Throughout 2023, galleries and other art venues across Northern Santa Barbara County proved to be not only familiar outposts for paint brush-happy locals, but hubs for traveling artisans as well.
Some of my favorite exhibits in the Sun’s coverage area this year showcased artists hailing from settings far from the Central Coast, such as London, England, and the equally majestic realm of Sacramento, California.
Here’s a roundup of my favorite art happenings that highlighted both local and visiting artists over the past 12 months.
Cocoon rune
In January, Santa Maria-based artist Luis Linares completed his butterfly mural, La Mari.Posa, at the Santa Maria Town Center. The project took about five days, Linares told the Sun, and mall-visiting passersby were able to watch the painter in action during the process. “I hope this mural gives mall visitors and the community hope, and that everybody feels welcome to take pictures by it,” said Linares, an independent, self-taught artist who often collaborates with nonprofits on public art projects. More info about Linares’ artwork can be found on most social media platforms—including Facebook and Instagram—under the local artist’s brand name, Drawing805.
Candid canvas
Born and raised in London, Annie Hoffman was the featured artist at Gallery Los Olivos during the month of February. Dance Poetry was one of the Santa Barbara-based painter’s oil pieces on display during the solo exhibit, titled Seeing Ourselves in Color, which included more than 20 oil paintings. Hoffman said that Dance Poetry is based on a young dancer she photographed during a Cinco de Mayo festival in downtown Los Angeles. “I typically ask people permission to take their picture,” the painter told the Sun. “But I rarely ask anyone to pose—as I want to capture spontaneous gestures or emotion.”
Crab battle
Watercolor and acrylic artwork by Orcutt resident Elinor Plumer were on display during a two-month exhibition at the Santa Maria Airport. Sponsored by Valley Art Gallery, the showcase opened in early February and ran through the end of March. One of Plumer’s featured paintings in the show was Boilers Vs. Old Bay, a whimsical depiction of personified crabs playing volleyball. A longtime artist and art instructor, Plumer appreciates the act of painting as a form of relaxation. “Art is a wonderful thing,” Plumer told the Sun. “It’s therapeutic, it’s meditative, it’s healing, and if you’re worried or concerned or fearful about something, you start painting and everything goes away.”
Quack tact
In late March, the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature premiered a unique group show, Bird’s Eye View: Four Perspectives, which showcased a variety of bird-themed media by four participating artists and remained on display through the end of August. In conjunction with the exhibit, one of the show’s featured artists, Chester Wilcox, hosted a public woodcarving demo. The Sacramento-based woodcarver specializes in crafting lifelike bird pieces, including duck decoys. “He’s had folks argue with him and say there’s no way that’s wood, because they’re just so real,” Lauren Sharp, the Wildling Museum’s former assistant director, said about Wilcox. “The whole goal of his art form is to strive for that perfection.”
Fieldwork
To support a local nonprofit, the family of Nat Fast (1924-2013) decided to donate a rare collection of the late artist’s sketches to sell as part of a fundraiser auction in Santa Maria. “A few of us have quite a few of dad’s works, so a couple pieces came right off the walls to contribute,” one of Nat’s daughters, Marti Fast, told the Sun. Auction proceeds benefited St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and its various community services, including an ongoing partnership with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County to distribute food weekly to more than 200 local families in need. Some of Nat’s felt pen drawings featured in the auction were the preliminary sketches that spawned his larger watercolor paintings, such as Strawberry Pickers.
Drawing attention, intentionally
The opening reception for Los Angeles-based artist Jennifer Gunlock’s mixed media showcase at Santa Maria’s Ann Foxworthy Gallery was held in early November. Sapling III was one of several collage pieces included in the exhibit, which remained on display at the gallery—located at Allan Hancock College’s Santa Maria campus—through mid-December. Gunlock described her collage work as an aim to draw viewers’ attention to Western civilization’s attempts to dominate and manipulate nature. “An especially alarming example of this for me in just the last decade is witnessing downtown Los Angeles sprouting upward and growing denser like weeds after a wet winter, as well as the enormous swell of the local population,” Gunlock told the Sun.
Send arts story tips to Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood at [email protected].
