This April, our Contemporary Collectors Council went on a weekend adventure to Ojai and Santa Barbara. This trip was filled with a myriad of stops at various artists' studios and collectors' homes in addition to a visit to the Contemporary Arts Forum in Santa Barbara.
Artist, John Nava's studio was the first on the weekend adventure. The members of the CCC had the opportunity to view some of Nava's photo realist paintings and tapestries that recently won him Honor Award for Visual art by the the National Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture Design.
After a delightful lunch at the Garden Terrace, the members of the CCC headed over to Ruth Pastine's studio. Pastine, who conjures up Finish Fetish works, laboriously working toward subtle color shifts in her painting, has also been acknowledged as a colorist, creating an environment as the paintings react to light and one's movement in space.
Gary Lang's studio was up next. This sculptor and painter focuses in abstraction, using repetition and vibrant colors in his work. His recent work includes concentric circles on round canvases, gridded paintings of colorful stacked lines that he calls "plaids," and striped paintings that recall some of David Simpson's early paintings.
Next, the CCC members ventured towards Richard Amend's studio. As an artist, Amend works in various mediums that include production design in film, set sketches, public art, and paintings. Through photographing sites for various film projects, Amend became drawn to painting. Filmic qualities can be seen in Amend's paintings.
Richard's wife, Susan Stinsmeuhlen-Amend, studio was next on the trip. Stinsmeuhlen-Amend works in glass and mixed media and is currently the Chair of the Ojai Arts Commission. Her works vary from wall mounts to small sculptural installations and public art sculptures.
The last stop at Ojai was a visit to collectors Carolyn Glasoe and Chris Bailey's home. These two have a very interesting contemporary eye as their collection frequently changes, which mainly houses blue chip artists mixed with emerging artists. Glasoe has been working as an art dealer in New York. IN addition to their collection, Glasoe and Bailey have a stunning home built by Kazumi Adachi in 1952.
On the first stop for the Santa Barbara end of the trip, the CCC members got the chance to visit collector Nancy Gifford. Gifford has dedicated her collection to contemporary artists based in Santa Barbara. As an advocate for bringing awareness to contemporary art in Santa Barbara, Gifford devotes her time to making numerous studio visits and has amassed a collection of about sixty artists from this region. Gifford lives in a beautiful new contemporary home with her husband and is currently continuing renovations on a home built by the architect Barry Berkus.
Next, the CCC members stopped by the Contemporary Arts Forum near the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Founded in 1976, it is a space devoted solely to exhibition and promoting contemporary art. The members were able to see the current group exhibition Eating Apples in Paradise. In a region like Santa Barbara that consciously sold and established itself as a modern-day paradise, "CAF dares 12 local artists to take a bite out of the proverbial apple with an exhibition exploring the realities and ambiguities of living in such an Edenic location."
The final stop on this weekend long trip was the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The members had the chance to see the exhibition Charles Garabedian: A Retrospective that brings together approximately 60 works by the artist, representing his enture career with an emphasis on paintings and drawings produced during the years since his first (and last) major solo museum exhibitions in 1983.
CCC members eagerly visiting the Charles Garabedian Retrospective at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art