Posted by tracey on: Wed 5th Sep, 2012

via the site Flavorpill.com

Santa Barbara-based Petra Cortright is one of the most alluring web artists to ever exhibit at the New Museum. Alright, her manipulated YouTube videos are just damn mesmerizing. At a particularly poignant moment in her career, her early work VVEBCAM was censored from YouTube for her endless use of offensive keywords like ”sex” “fuck” “orgy” “slut,” even though the content was rather innocent — a passive self-portrait interrupted by the shuffling of random, cartoon-ish web imagery as it was “consumed” by the artist. It is now backed up on Rhizome, and the incident is immortalized in academic circles.

http://www.petracortright.com/sparkling_one_and_two.html

It's nice to be reminded that not all Santa Barbara art is 1st Thursday-esque. 

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, Petra Cortright, Flavorpill, net art

Posted by tracey on: Thu 23rd Aug, 2012

If you're downtown, swing by The Project on De la Guerra. The photo does not do justice to these charming sculptures. When you're there check out other works by the ladies at The Project: Virginia McCracken, Susan Tibbles, Erika Carter and more. Sales benefit Girls Inc. 

http://www.theproject-fineartzone.com/

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, The Project, Lloyd Dallett, art

Posted by tracey on: Fri 29th Jun, 2012

It's been a while - 3 years to be exact - since Béla Bácsi has had an open studio event. Go by and check out his amazing marble and stone sculptures this weekend.

The public is invited to sculptor Béla Bácsi’s open studio event Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1, from 11am - 5 pm  at 115 West Los Olivos Street in Santa Barbara.   The event provides a rare glimpse into the “atelier”, and the creative and production processes of the nationally recognized marble sculptor. Antique stonecarving tools and demonstrations will be featured.

Béla Bácsi, Totem, 2012, Italian statuary marble, graphite and stainless steel 

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, Bela Bacsi, Open Studio, sculpture

Posted by tracey on: Tue 29th May, 2012

Full disclosure, I contributed a little bit o text to this show. I did because Laurel is always making interesting work. Go check it out and see for yourself!

Join us for the opening of our new exhibitions at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum @ Jane Deering Gallery
128 E. Canon Perdido Street . Santa Barbara CA  93101

Laurel Beckman: One Minute to Heaven

June 8–July 28, 2012
Tuesday - Friday 11am-5pm

Opening reception: First Thursday, June 7th, 5-9pm

For her latest exhibition, multi-media artist Laurel Beckman has created an installation that alludes to transcendent moments both in the everyday and under extraordinary circumstances. A focal point of the exhibition is a suite of seven new video animations by the artist.  Eschewing traditional narrative, each sixty-second vignette takes as its main character an animal or fruit that has beenlevitated in research labs exploring gravity and resistance. These whimsical characters undergo both comical and harrowing ordeals which point to ideas such as redemption, perfection, and agency.

The animations are offset by writings submitted by invited participants who describe personal, sublime experiences found in public spaces. Gallery visitors are encouraged to include their own writings about such encounters. Digital prints accompany some of the texts, bridging the written experiences with the video creatures.

Beckman is a Professor of Art at UC Santa Barbara.  With video/animation and public-space projects in Pittsburgh, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans and Los Angeles, Beckman's exhibitions include those in Istanbul, Berlin, Belgrade, Austin, TX, San Francisco, Palestine, New York, and Los Angeles. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts.

http://www.laurelbeckman.com/

Writers who participated in the project include: Dee Hibbert-Jones, Robert Dansby, Alex Bogdanov, Pat Gomez, Mary Ann Chafin, Samantha Fretwell, Barry Markowitz, Stephanie Washburn, Annetta Kapon, Katy McCarthy, Christine Lorenz , Erik Sultzer, Susan Lakin, Emily Halbardier, Kim Beck, Kate Sorensen, Terri Zitnick, Tracey Morris

Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California Santa Barbara
805 893-2951 | http:www.museum.ucsb.edu | free

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, Jane Deering Gallery, Laurel Beckman, UCSB Art, Design & Architecture Museum

Posted by tracey on: Fri 20th Apr, 2012

Be sure to check out the work of Francis M. Dawson in the Living Green section of Earth Day! He'll be working on a living wall display organized by the folks at LoaTree.

You've also seen his work at the Jardin de las Granadas on Anapamu just across from the Library. It's a work called Stochastic Probability which refers to a sequence of random variables which make things happen, in this case, of how plants grow. Check out the video below to see how the sculptures were planted. Then see it for yourself as you head over to Alameda Park and Earth Day!

From Wikipedia:

The concept of the green wall dates back to 600 BC with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. More recently, the larger green walls concept has been utilized with innovative hydroponics technology.

Green walls are found most often in urban environments where the plants reduce overall temperatures of the building. The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is insolation, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Plant surfaces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 4–5 °C above the ambient and are sometimes cooler.

Living walls may also be a means for water reuse. The plants may purify slightly polluted water (such as greywater) by absorbing the dissolved nutrients. Bacteria mineralize the organic components to make them available to the plants.

Living walls are particularly suitable for cities, as they allow good use of available vertical surface areas. They are also suitable in arid areas, as the circulating water on a vertical wall is less likely to evaporate than in horizontal gardens.

The living wall could also function for urban agriculture, urban gardening, or for its beauty as art. It is sometimes built indoors to help alleviate sick building syndrome.

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, Francis M. Dawson, Jardin de las Granadas, Loa Tree, Green Walls, Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, earth day, santa barbara

Posted by tracey on: Tue 17th Apr, 2012

How awesome was it to see Santa Barbara represented at Coachella? I managed to rally at the crack of noon to catch a set by gardens & villa in the Mojave tent on Sunday. I highly recommend checking them out if you're going to the second weekend.

Closer to home you can catch them at the Santa Barbara Bowl for KJEE's Summer Roundup in June.

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, coachella2012, coachella, KJEE, Gardens & Villa, santa barbara bowl

Posted by tracey on: Mon 9th Apr, 2012

These are some amazing theater people working in Santa Barbara. GO!

Dramatic Women Invites you to

AUDITIONS!

Saturday April 14, 2012 10am-4pm
Lobero Theatre Rehearsal Hall

Two New One-Act Plays:

Unfinished Business by Rod Lathim
Wabi Sabi Underground by Ellen K. Anderson
For performance at Center Stage Theater, Santa Barbara
In an evening called THREE May 24-27, 2012

 Get all the info at http://dramaticwomen.org/

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, Dramatic Women, Lobero Theatre, Center Stage Theater, Rod Lathim, Ellen Anderson, Catherine Cole

Posted by tracey on: Wed 29th Feb, 2012

Philip Koplin
falling flying

The Project Fine Art Zone
March 1 - April 1, 2012

Reception March 1, 5-8pm

image: Night Garden

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, The Project, Philip Koplin, 1st Thursday, Downtown Organization, santa barbara

Posted by tracey on: Fri 27th Jan, 2012

Reasons why you should go to the closing reception for Molly Hahn's show at The French Press. 

1. All prints are $20 - $40 

2. Sales benefit McKinley School's ICAN program providing art classes to elementary school children.

3. You can also pick up a copy of her book Izzy's Ukelele Adventure and have it signed.

4. The images are so whimsical and fun you can't help but smile. 

5. You can go and still make it to the 7pm Film Festival shows.

Sunday, January 29, 5-7pm 1101 State St.

www.mollycules.com

Categories:

Tags: sbarts, Molly Hahn, The French Press, Mollycules, illustration, children's book

Posted by tracey on: Wed 4th Jan, 2012

Get a jump on tomorrow's 1st Thursday by checking out the opening reception for a new show of Marie Schoeff's work at Jane Deering's gallery.  This is the first for Jane's season and it is not to be missed. 

Marie Schoeff / TRACES
Wednesday . January 4th . 6-8pm
Jane Deering Gallery
128 E. Canon Perdido Street . Santa Barbara 

from the press release:

TRACES  refers to absence, memory and loss, all of which point to the source of what is left behind.  A trace is proof of something that once existed but is now gone, a memory made tangible.  To draw is to leave a remnant of the movement of the hand as it follows the eye or the imagination of the maker. Likewise, to trace is to discover by investigation.  For me as an artist, to create through tracing is a methodology that enables me to conjure up an elusive image.

 

My images come from within, from personal experiences and observations lodged in my memory. The images in this exhibition have their genesis in the human body, in particular the female form and its capacity for sustaining and giving life. I find a parallel between my subject matter – the female body -- and the generative quality of the trace drawing technique.  Both are capable of transformation. 

 

This exhibition will feature dry point prints and trace drawings which were made during the last two years.  During this time, I turned to printmaking as a means of expanding my practice.  Drawing has always been integral to my studio work and is the essential beginning of these works.  --  Marie Schoeff 

 

Please also join us at the gallery on

Thursday . January 12th . 6-8 pm

for a conversation with Marie Schoeff about the breadth of her work :

drawings . prints . paintings

Marie Schoeff has had solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Barbara.  Her works are in numerous museum, private and corporate collections. She is currently featured in ‘The View from Here’ works from the permanent collection at Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

 Schoeff received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from Hunter College, NY.  She lives in Santa Barbara and teaches at Santa Barbara City College.

image: Marie Schoeff . Coil-Fourth 2011 . drypoint . 30x22 inches

Categories:

Tags: sblifestyle, Marie Schoeff, Jane Deering Gallery

Posted by tracey on: Thu 22nd Sep, 2011

Queen Undaunted: Margaret of Anjou, a one woman show featuring E. Bonnie Lewis of DramaDogs, directed by Ken Gilbert and Michelle A. Osborne, and written by Jinny Webber, gives us Margaret according to Shakespeare, the only person to appear in four of Shakespeare’s plays. Modest and girlish at the beginning, she becomes ruthless, vengeful and fierce. She loves, she hates, she acts with an intensity in a world where women were meant to be compliant and submissive--and quiet. Complex and ambiguous, her voice resonates down the ages. 

September 24 & 25

Center Stage Theater

www.centerstagetheater.org

Categories:

Tags: sblifestyle, Center State Theater, Drama Dogs

Posted by tracey on: Mon 18th Jul, 2011

From the always innovative Laurel Beckman:

SB Moves

Artist videos on Pumpflix gas pump-top screens, on view at 10 stations in Santa Barbara County from July 18 - August 17, 2011 

Pumpflix, Laurel Beckman, and the Department of Art at the University of California Santa Barbara, are pleased to present a unique collaboration in programming artist video content over dozens of pump-top displays at 10 gas stations in Santa Barbara County. Twenty short videos, created by UCSB affiliated artists especially for the occasion, will play in rotation amongst ads, news, weather reports, and community service posts. Streaming over the Pumpflix digital video network to an estimated audience of 200,000 viewers a month*, an artist video will screen every four minutes at each location.

See the project’s Vimeo album at:

http://vimeo.com/album/1645880

Featured artists:  Yumi Kinoshita, Kathryn K. McCarthy, Lauren Norby, Tim Brown, Alejandro Casazi, Elizabeth Folk, Masha Lifshin, Nathan Hayden, Laurel Beckman, Hannah Rose Vainstein, Nicholas Loewen, Van Tran, Luke DePass, and Karen Spector.    

when: July 18^th – August 17^th

where: Pumpflix gas station locations:

76 Station - State & La Cumbre

Seaside Shell - Carrillo & Chapala

Turnpike Shell - Highway 101 & Turnpike

Hollister Fuel Depot - Hollister & Rutherford St.

Winchester Unocal 76 - Highway 101 & Winchester Canyon Road

Fairview Unocal 76 - Highway 101 & Fairview

Turnpike Fuel Depot - Calle Real & Turnpike

Coast Village Chevron - Coast Village Rd & Butterfly Lane

Mesa Fuel Depot - Cliff Drive & Meigs Rd.

Walnut Shell - Hollister & Walnut Lane

Categories:

Tags: sblifestyle, Yumi Kinoshita, Kathryn K. McCarthy, Lauren Norby, Tim Brown, Alejandro Casazi, Elizabeth Folk, Masha Lifshin, Nathan Hayden, Laurel Beckman, Hannah Rose Vainstein, Nicholas Loewen, Van Tran, Luke DePass, and Karen Spector.

Posted by tracey on: Fri 17th Jun, 2011

Top: Ashley Dart, Virginia McCracken, Lloyd Dallett

Middle: Lisa Pedersen, Liz Brady, Erika Carter

Bottom: Donna Ayscough, Susan Tibbles, Theresa Carter

www.theproject-fineartzone.com

20% of sales benefit Girls Inc.

Categories:

Tags: sblifestyle

Posted by tracey on: Wed 13th Apr, 2011

Opens Friday, April 15, 5-7pm

Categories:

Posted by tracey on: Wed 19th Jan, 2011

The first is the exhibition Hilary Brace Drawings at The Arts Fund Santa Barbara. If you haven't seen Hilary's drawings before be prepared to be amazed.  They are meticulously crafted, elegant, often turbulent drawings of clouds and other seeming natural phenomena. Words cannot describe how wondrous these images are -- go see them for yourself!

The following week OUTSIDE opens at the Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College. Featuring the work of local artists Robert Dycus, Gail Pine, Rich Stich, Kim Yasuda, and Pamela Zwehl-Burke; as well as the formerly local Madeleine Tonzi, this exhibition will yet again demonstrate the richness of creative capital here in Santa Barbara. With all mediums represented - painting, photography, drawing,and mixed media - there will be something that speaks to you.

Get out and see some art!

Hilary Brace
Drawings
January 21 - March 12, 2011"
The Arts Fund Santa Barbara 
Reception: Friday, January 21, 5:30 - 7:30pm

O U T S I D E
January 24-February 17, 2011
Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College
Reception: Friday, January 28, 5 -7pm

image: Gail Pine, Who Seeks the Skies
Gelatin Silver Print (Photograph) 7" x 5" Edition of 3
From "The Black Pictures" series 2010

Categories:

Tags: sblifestyle, The Arts Fund Santa Barbara, Hilary Brace, Robert Dycus, Gail Pine, Rich Stich, Kim Yasuda, Pamela Zwehl-Burke, Madeleine Tonzi, santa barbara city college