friday-Saturday at 7 p.m. Grab your tickets at the Porter Theatre box office or call ahead to reserve tickets at 805/565-7140.
—Chelsea Joy
Shoreline House for Orange County Home Show by Whitney Smith and Wayne Williams, Smith and Williams, 1957, courtesy of UCSB’s Art, Architecture, and Design Museum
Santa Barbara is full of architectural buffs, from Spanish Revival lovers to modernist enthusiasts. Over the next few months, cultural institutions all over California will be celebrating the history of modern architecture. As part of this initiative backed by The Getty Foundation, UCSB’s Art, Design and Architecture Museum will debut a new exhibit tonight titled “Outside In,” with an opening reception at 5:30 p.m.
Co-curators Jocelyn Gibbs and Christina Chiang utilized the extensive UCSB Museum archives to create an exhibit that celebrates the modernist architectural influence of the Smith and Williams firm, which operated in post-World War II Los Angeles and Pasadena. The “Outside In” exhibit derives its name from the architects’ reputation for incorporating the landscape and architecture, bringing the natural world into the synthetic one. Despite the historical renown of the architectural firm and the many awards that their plans received, the “Outside In” exhibit is the first monograph to exclusively examine the Smith and Williams firm.
Tonight’s free opening reception features gallery walk-throughs with the curators and special guests, including family and friends of the architects. Additionally, both tonight’s reception and the gallery are free and open to the public. Directions to the exhibit and reception can be found on the UCSB Museum website.
-Miles Patton
Painting by Marla Bonser (Laguna Blanca Student), Courtesy of ACDC
If you are a young adult struggling with your artistic dreams, or if your child is such a young adult, then make sure to attend the third annual Art Career Day Conference (ACDC), where you or your artsy kin may benefit from personal contact with local artists of all mediums.
Budding artists have trouble believing that they can carve a path for themselves. It’s tough trying to make your way in the art world. And you must be equipped with wings if you are expected to fly.
This encouraging and informative event will take place at Santa Barbara City College in the Fe Bland Forum from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. on Saturday, April 6. Over a dozen round-table discussions will allow teens and young adults to interact with professional artists, whether discussing their ambitions and paths or learning more about their dreamed-of fields.
And what fields will be represented by the speakers? Subjects will range from literature (represented by the dazzling Starshine Roshel) and photo journalism (represented by the ever-shooting Paul Wellman) to acting (represented by the 70s, 80s and 90s television actress Ann Dusenberry). The keynote speaker will be fabulous film and theater man David Debin and Shirin Rajaee, KEYT3 newscaster, will emcee the event. Click here for a full list of speaker-artists.
Art Without Limits, ACDC’s lead agency, strives to help young artists create one-on-one mentor-ship relationships with local artists who can council them on their potential career paths. Prepare those wings for flight. Don’t miss this important step! And don’t let your beloved young adult miss the opportunity to learn more about his/her prospective profession!
ACDC is entirely free, but you need to reserve a space. For more information, click here.
~Elise Kimball
