Events around Santa Barbara
Join us for a family-friendly event at the Museum's Family Resource Center, where Teaching Artists will lead engaging activities! Reimagine Diego Rivera’s iconic artwork, "Man Loading Donkey with Firewood" (1938), using pencil and tempera paint. Then, continue the fun by exploring the galleries until 8 p.m. Bring the whole family for a creative and memorable …
Give Mom the perfect experience this Mother’s Day! Local well-known chef and author, Pascale Beale, will demonstrate a few recipes from her vast collection of 8 books. She will talk about her love for art and some of the art from around the world that has inspired her recipes. Spend an afternoon with your mom …
Join us for a hands-on drop-in workshop led by SBMA Teaching Artists, open to visitors of all ages! Each month, dive into a new medium inspired by artworks in the Museum’s collection or special exhibitions. This May, unleash your creativity by crafting your own character collage inspired by the drawings of Rufino Tamayo. Don't miss …
The wild and wildly popular author T.C. Boyle returns to the Museum to read/perform one of his most topical short stories. Santa Barbara’s favorite so called “Punk Laureate,” a prolific and provocative spinner of stories and satire, is also a notoriously extroverted performer. "I enjoy demystifying the relationship between the reader and the writer,” says …
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 …
Please join us for a presentation and book signing of the book The Butterfly Wood House by Robert Ooley, FAIA. Robert has been a beloved Architect for the private and public sector on the Central Coast for over 25 years. He is an author, playwright and the Director of Facilities for SBMA. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Butterfly Wood …
Stop by the Museum’s Front Terrace while you are out on 1st Thursday to see artist, Ashwini Bhat, building the clay wall for her Sunday, June 9, Interactive Public Performance. Watch the artist at work or, if you feel like getting your hands dirty, be a part of the process, add a layer of clay to the wall, and …
Bring the whole family to enjoy Teaching Artist-led activities in the Museum’s Family Resource Center. Play with color and texture by creating a weaving with paper, fabric, yarn, and string inspired by Sarah Rosalena’s Exit Grid (2023). Afterward, enjoy the galleries until 8 pm.
Visitors of all ages are invited to participate in this hands-on drop-in 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 June, collage a composition in soft colors of vellum on black paper inspired by Pae …
Reserve your tickets and join us for a talk and book signing with New York Times bestselling author Michael Finkel, who wrote The Art Thief and The Stranger in the Woods. The Art Thief is now in paperback and available in the Museum Store. In The Art Thief, Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for …
Enjoy jazz composed and performed by students in SBCC’s Summer Jazz program in a collaborative workshop with Grammy Award-winning composer and musician Ted Nash. Inspired by works in A Legacy of Giving and Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree’s love of music and support of education.
Visitors of all ages are invited to participate in this hands-on drop-in 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 July, experiment with pointillist painting techniques using stencil brushes and tempera paint inspired by Paul …
The Music Academy of the West’s Arancia Quartet, made up of 2024 String Quartet Seminar fellows, perform Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution. The piece—originally commissioned by an art museum—is a patchwork of Smith’s wildly contrasting influences, unexpected juxtapositions, and intersecting planes of sound, celebrating the spirit of fresh observation. In collaboration with Music Academy of the West.
If you have a passion for art and are interested in serving the community, the SBMA Docent Program is a rewarding and supportive environment to learn and have fun. Volunteer docents engage with visitors of all ages through guided tours to make works of art accessible to everyone. An art background is not required. LEARN. SHARE. …
Visitors of all ages are invited to participate in this hands-on drop-in 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 August, select reproductions of your favorite paintings in A Legacy of Giving and design simple or elaborate frames …