“Rocks and Foam” by Michelle Jung, 2014, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. Collection of the artist – available for purchase. (“Michelle Jung: Making Waves”). Courtesy images.
SANTA PAULA — The Santa Paula Art Museum is open, and its summer exhibitions are causing quite the stir. “Making Waves,” a solo show by Northern California artist Michelle Jung, will open June 5, 2021. Jung, who began painting professionally at age 40, has a particular fondness for the sea as she has lived near the coast—east and west—for much of her life. “Making Waves” is a large-scale, immersive presentation of seascape oil paintings that invites viewers to experience the beauty and drama of the Pacific coast. The exhibit will be on view June 5, 2021, to September 12, 2021. Like all of the Museum’s current exhibits, “Making Waves” will also be available to enjoy online at www.santapaulaartmuseum.org.
“Lupin Blooms” by Erin Hanson, 2021, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches. Collection of the artist – available for purchase. (“Erin Hanson: Colors of California”)
Jung’s exhibit will be installed alongside Erin Hanson’s “Colors of California,” which is already receiving rave reviews from museum visitors. Hanson is widely recognized (and has hundreds of thousands of followers online) due to her masterful use of color and unique style of oil painting known as “Open Impressionism.” Hanson’s exhibit at the Santa Paula Art Museum is inspired by the changing seasons and colors of California’s vineyards, coastlines, hills and oak trees. “Erin Hanson: Colors of California” is on view now through July 25, 2021.
Later this summer, the PAC6 Painters return to Santa Paula with their exhibit “Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds: The PAC6 Paints the Wild West.” The PAC6 Painters is a group of six artists and friends who are dedicated to painting the beauty and grandeur of the American landscape; they are Linda Brown, Marian Fortunati, Nita Harper, Debra Holladay, Laura Wambsgans and Sharon Weaver. For their second showing at the Santa Paula Art Museum, the group examines the American west, painting its classic scenery, colorful characters, historic happenings, and all things that make it a uniquely special time and place in history. “Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds” will be on view July 31, 2021, to November 7, 2021.
“Sierra Gem” by Laura Wambsgans, 2020, oil on linen, 18 x 24 inches. Collection of the artist – available for purchase. (“Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds: The PAC6 Paints the Wild West”)
This fall, two group art shows will mark a return to museum gatherings. “Work From Home” will showcase the wide variety of art that artists in our region created during the pandemic as they were forced to work close to home. The exhibit will be on view September 18, 2021, to January 9, 2022. The ever-popular, annual group show “Art About Agriculture” will return to the Museum from November 13, 2021, to March 6, 2022. The show, now in its thirteenth iteration, is presented annually by the Ag Art Alliance to promote awareness of agriculture through art. The exhibition will feature over 50 artists working in all media.
The Santa Paula Art Museum occupies two historic buildings located at 117 N 10th Street and 123 N 10th Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum features rotating exhibitions of vintage and contemporary art, art classes for children and adults, monthly Free Family Days, creative community events, a well-curated gift shop, and more. Please visit the Museum’s website at www.santapaulaartmuseum.org for more information. To contact the Museum, please call (805) 525-5554, or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org.