Painting Workshop: Abstract Still Life

Abstract still life painting workshop led by artist Paige Patterson Wilson held at AFSB Gallery.

Paige Patterson Wilson’s current exhibition at the AFSB, Abstract Trompe L’oeil, highlights her deep interest in the interplay of colored surfaces.

The artist will present a related workshop on Saturday, October 26 from 1 – 3 pm. Participants will experience her working process by creating their own box/collage still life and translating it into an abstract painting.

Please bring a small cardboard box. All other materials will be provided.

Meet other local artists and art enthusiasts in your community.

All levels welcome!

BUY TICKETS HERE

KDA Gallery Opening & Holiday Party

KDA Gallery Opening & Holiday Party!

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present you the annual Kids Draw Architecture Gallery Opening & Holiday Party on Saturday, November 24, 2019, from 2 – 4 PM.

This year KDA held their sketch sessions at the Alameda Park Bandstand and Santa Barbara Middle School.

The exhibition will feature a collection of drawings from KDA’s 2019 program showcasing a representative cross-section of illustrations from all age groups and drawing abilities and will be on display until January 4, 2020.

Events like this exemplify how the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara continues their mission of educating the public on the built environment. So please come join us to celebrate and congratulate our current calendar artists and support this vibrant educational program!

Exhibition – ABSTRACT TROMPE L’OEIL by Paige Patterson Wilson

Exhibition Dates: September 20 – November 14, 2019

Opening Reception with the Artist: Friday, September 20, 5-7 pm

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery


The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the opening of Abstract Trompe L’oeil, an exhibition of oil paintings by Paige Patterson Wilson.  An opening reception will be held at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara on Friday, September 20, from 5:00-7 pm. All are welcome.

Abstract Trompe L’oeil highlights Wilson’s deep interest in the interplay of colored surfaces. Her previous paintings were conventional still life paintings depicting recognizable objects with reflective, transparent surfaces that appear as small abstractions. Creating these paintings led her to the idea of creating purely abstract still life paintings. At first glance, her new work appears to be flat, hard edge, geometric and abstract. Upon closer observation, viewers are drawn in by the illusion of depth.

To create these unusual paintings, Wilson first constructs an abstract “still life”—a three-dimensional composition of opaque, translucent, and transparent papers, and colored gels.  After arranging lighting above to create a kaleidoscope of reflections, she paints the “still life” from direct observation, challenging herself to create the illusion of three dimensions and transparency using only opaque pigments.

Although the paintings are formal compositions, they evoke futuristic cities, outer space, and science fiction settings. Surface flatness and the illusion of depth coexist simultaneously, creating spaces where the interplay and fusion of saturated colors, abstract shapes and imagination magically coexist.

Wilson received her BA in 1979 from San Francisco State University where she studied with Robert Bechtle, a photo-realist painter. She completed her MFA in 1982 at UCSB where she studied with Ciel Bergman and William Dole. She has maintained a studio and residence in Santa Barbara for 40 years and has participated in many group exhibitions and several solo exhibitions. She currently teaches art classes at SBCC School of Extended Learning.

Sponsor the 2020 Kids Draw Architecture Calendar!

KDA 2018 Collage

It's that time of year again!

Our 2020 Kids Draw Architecture calendars are being assembled, and we’re looking for sponsors for this project! 

What happens when you become a sponsor? 

Your name or logo will be included on the outside back cover of the
2020 Kids Draw Architecture Calendar!
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We hope you will want to be a sponsor of the The 2020 Kids Draw Architecture Calendar! It is now in production and features delightful drawings by the children and architect participants from the sessions held at The Alameda Park Bandstand and  Santa Barbara Middle School at the old Jefferson Elementary School.  Please see the information below for sponsorship levels and more information about the Kids Draw Architecture Program.

Sponsor Levels:

How to Become a Sponsor:

Art Talk: A Look at Assemblage Art

Saturday, August 31, 2 – 3 PM

**FREE. Limited Space. First come, first served seating.**

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present a conversation on assemblage art, both past and present. Please save the date and join us in our gallery space for an art talk with Michael Long, Tony Askew and Nathan Vonk.

Michael Long currently has a show up at AFSB titled, “Hole in the Wall”, which focuses on assemblage art, will close September 12th, 2019. His show is made up of 21 assemblage works.

Michael states in his artist statement,

“This current body of work focuses on recreating pieces of recalled dreams by obsessively re-constructing a model of an intangible memory made in a specific, physical place. I recreate these recalled dreams of actual spaces from memory, down to every minute detail.”

Joining Michael in the conversation are Tony Askew and Nathan Vonk. Tony Askew is a local artist and professor emeritus from Westmont College. Nathan Vonk is the owner of Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery.

We are looking forward to seeing you on August 31st as we learn about assemblage art, join in the conversation with Michael, Tony, and Nathan, and enjoy Michael’s very own work on view!

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND: “Our Lutah” brings Lutah Maria Riggs to Life

AFSB is proud to present an expanded version of last year’s Lutah Maria Riggs Monologue, written by Terre Ouwehand, in collaboration with Drama Dogs, a theater company. 

Saturday, August 10, from 4 – 6 PM

BUY TICKETS HERE

This year is a fundraising event for one of our scholarships aptly named after Lutah Maria Riggs. Every year we partner with the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara to award scholarships to selected Santa Barbara County students which exemplifies how we continue our mission of educating the public on the built environment by supporting students continuing their education in architecture and related fields through our Scholarship Programs.

ART + ACTIVISM: Painting Disaster

ART + ACTIVISM: Painting Disaster

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery

2:00 PM on Saturday, June 15, 2019

FREE (limited space, please RSVP)

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present a conversation about how art reflects the ways in which we relate to the world today. This event features Santa Barbara artist and teacher, Cynthia Martin, in dialogue with Torrie Cutbirth, artist and Executive Director of The Arts Fund, and Charles Donelan, Executive Arts Director for the Santa Barbara Independent. Please join us for a provocative discussion on the intersections of realism, abstraction and pressing contemporary issues.

  • Cynthia Martin’s current AFSB exhibition, The Passing Landscape, will close on July 11, 2019.
  • Teacher/Indy Arts Editor Charles Donelanteaches English at Laguna Blanca School and been writing about the arts for The Independent for more than 15 years.
  • Torrie Cutbirth is the Executive Director of The Arts Fund and an artist.
RSVP

Join Us For A Talk About Art!

A Conversation about Creativity and Viscosity Printmaking
with Rosemarie Gebhart, Michael McCabe, and Tony Askew

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery
2:00 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2018
FREE (limited space, please RSVP)

Conversation About Creativity

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present three noted printmakers who delight in viscosity printmaking as they share their personal experiences and knowledge of the technique.  You will discover how each came to embrace this unique type of contemporary printmaking and how their stories are intertwined!

  • Rosemarie Gebhart’s current AFSB exhibition, Unseen and Unheard: Accidental Musings, featuring her vibrant viscosity prints, will close on May 12, 2018.
  • Beloved artist/teacher Tony Askew has taught and exhibited his viscosity prints locally for decades, inspiring and enlivening the Santa Barbara art community.
  • Master printmaker Michael McCabe specializes in viscosity techniques, is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and teaches workshops in Ojai and Goleta.

*to RSVP email info@nullafsb.org or call 805-965-6307*

FACEBOOK event here.

“Gehry’s Gambit: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao” A lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale, Art & Architecture Historian

“Gehry’s Gambit: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao”

A lecture by Dr. Allan Langdale, Art & Architecture Historian

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Reception 6:00-7:00pm / Presentation 7:00-8:00pm

Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

229 East Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, CA

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce a lecture by historian Dr. Allan Langdale.  Dr. Langdale will present an illustrated talk entitled “Guggenheim Bilbao.” There is a suggested donation of $10.00 to attend the lecture. There are 32 seats available for the lecture. Tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis via Eventbrite.com, at the door, or by calling 805-965-6307.

Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is one of the key monuments of recent architecture. Built in the final years of the 20th century, its revolutionary form presaged the 21st. This lecture presents the building as expressive of the concept of ‘gestural architecture’ and examines the building in its role as a destination piece, placing a previously unknown port town squarely on the map as a cultural center.

Allan Langdale is an art and architectural historian, filmmaker, photographer, and travel writer who received his Ph.D. in art history from UC Santa Barbara. Allan has taught courses in Italian Renaissance art, Byzantine art, East Indian art, and Islamic art and currently teaches art history at UC Santa Cruz and film studies at UC Santa Barbara. His travel blog can be found at ‘Allan’s Art and Architecture Worlds’:  https://allansartworlds.sites.ucsc.edu/

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is located at the historic Acheson House at 229 E. Victoria Street. The primary entrance on Garden Street is ramp accessible.