SBMA – Ted Mills

Left gets it right: SBMA SHOW HIGHLIGHTS RECENT CONTEMPORARY ACQUISITIONS

May 30, 2014September 28, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

'Mr. President,'Llyn FoulkesSanta Barbara Museum of Art photos — ‘Mr. President,’Llyn Foulkes

Santa Barbara Museum of Art photos

The work of a museum is done behind closed doors, away from the public. We see the austere, carefully considered, hung and lit works in echoing galleries. Nothing of the work that is done during installation is shown to us, nor is the bureaucracy, paperwork, and deal-making that happens in the simple act of accepting new works into a permanent collection. (Not that we’d want to see this anyway.)

The benefit of all that work is on display now through Sept. 14, at Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s “Left Coast: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Art.” Curated by Julie Joyce, it’s a grab-bag of mostly California-based artists, mostly living, and shows the breadth not just of our particular brand of art, but the eclectic nature of Ms. Joyce’s curatorial eye. From painting and drawing to photography and sculpture, there’s a lot represented here, and a lot of work that has not been seen until now.

Wood on Paper: SBMA SHOWS THE NON-POTTERY WORK OF BEATRICE WOOD

May 16, 2014October 19, 2021 tedmills Leave a comment

The late artist and longtime Ojai resident Beatrice Wood was best known — and made her career- — as a potter, and many of her efforts went into learning the art of thrown clay. She is also known for living to the ripe old age of 105 and for spending her early years palling around with Dadaist Marcel Duchamp.

“Living in the Timeless: Drawings by Beatrice Wood” — currently at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and running through August 31 — focuses on the other side of Wood. Right up to her final years she was drawing and painting, creating works that at first look whimsical but contain undercurrents of anxiety, sexual politics, fantasy and regret.

Putting the ‘art’ in ‘party’: SBMA’s Atelier bash is back for 2014

April 3, 2014October 21, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Test-tube tastings of geographic distillations of time and space are promised at the Botany Bar, inspired by artist Michelle Stuart's seed calendars.COURTESY PHOTOS — Test-tube tastings of geographic distillations of time and space are promised at the Botany Bar, inspired by artist Michelle Stuart’s seed calendars.

COURTESY PHOTOS

Spring is here and Atelier is back at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

The twice-yearly party turns the museum into a fun, interactive night out. The title this time around is “Moons, Mapping, Memory, and Fantastic Machines,” with plenty to keep the visitor occupied over the two hours on Friday.

Atelier replaced the more extensive “Nights” activities at the museum, reducing the number of parties per year, and moving much of the event inside. (In the “Nights” days, the events used to spill out onto the museum’s back patio, where DJs spun tunes until late.)