Exhibition – NATURAL INTERPRETATIONS by Holly Hungett

Exhibition - Natural Interpretations by Holly Hungett

March 25 – May 20, 2023

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception with the Artist

Saturday afternoon March 25, 2023 from 1-3 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, Natural Interpretations, a solo exhibition of acrylic and gouache paintings by Holly Hungett.

An opening reception will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon, March 25th from 1-3 p.m. 

In this series of semi-abstract landscapes, Hungett works within self-imposed constraints—limited colors, or monochromatic and muted palettes. Her work relies on strong compositional structure. Painting primarily on location, Holly relies on her connection to the environment for inspiration. She reduces the number of shapes and eliminates extraneous details to create engaging and calming images. For the viewer, these paintings offer a moment of respite from our overstimulated world. The influence of Holly’s yoga and meditation practice of over thirty years is evident in this work.


Noted Santa Barbara artist and teacher Libby Smith, comments: “Holly Hungett is a painter who likes to experiment. She changes media, subject matter, points of view, and pushes personal boundaries. I like that.” 


Garrett Speirs, another revered Santa Barbara artist and teacher, adds: “Holly Hungett’s work is a wonderful balance between the specific and the general. Her work captures the essence of her subject without feeling overly beholden to her topic. Her color palette is both rich and subtle.”

An active member of Southern California Artist Painting for the Environment (SCAPE), The Goleta Valley Art Association (GVAA), and The Abstract Art Collective (AAC), Holly has participated in group and solo exhibitions since 2003. Her works enrich private collections in California, Washington, South Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Poland, and Australia.  Holly received her BFA from the Maine School of Art in Portland, Maine (1981) and her MFA from UCSB (1987).  Starting in (1995) she taught Yoga at SBCC’s Adult Education program for 25 years.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara office and gallery are based in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment.

Images shown:

Solar Variation
8″x10″ Acrylic on Panel

Confetti Fields 
6″x6″ Acrylic on Birch Panel

NEW DATE February 25, 2023 Exhibition Art Talk – Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper by Mayela Rodriguez

Artist Talk - Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper by Mayela Rodriguez

New Date February 25, 2023 at 2pm

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

NEW DATE: February 25, 2023, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present an artist talk by Mayela Rodriguez on her exhibition Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper. 

Join Mayela Rodriguez to hear how explorations of her family history led her to create her exhibition of photography, video, text, and installation art. She grew up hearing mysterious stories about a distant uncle, Aurelio Rodriguez, who lived in Cananea, Mexico and loved to pitch rocks into the Buenvavista del Cobre mine nearby. Later in life, this uncle became a professional baseball player for the Detroit Tigers. Her curiosity about Aurelio set her on a lengthy path to explore her own evolving identity through the lens of copper – “mining” her questions, thoughts, and insecurities about being a Mexican American.

Due to limited outdoor seating, reservations are required: 805.965.6307 or molly@nullafsb.org. Santa Barbara County Covid guidelines will be followed.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery is located at 229 East Victoria Street, 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.

Click here for the Voice Magazine article

Images shown:

Current exhibition installation: Metaled Ghosts & photographs

Artist’s collection of Aurelio Rodriguez professional baseball ca

Exhibition – VEINS: Mining Family History Through Copper by Mayela Rodriguez

Exhibition - Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper by Mayela Rodriguez

January 14 – March 11, 2023

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present the exhibition, Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper, a solo exhibition of photography, video, text, and installation art by Mayela Rodriguez.

The exhibition expands upon Rodriguez’s prior explorations of her lineage and her father’s family, whose members are from Cananea, Mexico where the Buenvavista del Cobre mine is located. For this exhibition, she uses the theme of copper as a lens into her own evolving identity.

In 2017, when Rodriguez was an MFA student at the University of Michigan, she wrote to the Buenavista del Cobre mine requesting information about her distant uncle, Aurelio Rodriguez. She had grown up hearing intriguing stories about this uncle who, allegedly, pitched rocks into the mine as a child and later in life became a professional baseball player for the Detroit Tigers. After many months, Rodriguez received a package from the Buenavista del Cobre mine that contained a 13″ x 18″ sheet of copper wrapped in plastic.

Carrying the copper with her, Rodriguez then embarked on an ambitious pilgrimage to sites that she and her family have called home. She explains “I was interested in discovering what it meant to simply exist with my copper. How could our pilgrimage both transform it and me? By developing a relationship with my copper in this way, I realized that the copper was not just a slab of metal excavated from the depths of Mexican earth but a vessel to hold all my concentrated questions, thoughts, and insecurities about my identity as a Mexican American.”

Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper expands on recent work by contemporary artists who use globally traded commodities as visual metaphors for ways that personal identity inhabits and is shaped by sociopolitical contexts: Minerva Cuevas, Kara Walker, and Minga Opazo whose AFSB exhibition, Siempre Más/Always More (2020), featured weavings and textiles made of found and recycled clothing.

Mayela Rodriguez is an artist and educator who positions art as a collective, inclusive, and healing process. By facilitating the production of community-made collections, she seeks to remind participants and students of the inherent power of their creative voices in making change. Most recently, Rodriguez has worked on collaborative projects with Latinx communities in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor in Michigan and New Cuyama and Santa Barbara in California. Rodriguez received her BA from UC Berkeley (2015) and MFA from University of Michigan (2019). Rodriguez was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. (mayelarodriguez.com)

An Artist Talk will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon, February 11th from 2-3 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment.

Images shown:

Copper from the Buenavista del Cobre mine

Artist’s collection of Aurelio Rodriguez professional baseball car

Exhibition Art Talk – Prayer Flags & A Tale of Longing by Mary Heebner

Exhibition Art Talk - Prayer Flags & A Tale of Longing by Mary Heebner

October 22, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Artist Talk October 22, 2022, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present an artist talk by Mary Heebner on her exhibition Prayer Flags & A Tale of Longing.

Join Mary, a multi-media artist, published writer and book artist, to hear how her travels to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India became the foundation of this exhibition. She notes, “Our current era of planetary distress, combined with a desire for healing compelled me to write invocations to each of the life-sustaining elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Aether, inspired by traditional Tibetan prayer flags, as I understand them.”

Due to limited outdoor seating, reservations are required: 805.965.6307 or molly@nullafsb.org. Santa Barbara County Covid guidelines will be followed.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery is located at 229 East Victoria Street, 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.

Click here for the Voice Magazine article

Click here for the SB Independent article

Click here for the LUM Art Magazine article

Exhibition – PRAYER FLAGS & A TALE OF LONGING by Mary Heebner

Exhibition - Prayer Flags & A Tale of Longing by Mary Heebner

September 10 – November 5, 2022

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception September 9, 2022 from 5-7 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition Prayer Flags & A Tale of Longing, an exhibition by Mary Heebner. This exhibition is three-fold and consists of two-sided Prayer Flags, a spiral-bound artist’s book, A Tale of Longing and a booklet, Elemental Offerings, all originating with Heebner’s travels to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India to see how prayer flags were made.

An opening reception with the artist will be held at the Architectural Foundation Gallery on Friday, September 9, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Mary Heebner has distinguished herself in Santa Barbara and beyond as a multi-media artist, published writer and book artist. Her artworks are held in numerous public and private collections, including Santa Barbara and San Francisco Museums of Art, The US Library of Congress, The National Gallery of Art, The New York Public Library, and UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum, and its Special Collections Library. Mary Heebner earned her B.A. and M.F.A at UCSB and has long been a noted member of Santa Barbara’s art community.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara office and gallery are based in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment.

Images shown:

Top
Prayer Flags & A Tale of Longing

Bottom
Elemental Offerings

Exhibition Art Talk – Malka’s Place: The Story of Joyce Wilson’s Photo Montages

Exhibition Art Talk - Malka's Place: The Story of Joyce Wilson's Photo Montages

August 20, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Artist Talk August 20, 2022, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present Malka’s Place: The Story of Joyce Wilson’s Photo Montages.

Join artist/photographer, Joyce Wilson, to hear how a chance encounter with Malka led her on a fascinating journey. Creative synergy erupted and Joyce was inspired to create a rich trove of photographs using textures, patterns and selections found in Malka’s sculptures, ceramics, and mosaics to create images that transcend the descriptive. The images challenge viewers to focus on unsettling truths present in today’s world.

Due to limited outdoor seating, reservations are required: 805.965.6307 or molly@nullafsb.org. Santa Barbara County Covid guidelines will be followed.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery is located at 229 East Victoria Street, 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.

Image shown:

Lady Vacumming Away Fat by Joyce Wilson

Exhibition – MALKA’S PLACE: A Journey into a Surreal World by Joyce Wilson

Exhibition - Malka's Place: A Journey into a Surreal World by Joyce Wilson

July 16 – August 27, 2022

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception July 15, 2022, 5-7 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition of Malka’s Place: A Journey into a Surreal World, a solo-exhibition of photographic montages by Joyce Wilson. The photographs were inspired by a visit to Malka’s Place where Joyce stepped into a world of unearthly delights. An opening reception with the artist and Malka Belzberg, the inspiration for this exhibition, will be held at the Architectural Foundation Gallery on Friday, July 15, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Joyce Wilson’s career spans over half a century. She served on the faculty of Brooks Institute and has lectured and taught workshops throughout the world. Joyce is active in the Santa Barbara Art community as a board member of the Abstract Art Collective.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara office and gallery are based in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment.

Images shown:

Love

Abyss

Exhibition – A.BOD.E by Cara Lasell Bonewitz

Exhibition: A.BOD.E by Cara Lasell Bonewitz

May 14 – June 25, 2022

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception May 13, 2022, 5-7 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition of A·BOD·E, a solo-exhibition of recent paintings and papier-mâché sculptures by Ojai-based artist Cara Lasell Bonewitz. An opening reception with the artist will be held at the Architectural Foundation Gallery on Friday, May 13, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Cara Lasell Bonewitz received her MFA from the Glasgow School of Art and her BA in Studio Art and History from Yale University.

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara office and gallery are based in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment.

Images shown:

Fourth Morning

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (unidentified drug shelf)

Oh My Goshi

Local Treasures Opening: September 18

Local Treasures Festive Opening with Music... and Covid safety precautions
Saturday, September 18, 1-4 pm.

September 18, 2021 Saturday, 1-4
The Architectural Foundation Gallery

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present Local Treasures, an exhibition of artworks by thirty artists who have exhibited at the Architectural Foundation Gallery during the past seven years. The exhibition runs from Saturday, September 18th through November 12th, 2021. The public is invited to drop by on the opening day, September 18th from 1-4 (masks and social distancing required).

In the Foundation’s garden, the group Glendessary Jam will be providing music for the event.  

Exhibition – LOCAL TREASURES by Local Artists

Local Treasures

September 18 – November 12, 2021
The Architectural Foundation Gallery

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present Local Treasures, an exhibition of artworks by thirty artists who have exhibited at the Architectural Foundation Gallery during the past seven years. The exhibition runs from Saturday, September 18th through November 12th, 2021. The public is invited to drop by on the opening day, September 18th from 1-4 (masks and social distancing required); and for the gala Closing Reception with the Artists, Friday, November 12, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Local Treasures honors the extraordinary quality, diversity, and vitality of the artists whose work has recently graced the walls of the Architectural Foundation Gallery. Initiated during the 1990s, the Gallery exhibited watercolor paintings by local architects of Santa Barbara buildings. Later, the Gallery committee expanded its mission to present exhibitions of contemporary art, architecture, and design.  Throughout the pandemic, following all COVID-19 protocols, the Gallery has maintained its schedule of exhibitions with the support of dedicated volunteers.  

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara has been dedicated to expanding 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.

The exhibition will be installed in a celebratory salon style (works of different sizes and media will hang next to and above each another), creating dynamic groupings on the Gallery’s walls.  Two-dimensional work including an abstract print by Tony Askew, a collage by Dug Uyesaka, and plein air paintings by Libby Smith and Nina Ward will be complemented by several reliefs—a surreal box construction by Michael Long and a geometric structure in styrene by Marilyn Helsenrott-Hochhauser.  A weaving by Minga Opazo and a screen print by Claudia Borfiga will join photographs by Sara Yerkes, Jeffrey Sippress, Pat McGinnis and Matt Straka, as well as a sewn paper composition by architect Cass Ensberg and a hard-edge, environmental painting by Cynthia Martin.  Two husband/wife duos—printmakers Siu and Don Zimmerman and painters Judy and Warner Nienow will also be featured.