It has been way too long since I attended an art opening at Art From Scrap. For one reason or another, the openings seemed to conflict with some other obligation. Well, I’m making the extra effort to head over there tomorrow night to see this show by this prolific local family. They have been a large part of the local art community for a long time, and each of them brings their own wonderful talents to their work. I’ve seen their work all over town in public spaces and at any number of group shows around town. This will be a great opportunity to see a concentrated exhibition.

Details below. See you there.

Gene Pool Retrospective Exhibition: Alf Ramirez, Colleen Kelly, and Isabella Kelly-Ramirez

Artist’s Reception: Friday, January 13, 2012 from 5:00 to 7:00

AFS Gallery

302 East Cota St. Santa Barbara, CA J

EMAIL: afsadmin@artfromscrap.org

WEB: www.artfromscrap.org

Gene Pool- A Family Retrospective at AFS Gallery

SANTA BARBARA: Gene Pool an exhibition featuring the work of Alf Ramirez, Colleen Kelly, and Isabella Kelly-Ramirez opens at the AFS Gallery on Friday, January 13, from 5:00-7:00 pm.  A family exhibition; Ramirez and Kelly are married, Isabella Kelly-Ramirez is their daughter, Gene Pool promises to highlight the commonalities and differences of this artistic family.

Mary Price, curator of the exhibition says “I am delighted to present this group retrospective of a very talented and interesting artist family. Alf’s wonderful assemblages intrigue me because they are so meticulous and humor filled. Not many people are aware of his older work, because these secret marvels have been hidden away in specially-made crates in odd corners of the family home. Colleen is amazing and very prolific. I was motivated by the idea of placing many pieces of her assemblage work together in the gallery because, through them, you can feel her high energy and attention to detail. Izzy is becoming well-known in the Los Angeles art community, as well as in Santa Barbara. She’s a very charming and promising artist, and I’m delighted to have her drawings and collages alongside her parents’ assemblage work.”

Alf Ramirez has a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.   His work in Gene Pool consists of highly crafted, intricate mixed media assemblage.  Some of the pieces include carving and casting on a small scale.  Ramirez says, “Language can be a jumping-off point for some of my artwork, starting with the title. I aspire to poetry in that regard, however, the end result is often prose.  The work is basically an exploration of my personal history and exploration of life in the United Sates and in California in particular.”

Colleen Kelly is currently working in assemblage, printmaking and bronze-casting. Her art revolves around the themes of housing, architecture, social, political and environmental issues.

A well-known Santa Barbara assemblage artist herself, Kelly is excited about Gene Pool.  Kelly explains, “Over the years I’ve collaborated with and been influenced by my artist-husband Alfred Ramirez. It’s really gratifying to see him get his work out there.”

Isabella Kelly-Ramirez’s artwork is usually figure-based with surreal and expressionistic qualities combined. Inspired by her early involvement of theatre, parade, and masquerade, Kelly-Ramirez is interested in depicting characters by way of pattern, texture and cosmetic color palettes.

She elaborates, “I grew up with artists in a house that was and still is one big studio. My artistic style is a hybrid from both parents. The color, pattern and whimsy come from my mom. The gesture, line, and dark irony comes from my dad.”

Mark your calendars! Friday, January 13^th is opening night for Gene Pool; the show will hang through February 25^th, 2012^.  This event is free and open to the public.

About Art From Scrap: Art From Scrap is Santa Barbara’s Environmental Education and Art Center.  The AFS Gallery is located upstairs at Art From Scrap. Summer Gallery Hours: Tues. Wed. Fri. and Sat.-10-3, Thurs. 10-6.  Rotating shows hang throughout the year bringing together art lovers, collectors and local artists.

Artist’s Reception: Friday, January 13, 2012 from 5:00 to 7:00

AFS Gallery

302 East Cota St. Santa Barbara, CA J

Jill Cloutier:             (805) 884-0459       x13

EMAIL: afsadmin@artfromscrap.org

WEB: www.artfromscrap.org

Now there’s a post title that should get some attention…

This event is so exciting I almost didn’t want to post about it for fear of hurting my chances of getting some artwork by a great artist without breaking the bank. Seriously though, I would never do that. Art from Scrap is too wonderful an organization to hold back from helping them raise some money. And clearly I am not alone in thinking this, the list of artists who have signed up for this event range from national and international stars such as Yoko Ono (seriously?!?), and Jeff Bridges; local superstars like Penelope Gottlieb, Ann Diener and John Nava; old favorites from the Haley Collective like Yoskay Yamamoto,  J. Shea9, Tanner Goldbeck, and Larry Mills; and up-and-comers like Inga Guzyte and Zack Paul. It would not be a stretch to say that nearly everyone I have ever written about on this blog will be part of this show. And then there are all the other great artists that I haven’t mentioned.

The deal is that you don’t know who has done each piece until you drop the $200 bucks to buy it. So it pays to do your homework if you want something by a particular artist. For $100 bucks you can get in the door at 6:30 to get first pick, or wait until 7pm and get in for $20. But if you are at all interested in any of these artists it would be silly to wait until 7. Getting a piece of art for $300 bucks from any of these artists is a steal, and you’re helping Art From Scrap to boot.

All the info is listed below, but if you haven’t checked out the artist list you can find it here.  And make a note that this show is not at Art From Scrap. It will be at the Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27 at 27 West Cota St.

See you there.

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One Night Stand is a benefit in support of Art From Scrap, a leading environmental education and art organization, now in its 20^th year ofencouraging creative expression in the arts and promoting a greater understanding of environmental issues.

This art exhibition will be up for one night only - Saturday August 20, 2011 - at Gallery 27, a professional art gallery affiliated with Brooks Institute in downtown Santa Barbara. Contemporary artists from around the country are being personally invited to contribute artwork in all mediums.

Watch the Artist list grow! 

The element of surprise is essential to One Night Stand. The artist’s name will only be revealed after the artwork is purchased. Sophisticated art patrons and first time collectors will trust their instincts as they hunt for works of art that both intrigue and excite their sensibilities. Once selected, each work of art will be purchased for $200.

While this may be your first One Night Stand we guarantee you will feel great the next morning, knowing that your generosity helped support environmental education and the arts ….
and Art From Scrap will have the utmost respect for you! 

www.artfromscrap.org

Click Here to make your Reservations - Early Entry (6:30) $100;  General Entry(7:00) $20

Is it me, or is Dug Uyesaka trying to break the record for most exhibitions in a single year? The guy is everywhere, all the time. Which I don’t mind a bit, because I really like his work and you couldn’t meet a nicer person. Showing his work next to the mixed media/ceramic work of Joan Rosenberg-Dent is not something that I would have put together naturally. But a moments reflection makes this pairing seem like a perfect match. In both artists’ work there is a wonderful combination of elegance and energy, construction and chaos.  It will be really interesting to see how the work of each plays off the other’s.

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Dug Uyesaka's "Untitled, Drypoint, 11 x 19 inches

Minimal Manifestations: Joan Rosenberg-Dent and Dug Uyesaka

June 18th – July 16th, 2011

Artist’s Reception: Saturday, June 18th 2011, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

AFS Gallery

302 East Cota St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101

CONTACT: Melissa Brooks at AFS Gallery: (805) 884-0459 x18

EMAIL: devo@artfromscrap.org

WEB: www.artfromscrap.org

SANTA BARBARA: Noted Santa Barbara artists Dug Uyesaka and Joan Rosenberg Dent join forces for Minimal Manifestations, the new art exhibition that opens at the AFS Gallery on Saturday, June 18th, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Minimal Manifestations will feature the artists’ recent work, as well as work created especially for the show. Uyesaka will show prints, Rosenberg Dent; a series of assemblage sculptures.

Mary Price, curator of the exhibition, says, “Minimal Manifestations is a dialogue between Joan and Dug, who have long admired and enjoyed each other’s energy and work. Their respect for one another as artists guided the pieces that they created for the show.”

Although best known for his assemblage pieces, Dug Uyesaka’s prints will be in the spotlight in Minimal Manifestations. Dug explains, “The work in this show is a survey of some of my more monochromatic prints and drawings. All of the prints have a link to mark making; calligraphy, painting, drawing, all have a minimal aesthetic. A whisper can be as effective as a shout. I have been playing with the concept of “less is more… trying to pare down my expression to its essence.”

Joan Rosenberg-Dent's "Construction #7"

Joan Rosenberg Dent is a nationally acclaimed artist whose work is exhibited in several permanent museum collections including The Detroit Institute of Art, The Canton Art Institute, and The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, as well in many private collections. In Minimal Manifestations, Rosenberg Dent will be displaying a series of small assemblage sculptures constructed of ceramic, wire, and geometric shapes.

Mary Price envisions “a duet and/or a dialogue of sorts between Joan’s ceramic work and Dug’s 2D pieces. I look forward to seeing how they have responded to each other artistically through their work in Minimal Manifestations.”

Mark your calendars! Saturday, June 18th is opening night for Minimal Manifestations; the show will hang through July 16th. .This event is free and open to the public.

About Art From Scrap: Art From Scrap is Santa Barbara’s Environmental Education and Art Center. The AFS Gallery is located upstairs at Art From Scrap. Summer Gallery Hours: Tues. Wed. Fri. and Sat.-10-3, Thurs. 10-6. Rotating shows hang throughout the year bringing together art lovers, collectors and local artists.

CONTACT: Melissa Brooks

PHONE: (805) 884-0459 extension 17

EMAIL: devo@artfromscrap.org

Art From Scrap

302 East Cota Street

Santa Barbara, CA

93101

www.artfromscrap.org

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Though I’m focused on 1st Thursday tonight, there are a bunch of really wonderful art offerings around town this weekend.  There is going to be a great emerging artist show at Art From Scrap on Saturday night featuring some of my personal favorite local artists. This is a really great chance to see some of what Santa Barbara has to offer from young artists and to show your support for our emerging art scene.   Meanwhile, Carpinteria has a new opening at the Anderson Art Collective AND the 5th Annual Artists’ Studio Tour. So, make sure to save some energy and don’t overdo it on this fine Cinco de Mayo 1st Thursday… it’s a marathon not a sprint.

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Fusias by Marianne Romero

See Here Now: 9 Emerging Artists – Art Opening at AFS Gallery

SANTA BARBARA: Art From Scrap is excited to announce the opening of its gallery space to a new demographic of emerging artists with its latest exhibition entitled, “See Here Now: 9 Emerging Artists” opening on Saturday, May 7th from 7-10pm. The AFS Gallery will be showcasing work by nine highly talented young Santa Barbara artists.

For this show, curated by AFS Environmental Educator, Chantal Peterson, the variety and style of work usually shown at the AFS Gallery has been expanded to include painting, photography, sculpture and fashion. Each artist brings a unique style and influence, informed by his or her own experience of life here and now as s/he embodies it. Many of the artists work with reused/reclaimed materials in various mediums as matter of principle and/or for the effective ‘personality’ such materials give their work. As one of the featured artists, Inga Romualdo Guzyte explains, “I choose old, used skateboards because I see their use as one way to recycle design or art; old skateboard designs give my sculptures character and I give them a personality.” The work in this show remains grounded in ethos of environmental stewardship upon which Art From Scrap was founded, and is enhanced by a definitively contemporary style offered by these nine young artists.

Join Art From Scrap on Saturday, May 7th for the Opening Reception at 7pm, an event which will also take on new forms. Included in this dynamic evening will be performance art by the Bird Dance Collective, a performance group comprised of four professional Santa Barbara dancers, accompanied by live musicians. Offering the opening reception a distinct flavor, local favorite, DJ Nine, will be spinning throughout the night. Additionally, Michael Heltebrake, a new arrival to the burgeoning Santa Barbara art scene, will be creating a live painting during the reception. A variety of local wines will be served throughout the night; The Bird Dance Collective goes on at 8:30 pm.

Mark your calendars! Saturday, May 7th is opening night; the show will hang through June 4th.

We invite you to come SEE new works offering unique perspectives of the HERE and NOW through the vision of nine of Santa Barbara’s talented young artists.

Artists Include:
Michael Heltebrake
Marianne Romeo
Inga Romualdo Guzyte
Chloe Gray
Matt Rodriguez
Jimmy Bell
Gaby Altarac
Mark Brown
Ariana Anderson

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Leighton Collier Roux - "Tree Wedge" (Far Landscape) - Birch Tree & Me - 20 minutes

Anderson ART Collective presents “Stand Beside” a two-person show by Leighton Collier Roux and Paul Roux. To artists who have come together over the past few years to stand beside one another as friends, partners and collaborators. Though they come from different countries and experiences, they find that their work, when placed together in the same space, engages in captivating dialogue around contemporary humanity and society.

The show is comprised of oil paintings, sculpture, photography, video and a special performance by Leighton Collier Roux during the opening reception on Saturday 7th May from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Leighton Collier Roux, a native of Southern California, received an MFA from Tufts University in 2008. In 2010 her work was commissioned by the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and will be featured in their upcoming ‘Call for Entries 2011′.

Paul Roux, a South African native graduated in 1998 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, and was one of the six artists that were featured last year by the Anderson ART Collective at Red Dot Art Fair at Art Basel in Miami Beach.

According to the artists’ statement, “In this rapidly changing world, we look to engage viewers in an urgent celebration of the beauty that is our naturalheritage, a celebration consciously tempered by acknowledgement of the consequences of the prevailing separation between humanity and the planet”.

‘I’m very much looking forward to having this work engage the public at our space. The work speaks largely of the relationship between humanity and nature in a very forward thinking way, asking questions of the viewers with the intent to skew our positions on how we interact with nature,’ states gallery curator Benjamin Anderson.

Anderson ART Collective is located at 410 Palm Avenue, A2, in Carpinteria, CA and is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5pm and by appointment. “Stand Beside” will run through May 29th. For more information go to www.andersonARTcollective.com or call 805.684.8783

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Sharon Schock "The Spot"

Come and experience Carpinteria’s 5^th Annual Artists Studio Tour and buy fine art at studio prices!

The weekend long event takes place on the 7^th & 8^th of May from 10am – 5pm.  A free map and Art Studio Directory will be available from the Carpinteria Valley Arts Council and will guide you through some of the diverse fine artists studios of Carpinteria & Summerland.

With an opportunity to view 27 participating artist studios, some of which have shown in well-known galleries internationally and in the U.S. from Los Angeles to New York, the studio tour is a chance to see and buy work of established artists as well as budding emerging talent.

Artists such as local painter Cayetana Conrad, daughter of writer and artist Barnaby Conrad will feature her newest intricate landscape paintings and will have her Toro Canyon studio open both Saturday and Sunday.  Martin Fowler’s studio on Casitas Pass will also be open Sat and feature the artists most recent diverse sculptures, watercolor paintings, collages and textured silver jewelry pieces.  On the southern end of town, young emerging artist Sharon Schock will have her daily oil paintings featuring local landscapes on display both Saturday and Sunday.  For a full list of participating artists please visit Carpinteria Valley Arts Center website at http://www.artscarp.org.

This weekend long opportunity to tour and visit local artist studios is free and open to the public, with a portion of the sales benefiting the Carpinteria Valley Arts Council (CVAC) to promote, support and further our local artists in their studios and galleries.

In conjunction with the weekends activities there will also be a Studio Tour Art Show that will open April 28^th and run until May 16^th.  Most of the participating studios will exhibit one or two pieces in this show.  The public is invited to a First Friday preview reception at CVAC, 855 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria on May 6^th from 5-7pm and a Studio Tour artist meet and greet reception on May 7^th from 5-7pm.

For more information please visit http://www.artscarp.org or contact Leigh-Anne Anderson 805-684 8783

Compensatory Objects- Assemblage Art By Mary Price

January 21- March 5, 2011

Artist’s Reception: Friday, January 21, 2011, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

AFS Gallery

302 East Cota St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101

CONTACT: Art From Scrap: (805) 884-0459 x13

EMAIL: afsadmin@artfromscrap.org

www.artfromscrap.org

SANTA BARBARA: Compensatory Objects, a new exhibition by assemblage artist Mary Price, opens at the AFS Gallery on Friday, January 21st with an Artist’s Reception. The show runs through March 5, and is the first exhibition of the year for the gallery.

Price says, “Compensatory Objects is an expression I came across in a book called Collections of Nothing by UCSB Professor William Davies King. By definition, compensatory objects are things that you are given or that you receive as an equivalent for services, debt, loss, injury, etc. For instance, people buy themselves presents to make themselves feel loved. So much stuff is produced, I think, to compensate people in our society for something they may be missing. What are these things worth, and what do they cost? These are the questions that I am trying to explore through my art in a limited and personal way. ”

Price continues, “Each thing has a story, sometimes a mystery. I treasure them and I resent them. They enrich me; they are my past, my history and background. But they also cost me: my time, my freedom, my complacency, my space.”

Price has been an artist her whole life and started exhibiting her work about six years ago. Price finds assemblage very rewarding. “It’s a non-verbal way to explore the meanings in material things. This visual story-telling can be direct and efficient, yet also obscure, like haiku.”

Price will be teaching an Art Workshop, “Flowers From Mars, and Other Alien Botany”, on Saturday, January 22, at 10:00 am in the AFS Art Center. The workshop gives the Santa Barbara community a chance to work directly with the artist.

About Art From Scrap: Art From Scrap is Santa Barbara’s Environmental Education and Art Center. The AFS Gallery is located upstairs at Art From Scrap. Rotating shows hang throughout the year bringing together art lovers, collectors and local artists.