10/25 Artist Talk – the taut and the lush by Madeleine Ignon

Artist Talk – the laut and the lush by Madeleine Ignon

September 6 – November 1, 2025 at the Architectural Foundation Gallery

Artist Talk: Saturday, October 25th at 2 p.m.

Press: Read Josef Woodard’s article in The Independent here.

polyphemous moth v2 (2025), acrylic and oil on panel 

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present an artist talk on Saturday, October 25 at 2 p.m. with Madeleine Ignon on her exhibition the taut and the lush, a series of multimedia works made during Ignon’s pregnancy and the first year and half of her daughter’s life, when she was contending with a new reality—daily paradoxes of the mundane and the miraculous, the ordinary and the life-changing.

Reservations are recommended but not required: (805) 965-6307 or lydia@afsb.org. 

The Architectural Foundation Gallery is located at 229 East Victoria Street, in Santa Barbara at the corner of Victoria and Garden Streets. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment.

 

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara (AFSB) seeks to promote quality in architecture, art, and design by fostering an understanding of excellence in the urban environment. The AFSB offers diverse programs serving Santa Barbara County that provide educational opportunities for the community with participation from local architects and design professionals. Learn more at afsb.org.

Exhibition – the taut and the lush by Madeleine Ignon

Upcoming Exhibition – the laut and the lush by Madeleine Ignon

September 6 – November 1, 2025 at the Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday, September 5th from 5 – 7 p.m. 

Artist Talk: Saturday, October 25th at 2 p.m.

transition (2025), acrylic and oil on panel 

foot n’ plenty (2025), oil and acrylic on panel

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the opening of the taut and the lush, an exhibition of recent works by Madeleine Eve Ignon.

An opening reception will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on Friday, September 5th from 5 – 7 p.m. Ignon will give an artist talk at the gallery on Saturday, October 25th at 2 p.m.

Using a phrase borrowed from friend, artist, poet, and mother Kathleen Loe, the taut and the lush describes two modes of being within the state and space of motherhood, and two ways of making marks. Expanding on Ignon’s earlier concerns and themes, these multimedia works were made during Ignon’s pregnancy and the first year and half of her daughter’s life, when she was contending with a new reality—daily paradoxes of the mundane and the miraculous, the ordinary and the life-changing. Incorporating painting, stitchery and more, Ignon attempts to convey the surreality, the emotional landscape, and the splitting of self that come with becoming a parent for the first time.

Ignon is a multimedia artist and graphic designer. Her work explores the ways painting, graphic design, and craft can be combined, both conceptually and formally. She has been awarded residencies at Starry Night Program (Truth or Consequences, New Mexico), Vermont Studio Center, Drop Forge & Tool (Hudson, New York), Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University, and has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work has been featured in LUM Art Magazine (a publication she has also written for) as well as Carpinteria magazine. She teaches graphic design at Santa Barbara City College and art at UC Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies. She earned her MFA from UCSB in 2019. She is one-half of the experimental curatorial collaborative Beta Epochs, and was a 2023–24 artist-in-residence at Taft Gardens and Nature Preserve in Ojai, CA.

Find Madeleine’s work online at madeleineignon.com or on Instagram @madeveart

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara (AFSB) seeks to promote quality in architecture, art, and design by fostering an understanding of excellence in the urban environment. The AFSB offers diverse programs serving Santa Barbara County that provide educational opportunities for the community with participation from local architects and design professionals. Learn more at afsb.org.

7/12 Artist Talk with Historian Dennis Doordan – GIMME SHELTER by Marcia Rickard

GIMME SHELTER by Marcia Rickard – A Conversation with the Artist and Architectural Historian Dennis Doordan

May 31 – August 9, 2025 at the Architectural Foundation Gallery

Artist Talk: Saturday, March 29th at 2 p.m.

Gallery Hours: Saturdays from 1 – 4 p.m. 

Fault Lines 1925, by Marcia Rickard

The Fragility of Home, by Marcia Rickard

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce A conversation with Marcia Rickard and Architectural Historian Dennis Doordan. The discussion will take place on July 12th at 2 p.m. GIMME SHELTER is an exhibition of paintings and prints by Marcia Rickard that highlight the fragility of “home” in a world fraught by war and natural disasters.

Art is a way to confront what scares and scars us. Local artist Marcia Rickard has created a body of work that addresses the human tragedy caused by the physical destruction of home, be it Aleppo, Ukraine, Gaza, Los Angeles—or Santa Barbara.

GIMME SHELTER includes paintings, drypoint prints, monotypes, paintings, and fabric pieces with images of current events often added as collage elements and photo transfers. Despite the perverse allure of such images (sometimes referred to as “disaster porn”), Rickard asks us not to forget the human lives impacted by such events. Her work reflects the human dimension that loss of shelter—a place of personal safety, a refuge, a home—means, the recognition that in today’s world, this could suddenly be any of us.

“… I am drawn to the horrifying yet mesmerizing daily news photographs of destruction— war, terrorism, environmental degradation, natural disasters—that emphasize the fragility of our world.”

Marcia Rickard is a retired art historian (Professor Emerita from Saint Mary’s College, Indiana) who maintained a consistent artistic practice throughout her thirty-four years of teaching art history courses ranging from European Gothic art to Indonesian textiles. Since moving to Santa Barbara in 2019, she has studied printmaking with Siu Zimmerman.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara (AFSB) seeks to promote quality in architecture, art, and design by fostering an understanding of excellence in the urban environment. The AFSB offers diverse programs serving Santa Barbara County that provide educational opportunities for the community with participation from local architects and design professionals. Learn more at afsb.org.