Miki Garcia – Ted Mills

Closing the books MCA asked what will become of libraries in new exhibit

September 12, 2014September 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

"Lament," Nancy Gifford Joanne Calitri photo — “Lament,” Nancy Gifford
Joanne Calitri photo

There will print be in 20 years? Will people still want to hold books and magazines and newspapers in their hand? Or will they be getting information in other ways? And in whatever future scenario one imagines, where is the place of the library in all this? These are the questions examined with humor and smarts in the new group show “Requiem for the Bibliophile,” which opened last week at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

Co-curated by MCA’s executive director Miki Garcia and J.V. Decemvirale, a UCSB PhD student, this collection of seven artists from Santa Barbara, New York, Mexico City and beyond all riff on the idea of the library and by extension the museum as well, both repositories of culture but for what?

Experimental visions: MCA premieres On Edge Festival, four days of performance art

September 12, 2014September 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

"Spinning Four," Surabhi Saraf Varun Sharma photo — “Spinning Four,” Surabhi Saraf
Varun Sharma photo

As a frequent attendee at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Forum Lounge” over the years, it would be fair to say the events — every First Thursday at 7 p.m. — were unpredictable and just as often brilliant as they were half-baked. Sometimes there were short bursts of stunning performance, clocking in at a friendly 20 minutes; sometimes audiences found they had signed up for two hours. It was an experiment that had run its course in a way, but it was also pointing to something bigger, more consistent, and better defined. The On Edge Festival opens this Thursday, and promises the best of the performance art scene.

In its four days, the Festival, curated by Forum Lounge’s Heather Jeno Silva, will put on productions at MCA, as well as at Center Stage Theater, Municipal Winemakers, the Courthouse Sunken Gardens, and a gallery/event space on Canon Perdido.

ART REVIEW: Structures and Space – MCA’S LATEST EXHIBIT SHOWS THE FUTURE OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

January 10, 2014August 29, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

'Masters of Architecture (detail),'Design, Bitches 'Heavy,'Design, Bitches 'Radiant Body Globs,' Ball-Nogues Studio Installation view of "Almost Anything Goes: Architecture and Inclusivity" at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara 'Eye Candy Table (detail),'Atelier Manferdini Museum of Contemporay Art Santa Barbara photos — ‘Masters of Architecture (detail),’Design, Bitches

‘Heavy,’Design, Bitches

‘Radiant Body Globs,’ Ball-Nogues Studio

Installation view of “Almost Anything Goes: Architecture and Inclusivity” at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara

‘Eye Candy Table (detail),’Atelier Manferdini
Museum of Contemporay Art Santa Barbara photos

In the 21st Century, things have gotten wiggly. Where once a discipline hopper like Warhol was an anomaly, it’s now rare to find an artist working in one medium. The new exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara asks whether a similar breakdown is happening in the architecture and design world, and if affording firms and designers museum space changes the way we see them, or how they see their audience. “Almost Anything Goes” explains the title of the exhibit that opened last week and runs through April 13.

The focus is on Los Angeles artists trained in architecture, the majority with a link to the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) in downtown L.A. Along with MCA’s Miki Garcia, the exhibit has been curated with Brigitte Kouo, a SCI-ARC graduate.

Name Changer is a Game Changer – CAF turns into MCA — what does it mean for art in SB?

July 19, 2013October 15, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

'Seen (Detail),'Sanford Biggers Museum of Contemporary Art SB — ‘Seen (Detail),’Sanford Biggers
Museum of Contemporary Art SB

Miki Garcia knew something was working when Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (aka CAF, as most locals call it) changed its name to MCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art. She was standing outside and heard a couple walk past, on the way from the carpark to the steps leading to the ground floor of Paseo Nuevo. “Oh, there’s a museum here!” said one to the other. Maybe they had passed the Forum many times, maybe this was their first time here, but the point was taken: it’s a museum and everybody knows what that does.

For regular visitors to CAF, the switch may have seemed cosmetic and unheralded. But it’s that couple that Ms. Garcia keeps in mind.

Behind the Curtain: We Celebrate the people that keep the arts moving in SB

December 31, 2010July 9, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

For those of us in the entertainment print trade, we know at lot of these people by name, if not face. They keep the wheels greased and the machines running; they send out the press releases and they make the artists accessible; they keep the books balanced and the funds raising; they make sure that everything feels effortless. For the general public, that means they’re invisible for the most part; and they don’t want you to know how much effort goes into being effortless. But they are always on top of the list of the “without whom” section.

So now it’s time to bring a few of these people out in to the light and give them the recognition they deserve, for photographers to backstage crews. They are our Behind the Scenes Superstars.

A Thing of Vision – 16 local collectors share their private works at CAF

May 21, 2010May 26, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Martin Eder's "Chasse aux Papillons," from the collection of Mike Healy and Tim Walsh. Photos Courtesy of CAF — Martin Eder’s “Chasse aux Papillons,” from the collection of Mike Healy and Tim Walsh.
Photos Courtesy of CAF

The idea for “Visionaries,” Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum’s new show opening tomorrow night, came from the various trips Miki Garcia and Valerie Velazquez have taken as part of their job. Not trips far afield or to other museums, but ventures closer to home, to the houses of the board members of CAF. While discussing business or making social calls, the two couldn’t help but witness the collections on display and how the members supported not just CAF, but the artists in the gallery and contemporary art as a whole.

“Seeing how people incorporate these pieces in their home is an art in itself,” Velazquez says.