Art on Deck

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805 Living Pulse Jun 2019

Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Inga Guzyte, courtesy photo.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Inga Guzyte, courtesy photo.

Using recycled skateboard decks as her medium, Inga Guzyte (ingaguzyte.com) transforms her passion for skateboarding into sculptural art. Her new #RebelWomen series spotlights women from around the globe—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Malala Yousafzai, Frida Kahlo—emphasizing their strength, courage, fearlessness and wit.

“I am hoping to share rebellious and empowering stories,” says the 34-year-old artist, who lines her Santa Barbara studio with floor-to-ceiling stacks of skateboard decks (recycled from the nearby Lighthouse Skateshop) and waits for the right colors to show up before creating her sculptures. Born in Lithuania, and raised in Germany, she came to Santa Barbara at age 21 to learn English and immerse herself in the California skateboarding culture. Making her way into the male-dominated sport influenced her work.

Inga Guzyte self portrait, courtesy photo.

Inga Guzyte self portrait, courtesy photo.

“Inga’s work is an exciting combination of vision, originality and high craft,” says Nathan Vonk, owner of Sullivan Goss Gallery (sullivangoss.com) in Santa Barbara, where a solo show of Guzyte’s work appears from June 1 through July 23. “While her pieces are made from brutal, broken materials, the finished products are both sophisticated and delicate,” he says. “With her #RebelWomen series, she has added to that appeal by including a message that is powerful, important and uplifting.”  

Originally published in the June 2019 issue of 805 Living Magazine.

 

Mentors and Makers: The Artists of Westmont College

MENTORS AND MAKERS: The Artists of Westmont College, at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

MENTORS AND MAKERS: The Artists of Westmont College, at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

As part of its continuing commitment to exhibit the work of talented emerging artists alongside important established and historically significant artists, Sullivan Goss Gallery hosts an exhibition of works by the art department faculty of Westmont College. Mentors and Makers: The Artists of Westmont College opens on Dec. 6 with a 1st Thursday Reception from 5-8 p.m. The exhibition remains on view through Jan. 20.

The art department at Westmont College has always had an outsized influence on the art scene of the region. But tucked away in its bucolic Montecito campus, it can be easy to overlook how much concentrated talent is found there. “Currently, Westmont’s arts faculty consists of some of the most intriguing, adventurous, and distinct artists working in and around Santa Barbara, though their work is making waves over a much larger area,” says Curator Nathan Vonk.

Featured artists include:

Scott Anderson received his M.F.A. in illustration from The University of Hartford, and an M.A. in illustration from Syracuse University. His illustration work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, LA Weekly, The Village Voice, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and many others. He has also created numerous book covers for the popular “Who Is” series from the Grosset & Dunlap division of Penguin Books. His work has been awarded and recognized by Communication Arts, American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators New York, the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, and in multiple volumes of Spectrum. A gallery painter as well, Anderson exhibits his figurative work annually with Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Scott Anderson, Wave 2, 2017, 7 x 11," oil on canvas, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Scott Anderson, Wave 2, 2017, 7 x 11,” oil on canvas, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

James Daly focuses on figurative work and classical methods in various genres. Most recently his art has been an exploration of movement, visual memory, and experience in the outdoors. Daly is a graduate of Westmont and UCSB with degrees in Studio art and a Masters in Education. For the last eleven years he has developed a classically based curriculum that follows atelier-style art education for Providence Upperschool and more recently joined Westmont as an adjunct instructor.

James Daly, Haskell's Sunset, 2018, 6 x 8 inches, oil on board, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

James Daly, Haskell’s Sunset, 2018, 6 x 8 inches, oil on board, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Nathan Huff earned his M.F.A. in Drawing and Painting, from California State University Long Beach, and also studied at Watts Atelier School of Art. Huff creates drawing and painting installations that function as freewheeling narratives: personal stories that explore the gaps between visual perception and modes of representation. Huff’s solo museum and gallery exhibitions have been featured at UCR Culver and Sweeney Galleries (Riverside), Los Angeles at D.E.N. Contemporary (West Hollywood), New Media Gallery (Ventura) Minthorne Gallery, (Oregon), and Gallerie View (Salambo, Tunisia.)

Nathan Huff, Skies and Schisms 5, 2018, 22 x 30 inches, gouache on paper, on board, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Nathan Huff, Skies and Schisms 5, 2018, 22 x 30 inches, gouache on paper, on board, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Sommer Roman was born and raised in California. She received her BA from UC Santa Cruz in 2004, and her MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2014. She maintains a multi-disciplinary practice spanning sculpture, painting, and drawing and teaches part-time at California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) & Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Some of her recent projects & exhibits include: Left Coast; Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Art, a group exhibit at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Out of the Great Wide Open, a group exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara; Artist Residency & culminating solo exhibition, Passage at UC Santa Barbara; Artist Residency at The Squire Foundation, and most recently, In the Woods, Perpetual Youth, a solo exhibit at Ventura College.

Sommer Roman, Sighting no. 542, 2018, 55 x 20 x 26 inches, reclaimed fabric, clothing, pillows, feathers, paint, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Sommer Roman, Sighting no. 542, 2018, 55 x 20 x 26 inches, reclaimed fabric, clothing, pillows, feathers, paint, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Chris Rupp received his BA from Westmont College and an MFA from Azusa Pacific University. While trained primarily as a sculptor, Rupp does not limit his art making to traditional sculptural mediums or even three-dimensional forms. From graphite drawings, to molded plastic, or the use of unconventional store bought materials. His work has been exhibited at the Inland Empire Museum of Art, Biola University, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, The Channing Peake Gallery, and the Santa Barbara Arts Fund.

Chris Rupp, Dreamers Welcome, 2018, 18 x 30 inches, acrylic enamel paint on coir door mat, on board, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Chris Rupp, Dreamers Welcome, 2018, 18 x 30 inches, acrylic enamel paint on coir door mat, on board, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Meagan Sterling has an M.A. and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her work has been displayed in many juried and group exhibitions, from Denver and Peoria to Seattle and Spokane. She says, “The paradox of daily life as safe and comfortable, juxtaposed with its polar opposite—defense against life’s uncertainties—appears to bully the American Dream itself. My art explores images of post World War II Americana where energy and resources were often used to advance comfort and promise safety and well being.”

Meagan Stirling, Everlasting Arms 5, 2018, 16 x 16 inches, Drypoint and Monoprint, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Meagan Stirling, Everlasting Arms 5, 2018, 16 x 16 inches, Drypoint and Monoprint, on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, is located at 11 E. Anapamu St. in downtown Santa Barbara.

Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on December 2, 2018.

Phoebe Brunner: Breathe

Phoebe Brunner, "Silver Threads," oil on canvas, 30 x 54."

Phoebe Brunner, “Silver Threads,” oil on canvas, 30 x 54.”

Sullivan Goss Gallery presents new work by acclaimed local artist Phoebe Brunner in her second solo exhibition for the gallery, titled “Breathe.” The show opens April 5, with a 1st Thursday reception from 5-8 p.m.

The gallery describes Brunner’s latest body of vibrant work as “connecting to the earth around us as it regenerates from a long lack of rain. Poppies explode, scattering their seeds to the wind for the next season of flowers. Roads lead through winding hills verdant with fresh grass. Clouds settle in to canyons to coat the hills with moisture. While her views are primarily imaginative, we are drawn to them by sense of memory for a place we have visited or more accurately, the familiarity of worlds we have wandered in our dreams. This remarkable group of paintings reminds us to take a collective breath. Spring is coming, bringing regeneration and a continuation of nature’s endless cycle.”

Phoebe Brunner, "Rain, Happy Hour," oil on canvas, 30 x 22."

Phoebe Brunner, “Rain, Happy Hour,” oil on canvas, 30 x 22.”

Brunner earned a BFA from UCSB and trained at Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute and the University of Guadalajara. She has been exhibiting in the Santa Barbara area for 40 years and brings a local’s knowledge of the terrain together with a visionary artist’s sense of interpretation.

The exhibition remains on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery, 11 E. Anapamu St., through June 3. For more information, visit www.sullivangoss.com or www.facebook.com/sullivan.goss or call 805/730-1460.

Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on April 4, 2018.

Local Dish: Smithy Kitchen + Bar

The outdoor patio at Kitchen + Bar is a beautiful place to dine, day or night. Photo courtesy Smithy.

The outdoor patio at Kitchen + Bar is a beautiful place to dine, day or night. Photo courtesy Smithy.

There’s nothing better than good food in a beautiful setting, and the new Smithy Kitchen + Bar (7 E. Anapamu St.) has both! I’ve dined on the lovely outdoor patio—under its gorgeous canopy of 100-year-old olive trees—twice in the last few weeks—once on a cold night and once on a warmish one—and the well-placed heaters make it a comfortable and cozy spot to be in almost any weather.

Designer Steve Hermann has redone the former Somerset space in an upscale yet approachable style, with a more “Santa Barbara” vibe and every day price point. Originally a blacksmith shop, hence the name “Smithy,” this prime downtown location (near the Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Public Library and Sullivan Goss Gallery) is now a great spot for lunch, dinner with friends and family, nighttime drinks and bites or a leisurely Sunday brunch. There’s also a special Easter Brunch menu, if you’re eager to check it out this weekend.

Smithy's "Baby I'm a Star" cocktail and roasted sunchokes with chanterelles, brown butter hazelnuts and butternut squash puree, photo by Leslie Dinaberg.

Smithy’s “Baby I’m a Star” cocktail and roasted sunchokes with chanterelles, brown butter hazelnuts and butternut squash puree, photo by Leslie Dinaberg.

Chef Lauren Herman’s new menu is delicious, and nothing is over $20. We loved the mussels and clams with shallot, garlic, crispy pork belly, and bok choy served with grilled toast. The sauce was so savory we asked for extra toast (homemade) to lap up every last bite. The pastas were also terrific. Try the Cavatelli combined with pork ragu, mustard greens and tomato confit for a hearty dish. The squid ink casarecce in lobster bisque with uni and nori breadcrumbs was also fabulous.

The vegetables really shine as well. We loved the fried delicata squash with cauliflower, bagna cauda, calabrian chili and anchovy aïoli, as well the roasted rainbow carrots with spiced cashew butter, coconut yogurt and carrot top pistou. I also enjoyed the sunchokes, roasted with chanterelles, brown butter hazelnuts and butternut squash puree. Overall, everything was tasty and ideal for sharing.

Smithy's Polenta Dumplings and Mushroom Flatbread. Photo by Kay Cheon, courtesy Smithy.

Smithy’s Polenta Dumplings and Mushroom Flatbread. Photo by Kay Cheon, courtesy Smithy.

Partners in life and in the kitchen, Lauren Herman’s wife, Christina Olufson, is a terrific pastry chef.  The flourless chocolate cake with crushed honeycomb was amazing, as was the butterscotch pumpkin cake. Our friends at a nearby table also raved about the brioche doughnuts, so those are definitely on my list to try next time. 

The cocktails are also worth noting, with creative names like “Ortega Undead II: The Resurrection”  (tequila blanco, lime , thai chile, wild elderflower, falernum and chili-salt rim), “From Tokyo to Mars” (iwai japanese whiskey and bittered grapefruit cordial) and “Baby I’m a Star” (pear and fennel, vodka, fino sherry, absinthe, lemon and peychauds bitters) that are just as delicious as they are irresistible for wordsmiths.

One of several communal dining tables at Smithy Kitchen + Bar, courtesy photo.

One of several communal dining tables at Smithy Kitchen + Bar, courtesy photo.

While I loved the aesthetic of Somerset, Smithy is definitely a more welcoming space, not to mention significantly less expensive. The building’s original exposed brick walls with white weathered board and batten walls, rustic reclaimed table tops, and original school house chairs create a beautiful restaurant that is both airy and open, yet still feels intimate. As is becoming a trend, there are three separate communal tables and bar seating, as well as an additional 130 seats located inside and out, offering a myriad of dining possibilities. The nights I was there, there were large groups of people (both young and less young), lots of couples and smaller groups, as well as some solo diners.

Smithy's Kale Salad. Photo by Kay Cheon, courtesy Smithy.

Smithy’s Kale Salad. Photo by Kay Cheon, courtesy Smithy.

“We want Smithy to provide a dining oasis in the heart of Santa Barbara,” states owner and designer, Steve Hermann.  “We hope to become that bar/restaurant that feels like home for all of our guests’ dining and drinking needs, whether small or large.  Our food is delicious yet accessible, and our environment is welcoming and comfortable.  We’d like to create a new history with Smithy that matches the history of our iconic Santa Barbara location.”

Smithy is located in downtown Santa Barbara at 7 East Anapamu St.  Call 805/845-7112 or visit Open Table for reservations. The restaurant is open Monday through Friday for lunch from 11:30 – 2:30 p.m.; dinner from 5p.m. – close; and Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.  Happy hour runs daily from 4 – 6 p.m.

Leslie Dinaberg 

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on March 29, 2018.

Interior shot, courtesy Smithy Kitchen + Bar.

Interior shot, courtesy Smithy Kitchen + Bar.

Bar interior shot, courtesy Smithy Kitchen + Bar.

Bar interior shot, courtesy Smithy Kitchen + Bar.

First Person: Sullivan Goss Gallery’s Nathan Vonk

 New Sullivan Goss Gallery owner Nathan Vonk is flanked by his colleagues and fellow curators Jeremy Tessmer and Susan Bush.

New Sullivan Goss Gallery owner Nathan Vonk is flanked by his colleagues and fellow curators Jeremy Tessmer and Susan Bush. Courtesy photo.

Preserving the Legacy, Embracing the Future

By Leslie Dinaberg

The link between Burning Man’s annual bacchanal festivities and Sullivan Goss Gallery’s 30-plus-year legacy of celebrating important 19th-, 20th– and 21st-century American art may seem tenuous, but it was a visit to Burning Man that first sparked Nathan Vonk’s interest in art and the friends he made in the desert that first brought him to Santa Barbara.

Armed with a master’s degree in post-modern literature theory, Vonk taught night school at Ventura College and walked dogs during the day. He eventually bought out the owners of the dog business, ran it for a few years and then sold it for a profit, right before the market crashed in September of 2008.

Now fully enmeshed in the Santa Barbara scene, Vonk contemplated going back to school and getting a doctorate in art history or curatorial sciences and asked Sullivan Goss curator Jeremy Tessmer if he “could volunteer some hours at the gallery, so I could see if it was something that I wanted to do in graduate school.” Vonk laughs, “I came in and volunteered for the week, and on Friday, Frank [Goss] offered me a job. I never went back to school, and I’ve been there ever since.”

He continues, “I was the one guy in the whole country who got a new job in October of 2008. When everyone else was going on unemployment and Bear Stearns was crashing, I was one of the luckiest people in the country. I’ve been at Sullivan Goss ever since, and I couldn’t be happier.”

So happy, in fact, that when Goss told the team (which includes Tessmer and fellow curator Susan Bush) he planned to retire after 2016, Vonk bought the gallery because he wanted to make sure the legacy continued, with its staff intact.

If you think of arts in Santa Barbara as an ecosystem, the part that Sullivan Goss fulfills—if that goes away, the whole ecosystem suffers greatly and it’s not a part that someone is going to step in and fill that void. That was a large part of my motivation to take on the risk of running a commercial gallery,” says Vonk.

He and his wife, Erin Smith, have a son, Lowen, who, Vonk says, “has been to more art shows at age 2-1/2 than I think the average Santa Barbaran probably has.”

Part of what Vonk loves about Santa Barbara is its casual, egalitarian nature. “I think we all understand how lucky we are to work in a gallery like this, in a town like this. Shortly after working for Frank, I had the opportunity to go to New York and visit galleries…the whole vibe there is so different than it is in Santa Barbara. If you don’t look like you can afford it, they don’t give you the time of day.…It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole situation, and it made me all the more excited to come back and work for Frank, because we don’t operate that way. In part we can’t, because the man or woman who comes into our gallery in shorts and flip-flops could very easily be a billionaire, and I don’t know that. So I have to treat everyone like they are billionaires, and I like that.”

Vonk views part of his art-dealer role as acting like a sort of docent, saying, “What we sell are not just pretty pictures; they are pretty pictures that come with a history and a provenance and some other interesting part of them that, hopefully, people who are interested in buying them will understand that if they buy them, they are only going to be a small portion of that object’s history.”

He also clearly loves the work. “One of the great things about Sullivan Goss is that I was sort of an academic, and I loved studying and writing essays and we do all that.… We’ve written four or five books…all the things I wanted from going back to school I got. Plus I got to stay in Santa Barbara so it was even better.”

Originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine.

100 GRAND, 2014: (100 WORKS FOR $1,000 OR LESS)

Sullivan Goss 100 GrandIt’s that time of the year again: the sixth annual 100 GRAND exhibition at Sullivan Goss.Featuring 100 quality works of art for $1,000 or less, the exhibition has become an incubator of emerging talent, an entryway for beginning collectors and a holiday celebration in the art community.

Last year, almost a thousand people attended over the course of the evening.  December’s 1st Thursday at Sullivan Goss has become one of the area’s must-attend events of the year- a chance for artists and collectors to get together, network, and celebrate the accomplishments of another year in art.

The exhibition runs from December 4 to February 1, 2015, and features paintings, drawings, photographs, assemblage and sculpture by emerging and established artists that are priced to sell and sized (for the most part) to fit into smaller spaces.  For this year’s exhibition, Contemporary Curator Susan Bush was able to secure work from many of last year’s best-selling artists, but there are also more than 20 new artists who have never before shown with Sullivan Goss.

Since its first come first serve, buyers are encouraged to arrive early and to act fast.

ARTISTS INCLUDED:  Meredith Brooks Abbott, Benjamin Anderson, Scott Anderson, Ken Bortolazzo, Aron Bothman, Liz Brady, Lisabette Brinkman, Phoebe Brunner, Pat Calonne, Chris Chapman, Dorothy Churchill-Johnson, Connie Connally, Jeanne Dentzel, Mehosh Dziadzio, Naneki Elliott, Kathleen Elsey, Pamela Enticknap, Peggy Ferris, Kee Flynn, Jon Francis, Valori Fussell, Nancy Gifford, Dane Goodman, Robin Gowen, Amanda Grandfield, James Taylor Gray, Ruthy Green, Bay Hallowell, Holli Harmon, Tracey Sylvester Harris, Derrek Harrison, Wyllis Heaton, Cynthia James, Jow, Scott Kahn, Philip Koplin, Mary-Austin Klein, Marilee Krause, Elizabeth Ladacki, Dan Levin, Mark Lozano, Laurie Macmillan, Larry Mcadams, Virginia McCracken, Susan McDonnell, Svetlana Meritt, David Molesky, Zoe Nathan, Lisa Pederson, Angela Perko, Chris Peters, Hank Pitcher, Ian Putnam, Erik Reel, Maria Rendon, Brad Reyes, Joan Rosenberg-Dent, Blakeney Sanford, Caren Satterfield, Susan Savage, Marie Schoeff, Susan Shapiro, Lanny Sherwin, Elena Siff, Leslie Lewis Sigler, David Skinner, Nicole Strasburg, James David Thomas, Susan Tibbles, Dug Uyesaka, Taj Vaccarella, Sarah Vedder, Deborah Veldkamp, Tom de Walt, Nina Warner, Vani Winick, Roe Ann White, Monica Wiesblott, Abigail Zimmerman and Michele Zuzalek.

The opening artist reception is 1st Thursday, December 4 from 5 – 8 p.m. at Sullivan Goss Gallery, 7 E. Anapamu St. in downtown Santa Barbara. To see a video about the exhibition click here.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on December 2, 2014.

LOCKWOOD DE FOREST’s SANTA BARBARA

Rincon Peak From Mission Ridge by Lockwood de Forest

Rincon Peak From Mission Ridge by Lockwood de Forest

Don’t miss “Lockwood de Forest’s Santa Barbara,” a new exhibition of  24 paintings of Santa Barbara, Montecito and Santa Ynez by Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932) on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery beginning April 3, 1st Thursday, from 5 – 8 p.m. The work will be on view at the gallery, located at 7 E. Anapumu St., until June 29.

Painted between 1903 and 1922, these works relate a vision of the vast and undeveloped landscape that was once Santa Barbara.

Born to an old and prosperous family in Manhattan, de Forest began to draw from nature when he was just a boy. As a young man he trained under his cousin, Frederic Church, who was likely the most admired American landscape painter of his day. Returning home, de Forest decided to pursue a career in art and design and spent vast amounts of time reading, designing, and painting at Olana, Church’s home in the Hudson River Valley of New York. He also took up studio space in New York’s storied Tenth Street Studio Building, where he worked near luminaries like Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer and William Merritt Chase.

Subsequently, he married and embarked on a celebrated career in Orientalist design, though he never stopped exhibiting his paintings. At the dawn of the twentieth century, de Forest began spending months of the year in Santa Barbara. It was then that he refocused on his painting career.

De Forest retired in Santa Barbara and his son, Lockwood de Forest III, became a famous landscape architect in the area.

In 1994, Sullivan Goss began to buy and sell the paintings of an artist who was, by then, somewhat obscure. In the twenty years since de Forest has again become of the most recognized and sought after names in early California art. It has taken seven books and numerous museum shows on both coasts of the U.S. to reacquaint the world with the art of Lockwood de Forest, but at last, his star has reached its former brilliance.

Coming on the heels of the recent exhibition, Luminescent Santa Barbara: Lockwood de Forest, at Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Sullivan Goss will present 11 published works and 13 never-before exhibited paintings.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on April 1, 2014.