First of all I wanted to get the word out that Art Essentials is having a huge canvas sale. When I was there yesterday pre-stretched canvases were 50% off!! Make sure to get in there before they are all gone.

Secondly, the Art From Scrap monthly news letter appeared in my inbox today, and I wanted to make sure to get the word out about this very interesting discussion that will take place at Design With Reach TONIGHT. There is an email near the bottom of the info below for RSVPing. If you make it to the talk tonight and would like to let us know what you thought, please come back here to post your comments.

DWR SANTA BARBARA

WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU TO AN ‘IN STUDIO’ EVENT!

DWR and the UCSB Sculpture Department: Reuse at its Finest
Thursday, June 11, 6:30-8:30pm, 607 State Street, Santa Barbara

It’s time To Connect the Design and Art Community through living Green with Reuse Products!

Kim Yasuda, U.C.S.B.’s Art Department Sculpture Professor, will join us in the Santa Barbara Studio to discuss the importance of reuse in the Art World.  Along with Kim, the best of U.C.S.B.’s sculpture students will present their 2008/2009 artwork.  All sculptures have been created using recycled, found and discarded objects located in the Santa Barbara and Goleta areas. DWR is excited to host this Green/Reuse Art Show, an important subject matter for all to see and hear.

Refreshments and appetizers will be served.

Enjoy a Night Out on Us!
RSVP to santabarbara@dwr.com by June 09, 2009

Please call the studio if you have any questions – 805.564.1971

Everybody Wants Everything

Media Arts and Technology University of California Santa Barbara

Please join us for an evening of installations, interactive presentations and performances showcasing work by Masters and Doctoral Students in the Media Arts & Technology Program (MAT) at UCSB.

Located in the California Nanosystems Institute, MAT is a transdisciplinary graduate program that fuses emergent media, computer science, engineering, electronic music and digital art research, practice, production, and theory.

Monday June 8 from 6pm to 9pm. Performances start at 8pm.

Free parking permits available on arrival.

Media Arts & Technology at UCSB
http://www.mat.ucsb.edu

Map to California Nanosystems Institute, Elings Hall
http://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/visitor/

Two new exhibits will be opening this weekend, June 4th at the Contemporary Arts Forum. The shows open Saturday night at 6pm or you can pay $5 to get in an hour early to hear the artists talk abou their work. I hope to see you there.

Dreamtigers: University of California, Santa Barbara MFA Exhibition
Co-curated by CAF Executive Director Miki Garcia and Artist and Professor in the Department of Art, UCSB, Jane Callister

Organized by CAF Executive Director, Miki Garcia and Artist and UCSB Department of Art Professor, Jane Callister, Dreamtigers according to Callister is “the product of diligent organization, many studio visits, and conversations with the artists leading to what we expect will be a lively and varied aesthetic showcase of UCSB’s outstanding student artists.” The title borrows from a Jorge Luis Borges’ work of the same name. Considered one of his most personal works, the book comprises a collection of poems, parables, and short stories that at first glance seem dissimilar, but taken together form a subtly cohesive portrait of the author. Adopting this framework, this exhibition at CAF also offers a range of distinct artistic practices and expression from the five MFA graduates. Altogether, Dreamtigers is a unified presentation of emerging artists working in the field today.

You can find more information about this show and the artists involved by visiting the following two websites:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=93076416613&ref=nf

http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/people/graduate/grads2009.html

Stephanie Mansolf & Kat Trajano
Acid Lovechild

UCSB alumnae, Mansolf and Trajano will occupy the Charles Bloom Foundation and Glass Box Window galleries with their installation, Acid Lovechild. Inspired by influences as diverse as the domestic realm, Victorian-era crafts, and campy horror flicks, the artists will convert the CAF’s galleries into a scene of glittery bedlam. Signs of a passionate crime interlaced with florid and feminine imagery will reveal a couple’s love nest fraught with turmoil.

Both Mansolf and Trajano recently received wide acclaim in the local arts community when–as undergraduates–they were commissioned by the chic Presidio Motel to transform their business into an avant-garde and eclectic art motel. Mansolf is currently pursuing her MFA at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA. Trajano works/lives in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, CA.

about the BLOOM PROJECTS series

Photo: Paul Wellman

For those of you who, like myself,  get equally excited by science and art, the “Primavera Festival” at UCSB this week promises a wonderfully eclectic group of exhibits and performances. Much of the work comes from students in the Media Arts and Technology (MAT) department which is a hub for incredibly smart and creative people who are often pioneering the technology that they use to create their art. There is bound to be lots of experimentation on display, and it is entirely possible that it will be a completely unique experience. The performances range from $15/person to FREE and take place on the university campus. To find out more and get a complete schedule for the festival, click here. 

If you go to see any part of the festival, make sure to come back here and write a comment to let us know what you though.