by Anne Petersen
Click through the image for more detail.
This week we installed The Art of Preservation: The Oak Group Remembers Ray Strong at Casa de la Guerra for a 2-month run. The project reflects the fruit of many meaningful community collaborations, and we can’t wait for everyone to see the results. The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation is one of 10 host institutions throughout the county celebrating pioneering landscape artist Ray Strong with special exhibitions during the month of June. For a list of all the exhibitions, click here.
Sullivan Goss Gallery coordinated the Summer 2015 Ray Strong exhibition project as part of a larger project to honor Strong’s legacy, which will include a beautiful full-color book, and an online database of Strong’s work. For more information on the Ray Strong project, click here.
SBTHP is proud to partner with the Oak Group for our contribution to the Summer 2015 Ray Strong exhibition series. Strong, who inspired plein air landscape painters throughout California and Oregon, was co-founder of this local painters collective, which focuses on the power of art to help preserve and celebrate open space. For the exhibit, Oak Group members loaned Ray Strong paintings from their private collections, and also paintings of their own that evoke a strong connection to Strong, their colleague, mentor and friend. The Oak Group’s preservation theme dovetails beautifully with SBTHP’s preservation mission.
To produce and install the exhibit we also rely on the help of volunteers and friends of SBTHP. Special thanks go to co-curator Bill Dewey, a member of the Oak Group and SBTHP’s Artifacts and Exhibits (A&E) Committee for his help coordinating the project. Intern Lauren Trujillo corresponded with artists and made and installed the labels for the show. A&E Committee member Kathi Brewster helped hang all the artwork. We are also grateful for our partnership with the Oak Group and honored to display the treasured paintings by and memories of Ray Strong that members shared for the exhibit. Special thanks also go to Chris Chapman for sharing her Cloud Dance as the featured painting for the show (seen in the header of this post).
We hope to see everyone at the free public opening for the exhibit on June 11 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Casa de la Guerra. We will also be open for free during the July 2 First Thursday program from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM. And, of course you can always visit Casa de la Guerra during regular hours from 12:00 – 4:00 PM Friday through Sunday.
Anne Petersen is the Associate Director for Historical Resources at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation