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Santa Barbara County Regenerative Agriculture Non-profit, White Buffalo Land Trust (WBLT), Announces Artist in Residence Program
WBLT has partnered with local Santa Barbara artist, Holli Harmon, to pilot this new program and help share their work.
August 2, 2023, SANTA BARBARA, CA – White Buffalo Land Trust (WBLT), a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Santa Barbara County, announces its new Artist in Residence Program in conjunction with a gallery exhibition, featuring the works of the first artist to pilot this program, Holli Harmon.
WBLT has created its Artist in Residence program with the aim of evolving the consciousness, definition, and representation of living systems and regenerative principles through art and creative expression.
Artists of the program are encouraged to explore the ranch, use facilities as working space, engage with the WBLT team, and participate in the organization’s ongoing programming. The organization is asking artists of the program to interpret the five ecological sites of Jalama Canyon Ranch, as a way to help tell the story of the evolution of the ranch through regenerative agriculture principles and practices, via their chosen medium. Part of the program will include public engagement to help share this story with the broader community. This could be through a public workshop, gallery showing, concert, or other public program.
WBLT began working with Harmon in 2022 to pilot the program. Harmon is a local Santa Barbara printmaker and painter known for her embrace of history and mythology, as well as her love of novel processes and media. Harmon’s work revolves around human experiences that are connecting points between different cultures and generations, set in iconic California imagery. Her works re-imagine the story of these places, people, and culture.
Harmon’s works from her residency with WBLT over the past year are now on display at Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery in a show titled “To Feast on Clouds.” Her pieces portray the positive impact humans can have on the planet and breathe fresh life into the “culture” of agriculture. This show is a collection of 3 series by Harmon, which are on display at Sullivan Goss from July 28th through September 25th, including her Farmer Almanac Series, which is inspired and informed by her experiences at Jalama Canyon Ranch.
“I believe that art gives us an opportunity to have a more personal relationship with purpose. This is where I find a lot of hope; to think that agriculture, if we do it responsibly, can actually be very healing and improve the earth and all of our circumstances. If my art can help somebody make that connection, I’m in the happiest place of all,” said Harmon regarding the Farmer Almanac Series.
This series of gouache paintings are done on pages printed from an 1800s farmer’s almanac, found by Harmon. There are twelve pieces in the series, one for each calendar month of the year, charting the individual seasons, including astronomical data, weather forecasts, planting charts, and other insightful information for farmers. Almanacs were used for centuries prior to the development of corporate farming and large-scale agricultural technologies. Harmon was drawn to the idea of utilizing an antique almanac for the basis of this collection, as a nod to the ancestral agricultural principles valued in regenerative agriculture. “This series is shaped by my time as resident artist on the White Buffalo Land Trust’s Jalama Canyon Ranch. The organization practices and fosters regenerative farming methods, many of which can be traced back to practices before the advent of corporate farming,” Harmon on her experience partnering with WBLT.
On each of the printed pages Harmon has painted scenes of the livestock, native flora and fauna, and ecological sites found at Jalama Canyon Ranch, each associated with the corresponding season of the almanac pages. The painted almanac pages are then mounted on cyanotype prints Harmon has created from the native plant materials of the ranch.
The opening reception for “To Feast on Clouds” will take place during Santa Barbara’s 1st Thursday, on August 3rd from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. PT at Sullivan Goss.
WBLT’s Artist in Residence Program will officially launch in 2024, and the organization will be releasing more information about the new program later this year, which will be available at www.whitebuffalolandtrust.org.
About White Buffalo Land Trust: We are a Santa Barbara based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that practices, promotes, and develops systems of regenerative agriculture for local, regional, and global impact. We are committed to the evolution of land stewardship and the redesign of our food system to directly address the climate, biodiversity, public health, and food security challenges that we face today. We believe change begins on the ground and that our local solutions lead to regional and global impact through shared data, linking practices to outcomes, and land stewardship training. We invite you to visit us at our 1,000-acre Center for Regenerative Agriculture at Jalama Canyon Ranch. White Buffalo Land Trust was founded in honor of the life, work, and love of Lyndsey McMorrow.
