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Seeing Rural Art Opening
July 26, 2018
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
A new art exhibition, Seeing Rural: Through the Eyes of Visiting Artists in the Cuyama Valley, opens at the Art From Scrap Gallery on Thursday, July 26th at 5:00 pm.
The show features five artists, all part of the Blue Sky Center’s first artist residency program in the Cuyama Valley. Called 555, Blue Sky’s artist residency program, hosted five artists for five days in five huts built by father-daughter duo Jeff and Mattie Shelton.
The Blue Sky Center is a rural, place-based nonprofit whose mission is to regenerate the economy, land, and communities of the Cuyama Valley through equitable partnerships and sharing scalable models with other communities.
The 555 pilot program took place in April 2018 in collaboration with citizen artist and residency facilitator Mary Welcome and with generous support from the Santa Barbara Office of Arts & Culture, the Squire Foundation, Duncan Family Farms, several individual donors, Explore Ecology, and its Art From Scrap Creative ReUse Store. The pilot brought artists to make work in, about, and with New Cuyama, to help create meaningful dialogue, socially vibrant spaces, and equitable partnerships in the Cuyama Valley. In the spirit of rural-urban exchange, the residency culminates in the July 26th exhibition at Art From Scrap, where artists will share their work and experiences during the residency.
555 artists include:
- Ben Guzman and Angela Wood, Small Medium Large Productions, Los Angeles, CA, traveled to all ends of the valley shooting the diverse landscape and interviewing residents about history and identity in this place.
- Noé Montes, Los Angeles, CA, photographed and interviewed long-time residents and taught a photography workshop with middle school students.
- Tom Gottelier and Bobby Petersen, Designers on Holiday, Los Angeles, CA, designed and built a community bus stop shelter for the Cuyama School District.
- Oslo Butchy Fuego, Talkeetna, AK, of Seeing Trails Hike Gang, spent the residency exploring the Cuyama Valley, specifically Santa Barbara Canyon, Aliso Canyon, and Quatal Canyon
- Nicole Lavelle, Lagunitas, CA, explored the idea of what it means to be a visitor or temporary in a new place.
The exhibit runs through September 30th at Art From Scrap Gallery at 302 East Cota Street in downtown Santa Barbara. Gallery hours are Thursday and Friday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 am-4:00 pm.
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson