UPDATE: In light of the recent developments with the COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County and in accordance with the CDC and State of California, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art has made the decision to close to the public from Monday, March 16 through at least Monday, April 20. The health and safety of our community is the most important factor in this decision.
SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State Street, Santa Barbara, has announced the following upcoming exhibits for 2020.
Enjoy half-price admission!
Exhibitions On View
Tatsuo Miyajima, Counter Ground, 1998–2000. LED, electric wiring, and wooden panels. Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Friends of Contemporary Art.
Tatsuo Miyajima
December 22, 2019 – April 19, 2020
The first solo U.S. museum exhibition of Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima’s art in over two decades, this captivating immersive presentation of four light-based works embodies this internationally renowned artist’s career-long philosophy: Keep Changing, Connect with Everything, Continue Forever. Reflecting millennia-old precepts found in his Buddhist practice, Miyajima ingeniously creates silent, vividly glowing objects and installations from today’s industrially-produced LED numbers and computer technologies that evoke profound and infinite worlds of being, space, and time.
Ann McCoy, Untitled, 1978. Offset color lithograph. SBMA, Gift of Charles Craig, Contemporary Graphics Center, and the William Dole Fund.
The Observable Universe: Visualizing the Cosmos in Art
September 29, 2019 – February 16, 2020
By definition, the observable universe comprises all matter that can be seen or captured with current technologies. As vast and all-encompassing as that may seem, it still presumes a specific perspective from which all else is viewed and conceptualized—one afforded by the particular viewpoint of being on earth. Our unbridgeable physical distance from other cosmic entities, including the infinite reaches of other galaxies, has forced artists to look to observational sciences such as astronomy for inspiration and to employ experimental techniques to conceptualize the vastness of outer space. In astronomy, there are multiple methods used to visualize celestial objects. Similarly, numerous artists’ perceptions of the universe vary widely, inspired by a variety of cosmological models. Drawn primarily from SBMA’s permanent collection and supplemented by loans from area collections, The Observable Universe explores a diverse range of artistic representations of the cosmos, roughly coinciding with the “Space Age” of the last 60 years.
Alfredo Ramos Martínez: On Paper
October 27, 2019 – February 9, 2020
Alfredo Ramos Martínez (1871–1946) was a pivotal figure in the modernist development of Mexican art. He spent his formative years immersed in the artistic life of Paris, returning to Mexico in 1910 on the eve of the country’s Revolution. After becoming director of the famed Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, he established the nation’s first open air schools and encouraged his pupils to create work that captured observations of daily life. In 1929, Ramos Martínez and his family relocated to Los Angeles. For the next two decades, his subject matter focused on the people and culture of Mexico, with the artist receiving many notable mural commissions throughout Southern California. His canvases depict indigenous traditions, local crafts, and religious icons painted in striking hues of umber and sienna accented by bold highlights of color. While Ramos Martínez was celebrated as a painter, some of his most iconic works of art were created on paper. Said to have always carried a Conté crayon in his pocket, the artist frequently drew on newspaper—the printed columns of text supporting totem-like figures of flower vendors. Working in combinations of gouache, charcoal, Conté crayon, and watercolor, he perfected a signature style in which forms were reduced to essentials to create a structural scaffolding across the paper’s surface. Alfredo Ramos Martínez: On Paper is an intimate exhibition of works from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Comprising six drawings, as well as two serigraphs created by his wife María Sodi de Ramos Martínez after his death, the exhibition showcases the artist’s extraordinary draftsmanship, revealing the layered sensibility in his chosen themes.
Kehinde Wiley: Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan
March 3, 2019 – March 22, 2020
Kehinde Wiley has become internationally recognized for his examinations of the aestheticizing of power and masculinity through the time-worn genre of portraiture. This major painting is an extension of the artist’s Rumors of War series, which takes the form of historic equestrian portraiture. In Wiley’s hands, this established genre expands in scale to over nine feet in each dimension, and explodes in color with a revelry of bold and bright hues. Opposed to tradition is also the fact that the sitters for these works are not the typical European nobleman in a powerful position but people the artist meets on the street, mostly from New York. Special workshops and education programs are being planned for the duration of this project. This work comes to SBMA from a generous loan as well as support from Jeanne and Dennis Masel.
Highlights of the Permanent Collection
Ongoing
In celebration of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s 75th Anniversary in 2016, this installation highlights some of the most important works of art from SBMA’s permanent collection, as well as several of the most exciting gifts and acquisitions in the areas of modern and contemporary art, photography, and the arts of Asia.
Events
Thursdays, January 2; February 6; March 5, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Family 1st Thursdays
Bring the whole family and enjoy 1st Thursday together in SBMA’s Family Resource Center located on the Lower Level. Museum Teaching Artists assist families in creating special exhibition-based art projects. Afterwards, enjoy galleries until 8pm.
SBMA’s Family Resource Center
Free
Thursdays, January 9 – March 15, 6 – 9 pm
Winter Adult Ceramics
Inspired by works of art in the Museum’s permanent collection and current exhibitions, students of all skill levels are able to develop and refine both sculptural and functional techniques of ceramics through hand building, throwing, surface decoration, and glazing techniques. This course features small group instruction and individual attention for beginners, while advanced students are welcome to work independently. Suitable for beginners, the classes include both small group instruction and individual attention.
Location: SBMA’s Ridley-Tree Education Center at McCormick House, 1600 Santa Barbara Street
$400 SBMA Members/$485 Non-Members
To enroll, visit register.sbma.net.
Sunday, January 12, 3 pm
Armchair Travel Lecture: Victoria Lautman
Subterranean Ghosts: The Vanishing Stepwells of India
India’s palaces, forts, temples, and tombs are on every tourist itinerary and in every guidebook. But the country’s magnificent subterranean Stepwells remain largely unknown both within and outside the country. These unique water-harvesting structures—marvels of architecture, engineering, and art—proliferated throughout the subcontinent for over a millennium but eventually faded into oblivion by the 19th century. Journalist Victoria Lautman has spent years documenting hundreds of the subterranean structures through articles and photographs, and her landmark book, The Vanishing Stepwells of India, was published in 2017 (Merrell Publishers, London). In this lecture, Victoria traces the fascinating history, variety, and current state of India’s least-known edifices.
Mary Craig Auditorium
$5 SBMA Members/$10 Non-Members
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Sundays, January 12; February 9; March 8, 1:30 – 4:30 pm
Studio Sundays
Visitors of all ages are welcome to participate in this hands-on workshop with SBMA Teaching Artists. Each month explore a different medium, including clay, metal, ink, wood, photography, and paper, and gain inspiration from works of art in the Museum’s permanent collection or special exhibitions.
SBMA’s Family Resource Center
Free
Thursdays, January 16; February 20;l March 19, 5:30 – 7 pm
Writing in the Galleries
Writers of all levels are invited to participate in this informal exploration of the Museum’s galleries as an impetus to writing. Each session is led by a visiting writer/facilitator who begins with a conversation and prompts, partially inspired by works on view. Participants are free to write on their own and then reconvene as a group to share and comment on each other’s work. Please bring a journal or notebook, laptop, or tablet on which to write.
Free
To reserve a spot, email communityprograms@sbma.net.
Thursdays, January 23; February 27; March 12, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Sketching in the Galleries
All skill levels are invited to experience the tradition of sketching from original works of art. Museum Teaching Artists or special guests provide general guidance and all materials. Each program is open to 10 participants.
Free
To reserve a spot, email communityprograms@sbma.net.
Detail of Alfredo Ramos Martínez mural in the Chapel of the Santa Barbara Cemetery, 2019.
Sunday, January 26, 2 – 3:15 pm
Santa Barbara Cemetery Tour
Learn about Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s murals in a guided tour of the chapel of the Santa Barbara Cemetery. Designed by famed architect George Washington Smith, the chapel tells a fascinating story about early art patronage in Santa Barbara. Ramos Martínez was invited to paint a mural in the chapel in 1934, and the resulting work is an extraordinary example of the artist’s style and thematic interests. The tour will be led by David Petry, historian and author of The Best Last Place: A History of the Santa Barbara Cemetery, with the curator of Alfredo Ramos Martínez: On Paper.
$5 SBMA Members/$10 Non-Members/$5 Students
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Lewis P. Tabor, Untitled (Astronomical Study), 1935. Gelatin silver print. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by Howard Stein.
Thursday, January 30, 5 – 8 pm
Cosmic Art & The Night Sky
Explore the cosmos with guided tours of the SBMA exhibition The Observable Universe: Visualizing the Cosmos in Art, followed by a closer look at the night sky through telescopes. View constellations, nebulae, and the moon with astronomers from the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, partners of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, as they share their extensive knowledge of the science of the universe. Weather permitting. Reservations are requested.
Museum galleries & Library Parking Garage #7 rooftop
Free
Tour times are 5:15 pm, 6:15 pm, and 7:15 pm. To reserve a spot, email preferred tour time to
Thursday, January 30, 7:30 pm
Thaliea String Quartet
The Thalea String Quartet brings together artists of Nigerian, Venezuelan, Japanese, and Canadian heritage. With repertoire as diverse as its members, and every bit as exuberant, Thalea connects with audiences on a musical, emotional, and personal level, from first-time listeners to string quartet aficionados. Top prizewinners at both the 2018 Fischoff and Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competitions, Thalea was founded in 2014 and made its U.S. début at the Kennedy Center in 2016. They have performed across North America and in Italy, France, and Belgium.
They will perform Aaron Copland’s Movement for String Quartet, a new work being written for the Thalea Quartet, Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 2, and Three Folksongs in Counterpoint by African-American composer Florence Price.
$20 SBMA Members/$25 Non-Members
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Thursdays, February 6; March 5, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Pop-Up Opera
Opera Santa Barbara returns to present crowd-pleasing pop-up performances. In February, enjoy selections in honor of Black History Month, and in March, Spanish songs and selections from Il Postino.
Museum galleries
Free
Art Matters Lectures
Thursday, February 6, 5:30 pm
Michelangelo: Burning Inspiration
Julian Brooks, Senior Curator of Drawing, J. Paul Getty Museum
Michelangelo is regarded as one of the most creative artists in western art history, using countless drawings to explore the dynamics of the human form and to solve compositional problems. Yet he is recorded as burning hundreds—perhaps thousands—of his sketches and cartoons. Julian Brooks, Senior Curator of Drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum, looks into the extraordinary phenomenon of Michelangelo and his draftsmanship.
Thursday, March 6, 5:30 pm
Frederick Hammersley and the Art of Control
James Glisson, Chief Curator, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Beginning in the late 1940s, Frederick Hammersley experimented with artworks that had a limited range of shapes and color choices often created through elaborate procedures and scripted processes. As this lecture explores, Hammersley used control as way to free himself, to open his mind to new ideas, to play. It begins by focusing on the SBMA’s Hammersley painting, Four awhile (1974), and shares insights drawn from scientific analysis and archival research. The discussion concludes by expanding the discussion to other artists from the mid-20th century who applied rules to structure their art making.
For both:
Mary Craig Auditorium
$10 SBMA Members/$15 Non-Members/Free Students
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Parallel Stories Lectures
Thursday, February 27, 5:30 pm
Jane Smiley: Love Comes First Beauty Follows
Parallel Stories takes a close look at the life-long passions, prodigious productivity, and well-honed writing practice of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley in a far-ranging conversation with longtime friend, fellow author, and colleague in the Creative Writing program at UC Riverside, Andrew Winer. Often epic in scale and yet intimate in telling detail, Smiley’s multigenerational tales tell the story of middle America written, says Winer, “with a classic sense of humanity and compassion that have made her name part of any serious conversation about fiction in our time.” Hailed as one of America’s greatest living writers, Smiley was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001, and in 2006 she received the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature.
Sunday, March 8, 2:30 pm
Juan Felipe Herrera: Writing Love in the Face of Disaster
Parallel Stories flings open the door to the exuberant experimental poetry of former California and U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, in a conversation between Herrera and his longtime friend, fellow author, and colleague in the Creative Writing program at UC Riverside, Andrew Winer. Writing to create, as he says, “incredible bridges,” Herrera confounds all borders including that between the written and the spoken. The son of migrant farmers, which he says strongly shaped his work, he finds his stories in the landscape and language of California. This multiple award-winning author of over 30 books including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, reminds us that we are the poetry makers and invites us to join him. Book signing to follow.
For both:
Mary Craig Auditorium
$5 SBMA Members/$10 Non-Members/$6 Senior Non-Members
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Thursday, March 12, 7:30 pm
Arod Quartet
Established in 2013, the Arod Quartet, based in Paris, has already captivated chamber music lovers, performing more than 80 concerts this season at such prestigious venues as the Auditorium of the Louvre in
Paris and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. The Arod first came to international attention when they won the First Prize at the 2016 ARD International Music Competition and went on to join the BBC New Generation Artists’ roster. The quartet made its Carnegie Hall debut in April 2019. Their program includes Haydn’s Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5, Bartók’s Quartet No. 4, and Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Razumovsky,” by Beethoven.
Mary Craig Auditorium
$20 Members/ $25 Non-Members
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Thursday, March 19, 6 – 7:30 pm
Closing Celebration: Kehinde Wiley
Join SBMA in saying farewell to Kehinde Wiley: Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan. To celebrate the closing of the artist’s Park Projects installation, the Museum is screening the 2014 PBS documentary Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with Rachel Heidenry, SBMA Curatorial Assistant, Contemporary Art.
Mary Craig Auditorium
Free
Reserve tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.