Studio Sessions – Artist tour allows a look behind the curtain

From landscapes to abstracts, artwork has been at many times inspired by Santa Barbara and its environs, either as a subject or simply as a place to work. Painters, sculptors and multimedia artists live and work invisibly in plain sight. The woman at the farmer’s market buying a basket of vegetables for the week may be going home to finish a huge canvas. The windows looking out from the Riviera may be artist studios. For those who join the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour this weekend, all will be revealed. Secret locations will be open for exploring, and one may just catch the art bug.

Now in its ninth year, the weekend-long open house features over 40 artists who live and work in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria. Some work downtown. Others work off in the wilds, or as wild as we get here.

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Salon Style – Six artists open their homes this summer to patrons

Richard Kriegler's "What Dreams May Come." Kriegler will take part in the final salon series that will discuss how art and commerce intermingle. Kriegler hosts Justin Carroll, whose L.A. Design studio is behind the look of video game "Modern Warfare 2" and others.
Richard Kriegler’s “What Dreams May Come.” Kriegler will take part in the final salon series that will discuss how art and commerce intermingle. Kriegler hosts Justin Carroll, whose L.A. Design studio is behind the look of video game “Modern Warfare 2” and others.

The discourse about art can be boiled down to two questions: What do we like, and why do we like it? According to Nina Dunbar, executive director of the Santa Barbara Arts Fund, these are the fundamental ideas driving this summer’s salon series, which will offer a chance to see art in the context of six artists’ homes as well as a talk with the artists to meet, mingle, eat, drink and be merry.

“It puts (art) in a context where you can meet with others and learn more about art than you would reading a museum wall plaque,” she says.

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