The Santa Barbara Sea Glass & Ocean Arts Festival (SBSGOAF) is having an Instagram silent auction from October 11-18, with 100% of the proceeds going to @sbmaritimemuseum. The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has been closed for the duration of the pandemic and may not be able to reopen until the end of the year. We wanted to help them out, and we are hoping you will support our efforts. 12 amazing professional artists are transforming wood fish into beautiful original art for you to bid on!

Makers Market is the best outdoor market that Santa Barbara has to offer. Meet the artisans in person. This market offers unique one of a kind items in an outdoor European style setting.

Part I (March 22 – July 5, 2020): Works on Paper
Preston Morton Gallery

Part II (May 10 – August 30, 2020): Painting & Sculpture
Davidson Gallery

This two-part exhibition highlights recent acquisitions to SBMA’s permanent collection of contemporary art. Featuring over 40 artworks in a variety of media, including painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and sculpture, the majority of the objects are on view at SBMA for the first time. These include painted works on paper by emerging artists acquired through the recently established Basil Alkazzi Acquisition Fund, as well as significant pieces by internationally recognized artists such as Sterling Ruby, Andrea Bowers, and Nigel Cooke. Tying these artworks together is a distinct sense of individuality, innovative use of materials, and playful ambiguity between traditional artistic genres.

The exhibition is comprised of works from artists in various stages of their careers, ranging from the emerging to the well-established. Artists include: Scott Anderson, Edgar Arceneaux, Elizabeth Bonaventura, Andrea Bowers, Bruce Conner, Nigel Cooke, Miles Coolidge, Petra Cortright, Noah Davis, Wim Delvoye, Jacci Den Hartog, Daniel Douke, Jim Drain, Vernon Fisher, Helen Frankenthaler, Peter Halley, Frederick Hammersley, Zach Harris, Naotaka Hiro, Mustafa Hulusi, Nathan Huff, Jim Isermann, Raffi Kalenderian, Tom Knechtel, Emma Kohlmann, Hew Locke, Eamon Ore-Giron, Carl Ostendarp, Cheryl Pope, Nathlie Provosty, Sterling Ruby, Aaron Siskind, Jeni Spota C., Donald Sultan, Stephanie Washburn, and Jane Wilbraham.

This exhibition is curated by Julie Joyce, Senior Curator, ArtCenter College of Design (and former Curator of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art) with assistance from Rachel Heidenry, Curatorial Assistant, Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Image: Nathlie Provosty, "Council, Untitled (16-38)" (detail), 2016. Watercolor on paper, diptych. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by The Basil Alkazzi Acquisition Fund, 2018.10.2a,b. © Nathlie Provosty.

The Preston Morton Collection, which forms the core of American art at SBMA, was gifted in 1961 upon the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Museum’s founding. In so doing, Preston Morton ensured that SBMA could boast one of the most comprehensive overviews of American art from the 18th to the mid-20th century among mid-sized institutions. The timing of the gift was significant, representing a corrective to the European bias of midcentury canonical modernism and a proud reassertion of home-grown American art.

This selection of small format paintings is a reminder of the breadth of the Museum’s holdings in this area. Oil and brush conjure the illusion of near and far persuasively, from the close perspective of still life, to the life-size proportions of bust portraiture, to sublime expanses of land and sky. Whether within hand’s reach or at an immeasurable distance, both types of visual experience are captured within the confines of a canvas no more than 15 inches in diameter.

Artists represented include William Merritt Chase, Frederic Edwin Church, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Thomas Eakins, Walter Gay, George Inness, George Luks, Jervis McEntee, John Frederick Peto, Levi Wells Prentice, Edward Henry Potthast.

Image: William Merritt Chase, "Children on the Beach" (detail), 1894. Oil on board. SBMA, Bequest of Margaret Mallory.

Be ready to help your neighbors and community in times of need.

Your time can make a real difference in people's lives; it's through the efforts of ordinary people that we can do extraordinary things!

Join us online to learn about Red Cross volunteer opportunities & how you can help during COVID-19.

The MIT Enterprise Forum is hosting a free virtual discussion on changing the working dynamic in response to COVID-19 on June 17.

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.

Instructor: Kara Mae Brown, author of short stories & essays

The USS Conestoga, with 56 U.S. Navy sailors onboard, departed Mare Island in San Francisco Bay on March 25, 1921 for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was never seen again. Ultimately the tug was located 2100 miles from where it was presumed lost, off Southeast Farallon Island outside the Golden Gate. This presentation will include underwater video of the wreck site and an interview with the granddaughter of the commanding officer that was lost with his ship. This is a Zoom Webinar presentation by Robert Schwemmer, West Coast Regional Maritime Heritage Coordinator for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, who participated in the discovery of the USS Conestoga.

The Zoo comedy show you know and love…now at the Lobero Theatre!

This event has been canceled.

Refunds will be issued to the credit card used to purchase. If that card is no longer valid, please contact the box office asap with new card info.

Lobero Theatre Box Office – 805.963.0761 or boxoffice@lobero.org.

This Summer, Explore Ecology Camps are going virtual! We are planning for a summer full of creative reuse art, gardening, and environmental education activities. Our week-long camps will meet via Zoom daily from 9:00 am to 11:00 am Monday through Friday. Campers will enjoy projects, connect with each other, and most importantly have fun while safe at home.

A continuing exploration of the shadow sides of ourselves with Dr. Jennifer Freed and Melissa Lowenstein M.Ed. We’ll come together to acknowledge and share what is raw and dark within us during times of fear and uncertainty, and to deepen our understanding of how our shadows harbor our greatest gifts.