Art Matters Lecture with Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers, Ph.D., Independent Curator Museums have undergone serious scrutiny in recent decades, opening the door to a re-evaluation of their priorities, practices, and roles. Concerns from both within the field and broad sectors of the public pertain to accessibility and inclusivity, to representation and repatriation, to sustainability and social justice. …

SBMA and Opera Santa Barbara partner to present a season’s sampling of art and music with pop-up performances in the Museum’s galleries, inspired by SBMA’s collection and special exhibitions or other topical themes. Free

Bring the whole family to enjoy Teaching Artist-led activities in the Museum’s Family Resource Center. Collage a bird and flower detail from Utagawa Hiroshige’s color woodblock print Bullfinch (Uso) and Japanese Mountain Rose (n.d.), then add a selection of Japanese characters in black watercolor to your composition. Afterward, enjoy the galleries until 8 pm.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is participating in SoCal Museums’ 2023 Free-for-All event by offering free admission all day on February 5. On Free-for-All, over 30 museums in Southern California from Long Beach to Santa Barbara will open their doors and offer free general admission. At SBMA, enjoy the galleries 11 am – 5 …

All skill levels are invited to experience the tradition of sketching from original works of art in current exhibitions. Museum Teaching Artists provide general guidance and all materials. Free with reservation Reserve your spot at https://tickets.sbma.net/event-detail/sketching-galleries-2023-02-09/

Parallel Stories with Rachel Cusk, Siemon Scamell-Katz, and Andrew Winer Inspired by the artistic collaboration of Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz and the SBMA exhibition Scenes from a Marriage: Ed & Nancy Kienholz, Parallel Stories examines what happens in fiction and life when artist couples work together. Celebrated author and recent winner of the Femina Prize …

This free concert features student composers, performers, and writers from a workshop led by Grammy Award-winning saxophonist and composer Ted Nash who joins them on stage. Responding in part to artist Joan Tanner’s unorthodox use of materials and inspired by Nash’s original composition first performed with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, these young artists explore the …

Visitors of all ages are invited to participate in this hands-on informal workshop with SBMA Teaching Artists. Each month explore a different medium—clay, metal, ink, wood, photography, paper—inspired by works of art in the Museum’s collection or special exhibitions. In February, free draw in black marker on watercolor paper then dab brilliant shades of dry …

Writers of all levels are invited to participate in this informal exploration of the Museum’s galleries as an impetus to writing. Monthly sessions are led by a visiting writer who begins with a conversation and prompt, partially inspired by works on view. Participants write on their own, then reconvene to share and comment on each …

SBMA is excited to welcome the Catalyst Quartet back for their 7th performance. Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemblehas toured widely throughout the United States …

Please join us Thursday night, February 23 at 4:30 pm, for a lecture at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of art, hosted by G. James Daichendt. G. James Daichendt is an art critic, curator, and art historian that serves as Vice-Provost, Dean of the Colleges, and Professor of Art History at Point Loma Nazarene University in …

In 1836 Ingres ordered an artistic encounter between two Creoles who had both been born in Saint-Domingue, renamed Haiti. From Rome, the fifty-six-year-old painter exerted his power over an “homme de couleur” and a black man by orchestrating a confrontation that left both men in ignorance of its ultimate purpose. Ingres’s sixteen-year-old student Théodore Chassériau, …

Formed in 1995, the Austin, Texas-based Miró Quartet, is one of America’s most celebrated string quartets, having performed throughout the world on the most prestigious concert stages. They won first prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, and in 2005, became the first ensemble ever to be awarded an …

Known for its “voluptuous tapestry of sound, vocal purity and radiant sonorities,” the Quire of Voyces remains steadfastly dedicated to its mission of presenting and recording world-class, transcendent interpretations of sacred a cappella works from the Renaissance and modern eras in spectacular historic settings. Envisioned and founded by Artistic Director Nathan Kreitzer in 1993, the …