Monthly Archives: November 2015

Aline Smithson at wall space gallery

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Lucy in Turquoise by Aline Smithson, courtesy wall space gallery

Lucy in Turquoise by Aline Smithson, courtesy wall space gallery

Artist/photographer Aline Smithson, whose beautiful work graced the cover of Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine in spring 2015, will be in town Friday night to show her the work and celebrate the release of her long awaited monograph, Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography.

Smithson’s roots in traditional painting and portraiture are the background for her latest body of work, Revisiting Beauty. “In the footsteps of classical portraiture, her images filled with vibrant rich color and the simple beauty of the young women sitting before her brings to mind Kusakabe Kimbei’s stunning hand painted portraits of young Japanese women. It is the connection to her subject that her standing out from the often overflowing world of portrait photographers,” says wall space gallery owner Crista Dix.

Lexie Turned by Aline Smithson, courtesy wall space gallery

Lexie Turned by Aline Smithson, courtesy wall space gallery

The gallery will show a selection of highlighted works of Alines’ many portrait series. Arrangement in Green & Black (Portrait of the Photographer’s Mother), Revisiting Beauty and hand painted silver gelatin portraits.

Friday night November 6, from 6 – 8 p.m., Smithson will give an artist talk and sign books.

wall space gallery is located at 116 E. Yanonali St. in the Funk Zone of Santa Barbara. Open hours: Tu-Sa 11-5, Sun 12-5, and by appointment.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Self & Others by Aline Smithson

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on October 4, 2015.

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

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Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, courtesy of UCSB Arts & Lectures.

Arturo O’Farrill and the
Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, courtesy of UCSB Arts & Lectures.

Grammy Award-winning Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra bring together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music and the virtuosity of 18 of the world’s most accomplished solo musicians, on Thu., Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures.

Pianist and composer  O’Farrill, billed by the New York Times as leader of the “first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz,” earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.

Son of the late, great composer Chico O’Farrill, he established the Grammy Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to bring the vital musical traditions of Afro Latin jazz to a wider audience. Fusing Latin rhythms, African-based percussion, modern jazz and swing, this 18-piece orchestra roars through new commissions and compositions by the best in Latin music: Tito Puente, Astor Piazzola, Hermeto Pascoal and Chico O’Farrill.

For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at 805/893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on October 30, 2015.

Restoring Ranchito Bendito: An Edwards and Plunkett Classic

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Ranchito Bendito artwork by Frank Serrano

Ranchito Bendito artwork by Frank Serrano

ranchito-bendito-montecito-magazine-article_fall-winter2010

This story was originally published in Montecito Magazine in Winter 2010.