Mother and Child by Ojai-based artist Tom Pazderka. All That Remains, Pazderka’s solo exhibition, will be on view Aug. 24 through Oct. 2 at Allan Hancock College’s Ann Foxworthy Gallery. Photo courtesy Allan Hancock College.
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SANTA MARIA — Allan Hancock College’s Ann Foxworthy Gallery will present All That Remains, a solo exhibition by Ojai-based artist Tom Pazderka, on view Aug. 24 through Oct. 2.
The exhibition brings together works primarily from Pazderka’s Nostalgie and Family Album series, which explore memory, identity, loss, natural disaster, and the fleeting nature of human existence. An artist talk and reception will be held Sept. 2 from 4 to 7 p.m. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
Pazderka is known for creating paintings using unconventional materials including ash, charcoal, oil paint, and charred wood. He began incorporating ash into his work after witnessing devastating wildfires in Santa Barbara County, using the material to explore the tension between destruction and beauty.
“My interest has always been how to make something that is not only materially interesting but conceptually engaging,” Pazderka said. “The goal is to make something visually compelling that also creates a doorway into difficult subject matter.”
His Nostalgie series depicts towering wildfire clouds that appear both beautiful and threatening, inviting viewers to consider humanity’s relationship with powerful natural forces. Rather than simply documenting destruction, Pazderka uses the imagery to explore ideas of impermanence, catastrophe, and mortality.
The Family Album series takes a more personal approach. Created from old family photographs, the paintings reflect Pazderka’s experience as an immigrant and his evolving relationship with memory, family and identity. Pazderka began the series after his mother returned to the Czech Republic following nearly three decades in the United States.
“So much of what’s in a family album is unknown and unknowable,” Pazderka said. “The paintings become a way of remembering, but also a way of exploring those images for myself and imagining those places as somehow becoming part of me.”
Pazderka has been making art for decades and has exhibited internationally. His work often combines personal history with broader philosophical questions about how people understand their place in the world and how memory changes over time.
The Ann Foxworthy Gallery is located in bldg. L on Hancock’s Santa Maria campus at 800 S. College Drive. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
For more information, contact gallery co-director Elizabeth Russell at erussell@hancockcollege.edu or visit www.hancockcollege.edu/gallery.