, Author at Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

Exhibition – HISTORIC PRESERVATION SERIES by Patrick McGinnis

Vanishing Behemoths of Industry Star in Bold New Photographs by Patrick McGinnis

November 7 – December 19, 2020
Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery

Detail of Sloss Iron Works #45, 16×16

patmcginnisart.com

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce Historic Preservation Series, an exhibition of industrial photographs by Pat McGinnis. Visitors are invited to view the exhibition on Saturdays, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, November 7 through December 19. The artist will be present on November 7 & December 19. (Self-screening, masks, and social distancing are required.)

Following a career in engineering, Patrick McGinnis turned to creating semi-abstract, biomorphic sculptures in marble, bronze, and metal, inspired by natural forms. Then, during a family trip across the country, he visited a rusty old factory, the Sloss Iron Works in Birmingham, Alabama, and his interest in photography was piqued. Attracted by the dramatic interplay of light on the tall, solid forms of these massive, industrial structures—vanishing monuments to America’s once vibrant iron and steel industry—McGinnis felt compelled to photograph them.

Most blast furnaces built in the United States are now dormant or on their way to demolition and becoming scrap metal—only a few, like the Sloss Iron Works, survive as historical landmarks. Energized by studying the photographs of Bernd & Hilla Becker and paintings by Charles Sheeler, McGinnis discovered new subjects closer at hand, notably the large Vulcan plant at Ellwood Station in Goleta, which he was able to photograph just before it was torn down. He has also made photographs of an obsolete, wood-waste burning electric power plant, Soledad Renewable Energy, whose future is uncertain.

McGinnis’s transition into making art is a continuation of being a design engineer in the nuclear, aerospace and semiconductor industries and his own business, Prime Technology. Aesthetics played a vital role throughout that work, whether creating an aerospace component or an analytical instrument. He is currently a member of Santa Barbara Art Association, Abstract Art Collective, Gallery 10 West (board member), and the LA Art Association. He has exhibited his work at 10 West Gallery, Elverhoj Museum of Art & History, Gallery 113 (Santa Barbara), Gallery 825 (LA), Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, and San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.

Kids Draw Architecture 2021. Calendar AVAILABLE NOW!

Kids Draw Architecture 2021

Calendar AVAILABLE NOW!

Sold at the following locations:

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Upstairs at Pierre Lafond

Chaucer’s Book Store

Tecolote Book Shop

The Book Den

Santa Barbara Company

Purchase Calendars from AFSB HERE!

Kids Draw Architecture Calendars

$10.00 each

or Ten for $90.00

Call or Email us to schedule your purchase pick up.

ART TALK with MINGA OPAZO: Siempre Más / Always More

JOIN US AS WE HOST THIS CREATIVE ART TALK!

Join us for this unique opportunity to listen to Minga Opazo discuss her work with Curator Yessica Torres. Together, they will present Minga’s current solo exhibition at the AFSB Gallery as well as past collaborations, and offer a peek at new, joint projects. Friday, October 2, 2020, at 5:00 PM.

Join us on Zoom!

Minga Opazo is a fourth-generation textile crafter. She examines the relationship between climate change, contemporary textile production, and Chilean textile history through weavings, sculpture, and installations to expose the unsustainable and dehumanizing practices of the international textile industry. Born and raised in Chile, she arrived in California at the age of sixteen. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a major in Art Practice, she moved to LA and had solo exhibitions at DAB Art Gallery and the Carnegie Museum of Art (Oxnard, CA). She was awarded Artist Residencies at the Banff Art Center (Canada), ACRE (Wisconsin), and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Maine). She recently earned her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.

Yessíca Torres co-opened H Gallery + Studios in Ventura, CA in 2013 where she presented a progressive, contemporary program. In 2014, with the realization that art exposure need not be limited by physical location, Yessíca independently established the Dab Art Company. Dab Art embraces the unceasing evolution of contemporary art by featuring experimental artists, highlighting innovative techniques and utilizing technological advances.

Dab Art’s long-standing partnership with the online art sales platform ARTSY has proved to be an invaluable resource, garnering views into the tens of thousands. With buyers from 130+ countries, 2.2 million+ visitors each month, and an average transaction distance of more than 3,000 miles, ARTSY provides the connections needed to grow the collector base. ARTSY also partners with Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and Simon Lee galleries.

Exhibition – SIEMPRE MÁS / ALWAYS MORE by Minga Opazo

Minga Opazo’s Provocative Take on Textiles Today

September 19 – October 31, 2020
Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery

Untitled, recycle clothing weave, 22”x29”, 2020

Siempre más, recycled clothing, 30”x4”, 2019

Mejor que sobre que falte, recycled clothing, 10”x18”, 2020

After postponing Minga Opazo’s exhibition, Siempre Más / Always More, in July due to COVID-19 , we are now thrilled to announce that this vibrant exhibition of colorful, textile works will finally open on September 19 through October 31. Visitors are invited to view the exhibition on Saturdays, 1:00 to 4:00 pm and by appointment. The artist will be present on September 19 & October 24. (Self-screening, masks, and social distancing are required.) A live, online Conversation with Minga Opazo and Yessica Torres of Dab Art Gallery (LA) will take place on Friday, October 2 at 5:00 pm. *details to be announced*

In Siempre Más / Always More, Opazo explores the relationship of textiles to climate change, contemporary industrial textile production, and Chilean textile history. A fourth-generation craftsperson from Chile, Opazo exposes the unsustainable and dehumanizing practices of international textile production through large-scale weavings and installations made of found and recycled textiles.

For centuries, textiles for clothing in Chile were created by human hands using natural materials. These craft traditions shaped Chilean culture, providing work, artistic expression, and a sense of identity to local communities. With the invention of polyester, Lycra, and nylon, and the dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet (from 1973 to 1990), Chile’s doors opened to the free market; mass-produced garments flooded in. Natural dyes and hand looms were replaced by artificial dyes, machines, and dehumanizing assembly lines. Opazo’s series, Mejor Que Sobre Que Falte (Better Too Much Than Too Little), refers to the resulting glut of discarded, chemically infused garments, which cannot be absorbed back into the natural world and are now being buried under Chilean soil.

Siempre Más / Always More includes wall sculptures, installations, and a new, site-specific weaving outdoors on the 2nd story porch railing of the Architectural Foundation, facing Victoria Street. This temporary installation highlights the fact that while the colors of used clothing will fade, the clothing will never completely disintegrate. Opazo comments, “We live in an era of excess, we consume and throw away. We don’t see the massive amount of overproduction in our everyday life, it’s invisible to us, tucked away.”

Minga Opazo received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (2020) and her BA from University of California Berkeley (2015). She maintains a weaving studio in Ventura and another in Joshua Tree for large scale installations. She was Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Art Center (Canada), the Acre Residency (Wisconsin) and the Haystack Mountain School (Maine), had solo shows at Dab Art Gallery (LA), the CAM Studio Gallery (Oxnard), and large public installations at the HUD Gallery and the Museum of Ventura County.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara has been enhancing our community’s appreciation of the built environment since 1983. The AFSB Gallery is located in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara. Regular gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm and weekdays by appointment.

Siempre Más / Always More-Postponed

Due to Santa Barbara County’s COVID-19 regulations pertaining to museums, galleries and zoos, the anticipated opening on July 25th of Siempre Más / Always More, an exhibition of textile works by Minga Opazo at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, is postponed.

Our goal is to welcome visitors in mid-August to view these provocative artworks by Opazo, a fourth-generation craftsperson from Chile who explores the problem of excess clothing made from synthetic fabrics that cannot be absorbed back into the natural world.

Please stay tuned for the new date of Opazo’s Opening, The exhibition will feature colorful wall sculptures and installations, plus a site-specific weaving on the 2nd story porch railing of the Architectural Foundation, facing Victoria Street!

In anticipation of Opazo’s coming show, she will be a guest on Elizabeth Stewart’s Arts Radio Shows from KZSB AM 1290 Santa Barbara broadcasted each Friday at 10 a.m and archived to her website https://elizabethappraisals.com/category/radioshow/for repeated listening.

Minga Opazo received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (2020) and her BA from University of California Berkeley (2015). She maintains a weaving studio in Ventura and another in Joshua Tree for large scale installations. She was Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Art Center (Canada), the Acre Residency (Wisconsin) and the Haystack Mountain School (Maine), had solo shows at Dab Art Gallery (LA), the CAM Studio Gallery (Oxnard), and large public installations at the HUD Gallery and the Museum of Ventura County.

LAST CALL: Meandering the Edges, an installation by Nathan Huff

Please join us on two Saturdays for Meandering the Edges, an installation by Nathan Huff!

June 20 and June 27, from 1- 4 PM.

We will welcome drop-in visitors. Social distancing and face masks will be required.

Only one person (or family) will be allowed inside the Gallery at one time.

Nathan Huff will be on hand to answer questions.

We are so happy to finally share Nathan’s work!

Meandering the Edges – In Conversation: Nathan Huff and Bay Hallowell

Nathan Huff: Meandering the Edges
In Conversation: Nathan Huff and Bay Hallowell

Conversation featured in LUM Art Zine.

At the Edge of Empire: The Ancient Roman Temple Complex at Baalbek, Lebanon

JOIN US AS WE WELCOME BACK DR. ALLAN LANGDALE!

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is thrilled to welcome back art historian, Allan Langdale for a talk called “At the Edge of Empire: The Ancient Roman Temple Complex at Baalbek, Lebanon.” This talk will be held via Zoom on Thursday, May 28, from 7:00 – 8:00 PM. Click the flyer to be directed to the meeting room. All are welcome.

In the first century CE, in a city then known as Heliopolis, ‘City of the Sun’, a vast religious complex was constructed. A monumental statement of Roman power at the eastern edges of the Empire, the temple complex at Baalbek is the greatest architectural assertion of Roman might ever undertake.

Consisting of two enormous temples, the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Bacchus, the site became the center of a cult of Greco-Roman gods at the very moment those same deities were being challenged by the emergence of new religions such as Mithraism and Christianity. Join Allan Langdale and the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara for a lecture on this amazing site and its impressive two-thousand-year-old structures.

Allan Langdale has given several annual lectures for the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara. He has his PhD in art history from UCSB and currently teaches at UC Santa Cruz. He also works in the tourism industry for Smithsonian Journeys and Zegrahm Expeditions, doing about a dozen trips a year. Allan is the author of several articles and books, including Palermo: Travels in the City of Happiness (2014) and The Hippodrome of Istanbul / Constantinople (2020). His travel blog can be found at ‘Allan’s Art and Architecture Worlds’: https://allansartworlds.sites.ucsc.edu/