Santa Barbara Museum of Art update for Dec. 14

SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara, announces the following exhibits.

Exhibition Openings

A Brilliant Spectrum: Recent Gifts of Color Photography to the Collection

January 27 – May 5, 2019

Representing a broad range of artists, years, techniques, and themes, this exhibition of approximately 30 works offers viewers a rich and engrossing experience of color photographs by emerging and established artists alike, as it presents a concise and select traversal through the history of color photography from its origins as an accepted artistic tool in the 1960s and 70s, up to today’s most conceptually-driven practices. Due to the generosity of patrons who have given works of art and acquisition funds, the Museum has been able to significantly deepen and expand its holdings in the field of color photography, a groundbreaking and still-influential mode of expression in the art of the past 50 years.

Kehinde Wiley: Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan

March 3 – October 13, 2019

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.

 

Kehinde Wiley: Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan is part of SBMA’s Park Projects—a new series of installations utilizing the grand stairwell at SBMA’s Park Entrance. Serving as the Museum’s main point of access during the ongoing renovation, this space is currently the site of temporary installations of works by cutting-edge contemporary artists. On view to the public for extended periods, these projects provide increased visual impact as well as opportunities for meaningful engagement.

Out of Storage and into the Light: Sculptures That Tell Stories
March 10 – June 23, 2019

This is the first exhibition organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art devoted exclusively to the specific artistic medium of sculpture. The presentation features over 50 objects from the permanent collection, many of which have yet to be exhibited. The selected works of art reveal the impressive historical and geographical breadth of the permanent collection, including Pre-Columbian, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek & Roman, 11th- to 17th-century Southeast Asian, Ancient to 13th-century Chinese, 19th-century African, and 19th- to 21st-century French, English, and American sculpture. An unorthodox juxtaposition of works from such a diverse array of cultures allows for a more global interpretive approach to these works of art. Because the installation is organized thematically (Dance and Music; The Human-Animal; Flight; The Head; The Body), rather than by culture or time period, the unexpected visual proximity of such an eclectic variety of art provokes unexpected trains of thought. This show is guest curated by Gülru Cakmak, Associate Professor of 19th-century European Art at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, at the invitation of Deputy Director and Chief Curator Eik Kahng.

Exhibitions On View

Profound and Discreet Poetry: Photographs by Manuel Álvarez Bravo from the Collection

November 27, 2018 – February 17, 2019

Born and raised in Mexico City and largely self-taught, Manuel Álvarez Bravo (1902–2002) is among the most important Mexican artists of the 20th century and one of the most celebrated figures in the history of photography. Taking cues from the early 20th-century Cubist and Surrealist movements, Bravo remained committed throughout his long career to specifically Mexican subjects. These included religious festivals and symbols, farmers and their lands, the changing urban fabric of Mexico City, and indigenous customs that persevered in the face of modernization. Drawn from SBMA’s extensive Bravo holdings, the 13 photographs in this installation are united by Bravo’s unique vision, which illuminates the lyrical, disquieting, and often hidden peculiarities of everyday life.

 

April Street: The Mariners’ Grand Staircase (Armoured Stars, Flying Clouds)
August 19, 2018 – February 17, 2019

Inaugurating the Park Projects series at SBMA is a site-specific installation by Los Angeles-based artist April Street. The installation takes its inspiration from the historic voyage of Navigator Eleanor Creesy and Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy in the clipper ship Flying Cloud (1851), which set a record by sailing from New York to San Francisco in only 89 days. Comprising 13 three-dimensional paintings in a salon-style configuration, Street’s installation evokes the portrait wall of a grand staircase from ages past. It is also accompanied by sound—an original track by the artist and other actors that may also be construed as an abstracted conversation between the seafaring couple. Referencing history, exploration, mythology, and art history, Street’s work invents sublime parallels with both time and place. April Street: The Mariners’ Grand Staircase (Armoured Stars, Flying Clouds) coincides with the artist’s residency at SBMA’s Ridley-Tree Education Center at McCormick House and a series of interactive projects and environments designed by the artist.

Park Projects is a new series of installations utilizing the grand stairwell at SBMA’s Park Entrance. Serving as the Museum’s main point of access during the current renovation project, this space has become the site of temporary installations of works by cutting edge contemporary artists.

 

Paths of Gold: Japanese Landscape and Narrative Paintings from the Collection

November 10, 2018 – February 10, 2019

This exhibition examines the aesthetics of Japanese art within both private and public interiors by showcasing nine folding screens, two scroll paintings, and examples of lacquerware selected from SBMA’s permanent collection, supplemented by two local loans. The most impressive within the presentation are the screens, dating from the late 16th through the 19th centuries, featuring views of famous places, romanticized historical figures in landscapes, animals, and birds or flora of Japan. Screens were changed seasonally in a traditional Japanese household, selected specifically for a celebration, a gathering of like-minded friends, or a political assembly. A gilded screen enhanced the ambient light in a room, and at the same time, impressed, or even humbled visitors as it reflected the wealth or status of the patron. Also among the treasures in this exhibition is a lavishly decorated 17th-century set of three handscrolls, attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki and illustrating The Tale of Bunsh?. Painted with exquisite mineral pigments and gold, the elegantly written calligraphy and pictorial segments narrate a story on the rise of the merchant class and the struggles of women.

 

Let it Snow! Paintings of Winter
October 7, 2018 – January 6, 2019

French Impressionists, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, are often credited with painting the first snow scenes in their newly minted pictorial language of gesturally applied brushwork and juxtaposed unblended touches of raw hue. But the challenge of depicting snow scenes, which as a matter of course, pose the problem of a limited tonal range that can still blind with refracted and reflected sunlight, has long been a part of the repertoire in the Western tradition of painting. In this installation, a range of European and American artists are represented (including George Bellows, Henri Le Sidaner, Maurice de Vlaminck, Marsden Hartley, Maurice Utrillo, Colin Campbell Cooper, Bruce Crane, Childe Hassam, Wilson Irvine, Jervis McEntee, Grandma Moses, Walter Palmer, and Edward Redfield) and in each canvas, a different motif allows the artist to take expressive advantage of the picturesque effects that snowfall uniquely occasions. Whether the pristine blanketing of a Parisian street scene or the hushed quiet of new snow in the woods of New England, this special installation enfolds the viewer in winter’s poetry as conjured through the brush.

 

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, January3; February 7; March 7, 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

 First and second Saturdays of the month, January – May, 10 am – 1 pm
Ceramic Studio Saturdays
Studio Saturdays are an informal opportunity for students of all skill levels to create ceramics without the long term commitment. Come on the first Saturday to develop or refine both sculptural and functional techniques of ceramics through hand building or throwing. Return the following Saturday to glaze your works of art. This two-part course features small group instruction and individual attention for beginners, while advanced students are welcome to work independently.

SBMA’s Ridley-Tree Education Center at McCormick House, 1600 Santa Barbara Street

$70 per month SBMA Members/$80 per month Non-Members
Register at register.sbma.net.

Thursday, January 10; February 28; March 14,, 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, call 884.6457 or email lvallejo-howard@sbma.net.

Thursday, January 10 – March 21, 6 – 9 pm

Winter Adult Ceramics Class

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. Course includes all materials, firings, and a docent-led tour of the Museum.
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

Sundays, January 13; February 10; March 10, 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

Parallel Stories

Parallel Stories is a literary and performing arts series that pairs art and artists with award-winning authors and performers of regional, national, and international acclaim. This series functions as a multidisciplinary lens through which to view the Museum’s collection and special exhibitions.

 

Sunday, January 13, 2:30 pm

Redrawing the Boundaries: Rachel Cusk

Rachel Cusk has been said to have redrawn the boundaries of fiction with the Outline Trilogy, three “literary masterpieces” (The Washington Post) whose narrator, Faye, perceives the world with a glinting, unsparing intelligence while remaining opaque to the reader. Lauded for the precision of her prose and the quality of her insight, Cusk is a writer of uncommon brilliance, and offers a new, compelling model of storytelling. Cusk is interviewed by Andrew Winer, fellow writer, friend, novelist, and Chair of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. Book signing to follow

Sunday, January 27, 2:30 pm

Reflections on a Watery World: Tony de los Reyes and Sameer Pandya

Inspired by the site-specific installation by Los Angeles-based artist April Street, The Mariners’ Grand Staircase (Armoured Stars, Flying Clouds), this conversation between artist Tony de los Reyes and writer Sameer Pandya explores the symbolic potential of the sea.

Sunday, February 3, 2:30 pm

Reading and Conversation: Maggie Nelson

Maggie Nelson is a writer forging a new mode of nonfiction. Her writing resists categorization—her books span poetry, criticism, autobiography, theory, and the hybrid spaces in between. In heady visceral language, she invites the reader into her open-ended and empathetic way of thinking. Through the dynamic interplay between personal experience and critical theory, Nelson not only broadens the scope of nonfiction writing, but also offers compelling meditations on social and cultural questions.

Sunday, March 10, 2:30 pm

Dismantling Hierarchies: Alex Espinoza

Alex Espinoza’s writing is filled with a sense of place and longing, and an idiosyncratic search for love, meaning, and unflinching truth. In an afternoon of reading and conversation, the author shares his thoughts on Southern California, masks, identity, cultural displacement, faith, the world of lucha libre, belonging, and why what should exclude us, empowers us.

 

For all:

Mary Craig Auditorium

$5 SBMA Members/$10 Non-Members/$6 Senior Non-Members

Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.

Thursdays, January 17; February 21; March 21, 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, contact Luna Vallejo-Howard at 884.6457 or lvallejo-howard@sbma.net.

 

Attributed to HASEGAWA S?taku, Japanese, d. 1611, Cherry Blossoms at Yoshinoyama. Ink, color, and gold on paper; pair of two-panel folding screens, originally fusuma sliding doors. SBMA, Gift of Klaus Naumann.

 

Sunday, January 20, 2:30 pm

Seen and Unseen: Cultural Clues in Japanese “Famous Place” Paintings

Lecture by Hollis Goodall

Focusing on the SBMA screens titled Views of Itsukushima and Wakanoura and Cherry Blossoms of Yoshinoyama, Hollis Goodall explores the genre of “famous places” in Japanese art, looking beyond their physical beauty to the hidden stimuli behind their creation. Sponsored by the Friends of Asian Art

Mary Craig Auditorium

Free

Reserve tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.

Thursday, January 31, 7:30 pm

Maxwell Quartet

First Prize winner and Audience Prize winner at the Trondheim (Norway) International Chamber Music Competition in 2017, the Glasgow-based Maxwell Quartet is now firmly regarded as one of Britain’s finest string quartets, with a strong connection to their folk music heritage and a commitment to bringing together wide-ranging projects and programs to expand the string quartet repertoire. Performing widely across Scotland, the quartet has established a reputation for delighting audiences with their “panache and conviction” (Strathearn Herald) and their “unnaffected enthusiasm” (North Highland Times). The quartet has held residencies at Oxford University, Perth Concert Hall, and many chamber music festivals across the UK, including their own Loch Shiel Festival in the Scottish highlands. The program includes Haydn’sString Quartet in E-flat major, Hob.III:71; Roukens’ Visions at Sea; Scottish Folk Music; and Beethoven’sQuartet in B-flat major, Op. 130.

Mary Craig Auditorium

$20 SBMA Members/$25 Non-Members

Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.

 Thursday, February 7, 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Pop-Up Opera

Opera Santa Barbara returns to present another crowd-pleasing pop-up performance in the Museum galleries.

Museum galleries

Free

 Thursday, March 14, 7:30 pm

Mandelring Quartet

Formed in 1983 in the German wine region in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, three Schmidt siblings—Sebastian, Nanette and Bernhard—join with violist Andreas Willwohl in a partnership dedicated to exemplary performances of chamber music. The Mandelring Quartet’s success in winning some of the world’s great competitions launched an impressive international career that brings them to all corners of the globe. Today, their performing commitments take them to international musical centers such as Vienna, Paris, London, Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. Their discography includes more than 30 CD recordings, which have been repeatedly awarded the German Music Critics’ Prize, and been nominated for the International Classical Music Award. Their program includes Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 1; Bartók’sString Quartet No. 2; and Mendelssohn’s Op. 44, No. 2.

Mary Craig Auditorium

$20 SBMA Members/$25 Non-Members

Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk, or online at tickets.sbma.net.