Tag: Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Feb. 25 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘A Morning with Janna Ireland’

Janna Ireland lives in Los Angeles, where she is an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Occidental College. A broad selection of Ireland’s work was included in the exhibition Family Album: Dannielle Bowman, Janna Ireland and Contemporary Works from LACMA at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Charles White Elementary School Gallery. Ireland’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of institutions including LACMA, the Nevada Museum of Art, the California African American Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

March 23 — SoCal Museums (including Museum of Ventura County, Santa Barbara Museum of Art) announce the annual MUSEUMS FREE-FOR-ALL Day

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — SoCal Museums announces the 19th Annual Museums Free-for-All on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Over 30 museums—presenting art, cultural heritage, natural history, and science—will open their doors and invite visitors to attend free of charge.

Locally, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH), and the Museum of Ventura County, all members of SoCal Museums, will participate in offering free admission. In the case of SBMNH, booking advanced reservations by visiting sbnature.org is encouraged and free admission is for the museum only, not the Sea Center.

May 19 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present FREE Talk and Book Signing of ‘The Butterfly Wood House’ by Architect Robert Ooley

Join us for a presentation and signing of the book The Butterfly Wood House by Robert Ooley, FAIA. Robert has been an architect for the private and public sector on the Central Coast for over 25 years. He is an author, playwright, and the Director of Facilities for SBMA.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Butterfly Wood house opens the door into one of the architect’s last commissions of his Prairie Style and is the only example of that time in his career on the west coast of the United States. Located in the secluded enclave of Montecito, California, at the corner of Hot Springs and Summit Roads is this 4,500-square-foot redwood treasure. This story weaves together the family that wanted a coastal retreat, a world-renowned embattled architect, and the house they made together.

June 6 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present free public performance of ‘The Earth Under Our Feet’ with Artist Ashwini Bhat

After 35 years in Southern India, transdisciplinary artist Ashwini Bhat now lives and works in the foothills of Sonoma Mountain, CA. Coming from a background in literature and training in Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance, Bhat uses sculptures, installations, video, and text to develop a unique visual language exploring the intersections between body and nature, self and other.

Aug. 25 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art Presents A Day of Music in the Galleries

Featured musicians Jessica Guideri (violin), concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony, and Amy Tatum, principal flute for the Santa Barbara Symphony, will play a combination of solo pieces and duets. Each piece will be roughly 20 minutes in length, each responding to a different work in the exhibition. Performances are at 1 pm, 1:15 pm, 1:45 pm, and 2:15 pm.

Through Nov. 3 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art presents ‘A Legacy of Giving — The Lady Leslie and Lord Paul Ridley-Tree Collection’

For over 25 years, Lady Leslie and Lord Paul Ridley-Tree generously supported the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in its mission “to integrate art into the lives of people.” Leslie Ridley-Tree served on the Board of Trustees for 15 years, President of the Board of Trustees from 1994 to 1996, and became a Life Honorary Trustee in 2014.

Jan. 28 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present From Page to Silver Screen: The Maltese Falcon

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present “From Page to Silver Screen: The Maltese Falcon — SBMA Museum Collectors Council Film Screening,” from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Through Jan. 2023 — SBMA’s Parallel Stories features artist Marshall Brown and the opening of ‘The Architecture of Collage’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Parallel Stories features artist Marshall Brown and the opening of “The Architecture of Collage” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct.. 2 at 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Layering, fragments, appropriation, cutting, higher cribbing, collage, and what artist Marshall Brown has called “creative miscegenation,” are all part of the crucible in which familiar themes are recast in art and literature. Is the resulting cross-disciplinary mashup an homage to what is left, what is kept, and what is removed? Award-winning andNew York Times bestselling author Jonathan Lethem joins artist, Urbanist, Princeton University professor of Architecture, and critical-thinking futurist Marshall Brown in a conversation about what Lethem termed the “Ecstasy of Influence.” Book signing to follow.

Feb. 9 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art features ‘Parallel Stories — Couples’ with Rachel Cusk, Siemon Scamell-Katz, and Andrew Winer

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art features “Parallel Stories” with Rachel Cusk, Siemon Scamell-Katz, and Andrew Winer at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Inspired by the artistic collaboration of Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz and the SBMA exhibition Scenes from a Marriage: Ed & Nancy Kienholz, Parallel Stories examines what happens in fiction and life when artist couples work together.

March 2 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Miró Quartet Chamber Music Concert

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Miró Quartet Chamber Music Concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Formed in 1995, the Austin, Texas-based Miró Quartet, is one of America’s most celebrated string quartets, having performed throughout the world on the most prestigious concert stages. They won first prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, and in 2005, became the first ensemble ever to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Miró is quartet-in-residence at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, OR and Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival in Washington State.

May 4 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present the Art Matters Lecture ‘Men in Pink: Eighteenth-Century French Portraiture’

Though never as ubiquitous in the 18th century as the color blue, pink became the color par excellence of the French Rococo. The color was intimately associated with the so-called “Godmother of the Rococo,” Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV.

July 6 — SBMA to present Art Matters Lecture on Zurbarán and Murillo

During the 1620s and 1630s, Seville’s many religious foundations kept Francisco de Zurbarán and his large workshop busy with commissions. After about 1640, however, Zurbarán’s sober and restrained style lost favor to the softer look and more emotional appeal of younger artists, and he began to actively produce paintings for export to the New World.

July 20 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Reading and Conversation of ‘Blue Skies’ by T.C. Boyle

Returning to the Museum in what has become a much-anticipated and highly-animated annual event, T.C. Boyle, Santa Barbara’s prolific and perennial favorite, reads from his latest novel, Blue Skies.

Aug. 19 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Wares!’ exhibition artist Seth Bogart in Conversation and Free Workshop

Join WARES! exhibition artist Seth Bogart for a casual conversation, hands-on demo, and unique opportunity to create with clay and cardboard. Pinch, roll, repurpose, twist, glue, and build with the help from Museum Teaching Artists, and explore how the ordinary can be elevated. Dress for mess.

Nov. 1 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Manderling Quartet

SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present the Manderling Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

The Mandelring Quartet, founded in 1983, is the winner of major competitions, including ARD’s International Music Competition and the Premio Paolo Borciani. They are frequent performers at international musical centers and leading festivals such as the Schwarzenberg and Hohensems Schubertiades, the Lower Rhine Music Festival, and the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival. The ensemble was Quartet-in-Residence for the 2020/21 season in the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.

Nov. 5 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Sketching Ideas’: Writing’s Visuality in Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting

SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Sketching Ideas’: Writing’s Visuality in Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting Lecture by Peter Sturman, Professor, Department of History of Art and Architecture, UC Santa Barbara at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Xieyi, “the writing or sketching of ideas,” refers to a particularly free-form mode of painting in China that showcases the artist’s virtuosity wielding a quick-moving brush to capture vibrant and seemingly spontaneous images. Forefronting the dynamic potential of the brush, the technique naturally calls to mind the art of calligraphy, especially the dynamic cursive script, but Xiyu’s association with the art of writing goes far deeper than surface appearances. Spontaneity implies naturalness and authenticity, even spiritual transcendence. Moreover, for scholar-official painters, Xiyu’s linkage to calligraphy offered an essential bridge between image-making and literary expression.

Nov. 9 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present free film screening of ‘América Tropical: The Martyr Mural of Siqueiros’

SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present free film screening of “América Tropical: The Martyr Mural of Siqueiros” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

This free screening of the documentary América Tropical: The Martyr Mural of Siqueiros, is followed by a discussion with Dignicraft filmmakers Omar Foglio, Paola Rodríguez, and José Luis Figueroa and moderated by Edgar Garcia, Assistant General Manager, El Pueblo de Los Angeles, and James Glisson, SBMA Curator of Contemporary Art.

Jan. 6 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Art Matters Lecture ‘Buried by Vesuvius: Conserving a Monumental Drunken Satyr Bronze Statue from Herculaneum’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Art Matters Lecture
“Buried by Vesuvius: Conserving a Monumental Drunken Satyr Bronze Statue from Herculaneum,” with Erik Risser, Associate Conservator of Antiquities, J. Paul Getty Museum, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022.

In advance of the international loan exhibition Buried by Vesuvius: Treasures from the Villa dei Papiri at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles in 2019, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN) generously lent the bronze statue of a Drunken Satyr for study, analysis, and conservation.

Jan. 23 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Parallel Stories Controlling the Narrative: Both/And

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present “Parallel Stories Controlling the Narrative: Both/And” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23.

In a conversation and reading, Emily Rapp Black, award-winning author of Poster Child: A Memoir and The Still Point of the Turning World, a New York Times bestseller, explores art and disability in her most recent book Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg. With elegance, tenderness, and zero sentimentality, she deconstructs the mythologies of words like bravery and resilience and recognizes in Kahlo a twin at the art of creating to silence pain. Joining her is colleague Alex Espinoza, Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at UC Riverside and author of novels Still Water Saints and The Five Acts of Diego Léon, and the recent nonfiction book Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime.

March 13 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources’ exhibit symposium

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present “Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources” exhibit symposium from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 13.

In conjunction with the exhibition Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources, join five scholars for a one-day seminar on the themes of the exhibition.

March 20 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Vincent’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present “Vincent” at 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20 at the Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Vincent is the critically lauded one-man play, written by Emmy-nominated actor Leonard Nimoy, that paints a thoughtful, imaginary scenario about one of the most famous names in the art world, Vincent van Gogh. Based on excerpts from the hundreds of letters exchanged between the artist and his brother Theo, this version of the intimately scaled play features Charles Pasternak, award-winning actor and Designate Artistic Director of Santa Cruz Shakespeare, in the dual roles of Vincent and Theo.

March 22 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Paris-based Arod Quartet

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Paris-based Arod Quartet AT 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St.

With all four members only in their twenties, the Paris-based Arod Quartet has already dazzled awestruck chamber-music lovers in concerts at such prestigious venues as the Auditorium of the Louvre in Paris and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

March 31 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Parallel Stories ‘On Freedom: A Conversation with Author Maggie Nelson’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Parallel Stories “On Freedom: A Conversation with Author Maggie Nelson” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 31.

Author Maggie Nelson returns to SBMA’s Parallel Stories with a reading and discussion of On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, a boundary-pushing, provocative work that explores the notion of freedom through four lenses: art, sex, drugs, and the climate. In this highly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning The Argonauts, Nelson continues to astound as “one of the most electrifying writers at work in America today, among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation” (The Guardian).

April 7 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Van Gogh the Anglophile: Looking Through his Eyes at Victorian Art Art Matters Lecture with Malcolm Warner’

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present “Van Gogh the Anglophile: Looking Through his Eyes at Victorian Art Art Matters Lecture with Malcolm Warner” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

As a pioneer of the modern movement, Van Gogh seems an unlikely fan of what we call Victorian art. But his time in London left him with a love of English painting and illustration. He looked up to the pre-eminent English painter, John Everett Millais, and collected gritty, working-class images from London magazines. “For me,” he wrote to his brother Theo in 1882, “one of the highest and noblest expressions of art is always that of the English.”

April 14 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art presents ‘Shadow Art: Influences and Inspirations’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present “Shadow Art: Influences and Inspirations,” Parallel Stories with Sameer Pandya and Andrew Winer, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

The exhibition Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources reconnects this iconic artist to his 19th-century context and invites us to consider the artists, musicians, and writers he admired.

April 27 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘UCSB Gagaku Project — Music of the Imperial Ceremonies of Japan, One Thousand Years of Elegance and Harmony’

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present “UCSB Gagaku Project — Music of the Imperial Ceremonies of Japan, One Thousand Years of Elegance and Harmony” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 27 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

In collaboration with the UCSB Gagaku Project, a multidisciplinary initiative spearheaded in 2019 by UCSB Professor Fabio Rambelli, SBMA’s Friends of Asian Art is proud to present a Japanese gagaku performance.

April 28 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present the Valencia Baryton Project at next Chamber Music Concert

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present the Valencia Baryton Project at next Chamber Music Concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

May 5 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Free Community Day at SBMA for Santa Barbara and Ventura County residents

Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Free Community Day at SBMA for Santa Barbara and Ventura County residents at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 5 at 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara and Ventura County residents enjoy free admission to the Museum (including the special exhibitionThrough Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources). Enjoy art activities from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in the Family Resource Center. Proof of residence is required upon entry.

May 16 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Ying Quartet

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present the Ying Quartetat 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 16 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

The Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today’s world. Now in its second decade as a group, the Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications in its tours across the United States and abroad. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. The Ying Quartet performed at SBMA in 2013 and 2017.

May 22 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘The Sound of Stars Parallel Stories with Jake Heggie’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present “The Sound of Stars Parallel Stories with Jake Heggie” at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22 at the New Vic Theatre, 33 West Victoria St., Santa Barbara.

In this unique collaboration between the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Opera Santa Barbara and in celebration of the exhibition Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources, composer, pianist, Grammy nominee, and Guggenheim Fellow Jake Heggie discusses the coming together of “The Starry Night,” a song cycle inspired by the art of Vincent van Gogh with text taken from his letters and poetry by Anne Sexton and Emily Dickinson. Performed by mezzo soprano Erin Alford.

May 26 — SBMA features author Geoff Dyer and ‘The Last Days of Roger Federer’ at the next Parallel Stories on May 26

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art features author Geoff Dyer and ‘The Last Days of Roger Federer’ at the next Parallel Stories at5:30 p.m. Thursday May 26 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

In his latest book, the idiosyncratic and indefatigable Geoff Dyer turns his well-honed wit and sharp-edged wisdom to the consideration of endings.

July 7 — SBMA Art Matters Lecture Explores Olfactory Ecologies and Contemporary Art

Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Art Matters Lecture Explores Olfactory Ecologies and Contemporary Art with Hsuan L. Hsu, Professor of English, University of California Davis at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St.

July 9 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Free Lecture by Acclaimed Photographer Janna Ireland

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Free Lecture by Acclaimed Photographer Janna Ireland — “The 2022 Lorna Spencer Hedges Photography Lecture,” at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 9 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Aug. 4 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Joan Miró in Time and Space’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present its Arts Matters Lecture “Joan Miró in Time and Space” by Charles Palermo, Professor of Art History at The College of William and Mary at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

This lecture reviews works—paintings, objects, sculptures—by the great Catalan artist Joan Miró. Charles Palermo offers readings of works in the hope of showing how Miró implies movement and scale in his works. The result is fictional worlds with their own sense of time and place, which nevertheless stand right before us.

Aug. 18 — Visit Santa Barbara Museum of Art for free Third Thursday celebrating the newly-installed iconic portrait bust by artist Awol Erizku, Nefertiti – Miles Davis (Gold)

Visit SBMA for Third Thursday celebrating the newly-installed iconic portrait bust by artist Awol Erizku, Nefertiti – Miles Davis (Gold), now on view over the Visitor Services desk at the State Street entrance and featuring the following free activities and offerings:

Free Museum admission, 5 – 8 pm
Music by DJ Darla Bea on the Front Terrace, 5 – 7:30 pm
Complimentary docent Ten Talks for Going Global: Abstract Art at Mid-Century at 6 and 6:30 pm
Teaching Artist-led art activities in the Family Resource Center, 5 – 7 pm
Free raffle entry for a chance to win a gift bag of artful treasures from the Museum Store

Aug. 31 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Activating the Spectator by Reshaping the Aesthetic Field: Op, Kinetic, and Participatory Art at Mid-Century

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Activating the Spectator by Reshaping the Aesthetic Field: Op, Kinetic, and Participatory Art at Mid-Century at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Art historian Alexander Alberro explores the development of a research-based artistic practice that fused abstract art with mathematics, science, and technology in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The stated goal of the artists involved was to demystify the creative process in favor of an objective investigation of visual phenomena. Alberro addresses how and why these experiments evolved into a greater concern with the participation of art spectators.

Sept. 1 — SBMA Art Matters Lecture explores Julius Caesar as the Second Founder of Rome

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Art Matters Lecture explores Julius Caesar as the Second Founder of Rome from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Art Matters Lecture features Chris Hallett, Ph.D., Professor of Roman Art with the Department of History of Art, UC Berkeley

Through Sept. 25 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Going Global: Abstract Art at Mid-Century’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present “Going Global: Abstract Art at Mid-Century” through Sept. 25.

Like the US dollar, air travel, and space satellites, abstract art encircled the globe or at least the capitalist West during the middle of the 20th century.

This exhibition shows just how far abstraction reached and some of the forms it took during the Cold War, when glossy color magazines and proliferating fairs brought a globalized art world into being. Going Global has artists born in Argentina, Colombia, Germany, France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Nearly all the works come from the Museum’s permanent collection.

Artists in the exhibition include Yaacov Agam, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Eduardo MacEntyre, Ernst Nay, Kenzo Okada, Jesús Rafael Soto, Pierre Soulages, Fernando de Szyszlo Valdelomar, Bridget Riley, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, and Kansuke Yamamoto.

Oct. 17 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Aeolus Quartet Chamber Music Concert

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present Aeolus Quartet Chamber Music Concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17.

Formed in 2008, the Aeolus Quartet has performed in venues ranging from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, to Dupont Underground, a subterranean streetcar station in DC’s Dupont Circle. They were the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and are currently Quartet-in-Residence at Musica Viva, NY. In addition to extensive touring throughout the United States, the 2021-22 season includes a Morgan Library performance as well as a feature on the Violin Channel.

Oct. 23 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present ‘Day of the Dead’ Free Family Day

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present its Free “Day of the Dead” Free Family Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

For the 33rd year, the Museum honors the Mexican tradition of remembering the dead with a display of altars created by students in the Museum’s school and outreach programs and local community groups, including San Marcos High School, Montecito Union School, Quilt Project Gold Coast, SBMA’s Partnership with A-OK After-School Program (multiple schools), and SBMA’s ArtReach program (multiple schools).

Nov. 3 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Art Matters Lecture Explores the Promise of Thomas Cole’s Late Career

Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Art Matters Lecture “What Might Have Been: The Promise of Thomas Cole’s Late Career” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3 at 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

The Art Matters Lecture features Franklin Kelly, Senior Curator and Christiane Ellis Valone Curator of American Paintings, National Gallery of Art.

Nov. 17 — Award-winning author Susan Straight and ‘Mecca’ are featured during the next SBMA Parallel Stories

Award-winning author Susan Straight and “Mecca” are featured during the next SBMA Parallel Stories at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

The New York Times award-winning author Susan Straight returns to read from her latest and much lauded novel, Mecca. Set in Southern California’s inland and high desert area, this is a story of freeways, wildfires, secrets, and struggles that is, at its heart, a love song for a place and its people.

Nov. 21 — Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art to present Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet at 7:30 Monday, Nov. 21 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Inspiring performances, luminous sound, and exceptional musicianship are the hallmarks of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet.

Dec. 1 — SBMA’s Art Matters Lecture looks at Impressionism and Climate Change

Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Art Matters Lecture looks at Impressionism and Climate Change with Harmon Siegel, Ph.D., Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 at SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara.

Impressionism has, from the beginning, been seen as an art of nature. Today, however, in the moment we call the Anthropocene, when human projects have transformed every corner of the planet and threaten to make it uninhabitable, this commitment may seem hopelessly naive. In fact, however, impressionist paintings illuminate our condition, revealing the entanglement of nature and society. In so doing, they help us overcome nostalgia for a lost nature and recognize our responsibility for shaping the world we inhabit.

Jan. 22 — SBMA presents FREE ‘Art and Shutdown’ talk with NY-baed art critic Lauren O’Neill-Butler via Zoom

Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present: Art and Shutdown’ talk with NY-baed art critic Lauren O’Neill-Butler (via Zoom).

Lauren O’Neill-Butler, a New York art critic, reflects on the highs, lows, and lessons learned while writing art criticism during the lockdown in 2020. She is an independent writer, editor, educator, and a cofounder of November magazine, and her writing has appeared in publications ranging fromArt Journal to The New York Times. From 2008 to 2019, she worked as an editor at Artforum. In 2020, she received a Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant and a book of her collected interviews with women-identified artists
will be published by KARMA in 2021.

Feb. 4 — SBMA presents Lecture (via Zoom) The 500 Faces of Teotihuacan

SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present: Lecture (via Zoom) “The 500 Faces of Teotihuacan.” Matthew Robb Chief Curator, Fowler Museum From 100 BCE to 600 CE, the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan dominated Mesoamerica though a complex mixture of religious,…

March 4 — SBMA to present Art Matters Lecture (via Zoom) ‘Expert Hands, Infectious Touch: Painting and Pregnancy in Morisot’s The Mother and Sister of the Artist’

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art will present FREE “Art Matters Lecture (via Zoom) ‘Expert Hands, Infectious Touch: Painting and Pregnancy in Morisot’s The Mother and Sister of the Artist” with Mary Hunter, Associate Professor, Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 4.