My latest for Open Culture is about the Smithsonian’s collection of Charles Darwin’s writings, many of which survived because he gave it to his kids to draw on.
Category: Art
Maps to the art stars: Artists open up on the 14th Annual Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour
Kenneth Song/News-Press photos
Buyers, collectors, fellow curious artists, locals and art tourists: all will be converging this weekend for the 14th annual Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour. With over 30 painters, sculptors, photographers and mixed media artists opening up their studios to visitors, it’s a chance to see these creative beings in their natural habitat, their studios.
That might be a converted garage or a guest house or a barn or a shed. And the artist might be working in organized chaos or be impeccably neat. But the studio tour remains endlessly fascinating to many.
Buried treasures: Carpinteria Sea Glass Festival packs them in on opening day
KENNTH SONG/NEWS-PRESS
Was the first Carpinteria Sea Glass Festival a success? You could ask the two lines of eager people that stretched down Linden Avenue and then around each corner of the block, just waiting to get into the marketplace.
Or you could ask the 800 people who rolled through the building in just one hour, looking at all sort of handmade jewelry.
Emory Douglas, artist of the Black Panthers
My latest for Open Culture is on this lovely doc about Emory Douglas, who was responsible for the distinctive propaganda for the Black Panthers.
Chris Burden’s “Shoot,” and dangerous art
My latest for Open Culture is about performance artist Chris Burden and his 1971 piece “Shoot,” where a friend shot him with a rifle.
Chalk of Fame: Mission steps burst with the color of the I Madonnari festival
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PHOTO
“I’m impressed with the crowd already,” said Kathy Koury, the organizer of the I Madonnari festival that opened Saturday at the steps of the Old Mission. “I’m happy but tired!”
It takes a lot to put together I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival, now in its 29th year. By the end of the three-day Memorial Day weekend, the entire blacktop outside the Mission will be covered with beautiful works of art. Some are originals, others are copies of old masters, and some challenge the eye with tricks of forced perspective.
29th annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival set to open this coming weekend
HELENA DAY BREESE/NEWS-PRESS
The black asphalt outside the Santa Barbara Mission will once again bloom with color this coming weekend when it hosts the 29th annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival.
Artists – from touring professionals in the street-painting scene to first-time volunteers and children – will cover the grounds outside the Mission with a patchwork of chalk paintings of their own design.
Art walk turning 50
MICHAEL MORIATIS/NEWS-PRESS
What started as the dreams of an architect wanting to replicate Mexico has turned into a staple of Santa Barbara’s beachside tourism scene.
The Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, which lines Cabrillo Boulevard every weekend, celebrates its 50th anniversary Sunday.
A beautiful, zoomable old timeline of history
A story I wrote for Open Culture on Sebastian C. Adams’ timeline of history.
UCSB grad and philanthropist helps in a major L.A. renovation
HELENA DAY BREESE/NEWS-PRESS
Peter Mullin’s love of cars, especially French ones, has already resulted in one beautiful building, the Mullin Automotive Museum, tucked away in an industrial area of Oxnard.
Now the collector, philanthropist and UCSB graduate is about to help another similar space an hour south complete a successful and dazzling remodel.