Upcoming Exhibition – ABSTRACTED by Carolyn Hubbs

Upcoming Exhibition - ABSTRACTED by Carolyn Hubbs

September 7 – November 2, 2024

Opening Reception Friday September 6, 2024 5 – 7 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the opening of ABSTRACTED, an exhibition of abstract paintings based on plein air sketching in the Santa Barbara environs.

An opening reception will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on September 6th from 5-7 pm.

Carolyn Hubbs will give an informal walk-through of her exhibition on September 28th and on October 19th at 2 pm.

In her first solo show in Santa Barbara, Carolyn Hubbs presents vibrant abstract paintings in acrylic—jazzy compositions that evolve from her sketches of favorite locations in and around Santa Barbara. Her drawings simplify and reconstruct the natural spaces she observes outdoors. In the studio she transforms them into playful, complex rearrangements of shapes, colors and rhythms that move in and out of the picture plane. The exhibition includes several of Hubbs’ field sketches and corresponding paintings.
 
“Outdoors, I look for the strongest element (rhythm, color, line, shape) in the ‘scene’ that catches my interest and then develop everything else around it. Back in the studio I study my notes and then start to make a painting by rearranging everything and playing with the interactions of colors and rhythms. I like to use disruptions and disjunctions to give the whole picture movement. The picture is complete when, finally giving into the poetics of the unpredictable, I have built a whole new image that resonates with me. Sometimes they look totally abstract; sometimes more like landscape!”
 
Hubbs graduated from Mills College with a B. A. in art history and studies in photography and printmaking. Later, she studied at U.C.L.A. Extension School with Charles Garabedian. Her eclectic influences include jazz pianist Bill Evans, the 15th c. artist Sassetta, Stuart Davis, and Ellsworth Kelly as well as artist/teachers Colin Fraser Gray and Rick Stich. She has exhibited internationally, in Los Angeles, at the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang, and at Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara.

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.

Top Image Shown:

Tree Creating Itself
Acrylic on Board 
10″ x 10″

Bottom Image Shown:

Tide Lines
Acrylic on Board 
10″ x 10″

Current Exhibition – TIMELY by Joan Rosenberg-Dent and Caroline Kapp

Current Exhibition - TIMELY by Joan Rosenberg-Dent and Caroline Kapp

June 1- August 24, 2024

Opening Reception Friday May 31, 2024 5 – 7 p.m.

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the opening of TIMELY, an exhibition of porcelain, mied media and photography by Joan Rosenberg-Dent and Caroline Kapp. An opening reception will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on Friday, May 31, from 5-7 pm. 

The porcelain sculpture of Joan Rosenberg-Dent and the experimental photographs and drawings of Caroline Kapp reflect and correspond with each other in remarkable ways. These artists first met by chance at the Channing Peake Gallery while picking up their work from a previous exhibition. Arriving at the same time in the Gallery, they observed their work hanging side by side and were struck by the strong visual resonances. After exchanging emails, then studio visits, over time they began to shape the idea of a two-person, collaborative exhibition.

“We found conceptual and visual similarities in our past creative works, as well as in our current themes. We were each independently exploring new work related to the concept of time: how time shapes our lives; how we shape the time in our lives; how time can leave visible marks on us and our surroundings. We asked the question: if our past work displays such an uncanny connection, what might future collaborations look like?”

Joan Rosenberg-Dent received her Master of Fine Arts degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has taught at many universities including Pennsylvania State University, University of Michigan, and was Chair person of Ceramics and Glass at Ohio University. She currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council, School of Art and Design, at the University of Michigan. Her work is in several permanent museum collections.

Caroline Kapp is a visual artist known for her quietly surreal photographic compositions that combine experimental and digital processes. She studied at Cornish College of the Arts (BFA, Visual Arts) and the University of Washington (MFA, Photomedia). She has exhibited photography and video work nationally and internationally and has been selected as resident fellow at several institutions.

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.

Top Image Shown:

Caroline Kapp
Detail from Ellipse No. 2
Archival inkjet print
2018

Bottom Image Shown:

Joan Rosenberg-Dent
Birth / Infinity
Porcelain
2024

Save the Date – 2024 Scholarship Reception & Awards Ceremony – June 18, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Save the Date
2024 Scholarship Reception & Awards Ceremony this June

Join us in honoring the 2024 AFSB Scholarship recipients this upcoming June.
This is a celebration of higher education as we recognize and award Santa Barbara County students pursuing college-level studies in architecture and related fields.
Thank you to the sponsors, members, and volunteers that make this annual event happen.

Meet past Scholarship Recipients here.

Kids Draw Architecture 2024 Sketch Session at Old Mission Santa Barbara – Sunday May 19, 1-3 p.m.

New Date: Kids Draw Architecture (KDA) Sketch Session at the Old Mission Santa Barbara

Sunday May 19, 2024

Join us for on May 19th from 1-3pm at the Old Mission Santa Barbara on 2201 Laguna Street to draw with local architects and artists, materials provided! We will also be accepting mailed in drawings of the Old Mission Santa Barbara through June 21, 2024. See additional information below.  

Saturday and Sunday Architectural Walking Tours

Saturday and Sunday Architectural Walking Tours
10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Saturday "Sabado" Tour leaves from the City Hall steps at de la Guerra Plaza

Sunday "Domingo" Tour leaves from Anapamu St. across from the Public Library

Learn about the Lobero Theatre on the Saturday "Sabado" Walking Tour.

Learn about the Bank & Trust Building on the Sunday “Domingo” Walking Tour. 
Click here for more information on the Walking Tours.

Upcoming Exhibition – Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper by Mayela Rodriguez

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

January 14 – March 11, 2023

The Architectural Foundation Gallery

Opening Reception with the Artist

Saturday afternoon January 14, 2023 from 1-3 p.m.

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

An opening reception will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon, January 14th from 1-3 p.m. 

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.”

Mayela Rodriguez received her BA from UC Berkeley (2015) and MFA from University of Michigan (2019). She was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California.

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:

Copper from the Buenavista del Cobre mine

Artist’s collection of Aurelio Rodriguez professional baseball car

July: The Architecturally Macabre Book Club

July: The Architecturally Macabre Book Club

WHERE ARCHITECTURE IS ALWAYS THE MAIN CHARACTER.

Hosted by AFSB Vice President, Selinda Tuttle.

“Personally, I prefer to read books—fiction or non-fiction—that feature the city as a character,” says the book club’s curator, AFSB Vice President Selinda Tuttle. “The only thing cooler than reading a book that reckons with a city is being able to talk about that book with people who find it just as worthy of conversation.”
 
July’s Book:
The Cecil Hotel by Chris Swinney
6-8:00 PM Wednesday, July 27, 2022
229 East Victoria Street, Santa Barbara 93101
 

Gather with us for this FREE in person book club event at the historic Acheson House: the perfect venue to share the architecture of life, death, love, art and scandal at the Cecil Hotel. 

 
Join the private Facebook group (same name) to interact with more book lovers!

Happy Reading!

Kids Draw Architecture 2022 / Niños Dibujan Arquitectura 2022

Kids Draw Architecture Sketch Session at the Courthouse is back!

Join us on May 1st from 1-3pm at the Santa Barbara Courthouse on 1100 Anacapa Street to draw with local architects and artists, materials provided! We will also be accepting mailed in drawings of the Santa Barbara Courthouse through May 27th, 2022, more information below.  

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.