N e i g h b o r s : 17 Santa Barbara Artists in Ventura
Opening Receptions: Saturday, May 9 3-6pm
Exhibition dates: May 6 - June 13, 2009
Ventura First Friday, June 5 5-9pm
Sylvia White Gallery
1783 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
805 643 8300
sylviawhitegallery@gmail.com
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 12-5pm
Sylvia White Gallery is pleased to announce our next exhibition, N e i g h b o r s : 17 Santa
Barbara Artists in Ventura. The exhibition will feature paintings, works on paper, photographs,
sculpture and installation. It is an ambitious representation of some of the most cutting edge art
being created in our neighboring county. An opportunity for artists, collectors, and the art
community in general, to connect and familiarize themselves with artists who exist in such close
geographic proximity. The Ventura and Santa Barbara art communities share so much, and, yet,
have remained relatively isolated from one another. In an effort to bridge this gap and share our
resources, this exhibition opens the door to what I hope will be a continuing dialog. I am convinced
that both communities will emerge stronger as the result.
Richard Aber's architectonic sculpture suggest armor in a primal form. The work in this exhibition
is from his Stupa series which continues his exploration into Psycho-Cosmic Symbolism. Aber has
been exhibiting publicly for over thirty five years and is a graduate of California State University,
Fullerton. His work can also be seen at Edward Cella Art & Architecture Gallery, Los Angeles.
As Hilary Brace's cloud-filled landscapes have evolved over the past twenty years, her primary
medium has been drawing, in charcoal on Mylar. Her especially mutable drawing technique allows
for much spontaneity, exploration and surprise, all central to the artist's process of developing her
images. More recently, Brace has expanded her exploration across various media to create prints
that combine sculpture, photography and drawing. This multi-faceted approach increases both the
believability and ambiguity of her strange, cloudy worlds. She has been exhibiting her work
regularly since receiving an MFA degree from UCSB in 1985. Her work is represented in Los
Angeles by Craig Krull Gallery and in New York by Edward Thorp Gallery.
Nell Campbell is a documentary photographer that brings a nuanced sense of theater in everyday
life. The photographs in this exhibition were made in Cuba in 2002 and in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina. The Cuba photographs are from a series entitled Havanity and the Louisiana
piece is from the exhibition, La Chanson Perdue. Campbell has been exhibiting publicly for over
20 years. Her photographs are in the permanent collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
and are exhibited at the Patty Look Lewis Gallery in Santa Barbara.
Bob de Bris is a photographer that reveals his wit and warm hearted eye by exposing the quirky
obsessions of others. The work in this exhibition is from his ventriloquist series, a continuation of
his investigations into various offbeat social groups characterized by obsession, exclusivity,
excess, and curious regalia. The list includes but is not limited to: burlesque performers, furries,
civil war re-enactors, circus performers, Mexican wrestlers, passion play performers, Elvis
impersonators, twins, U.F.O. enthusiasts and many others. de Bris has been exhibiting publicly for
over 30 years and is a graduate of the Banff Centre, and the College of Creative Studies. His work
can be seen in various public and private collections in Canada and the USA. He is represented by
Corbis.
Rollin Fortier's intimate bronze sculptures invoke both the foreign and the familiar, the fantasy and
the bodily. The work in this exhibition is from a series which continues his basic exploration of preconscious form. Rollin Fortier has been exhibiting publicly for over 25 years. He received a BFA
from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA from the University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Dane Goodman's sculpture and drawings are at once playful and poignant allusions to the familiar
and sometimes nostalgic. Working in a wide range of mediums and scale, from installations to
prints to hand held sculpture, he has shown his artwork for over 38 years throughout the US in
numerous solo and group shows, including the Drawing Center in New York City and the
Scottsdale (AZ) Center For the Arts. In Santa Barbara, his work has been exhibited at the Santa
Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, and University Art Museum at
UCSB. He is a recipient of the County of Santa Barbara Individual Artist Award. Locally his artwork
is in the collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the University Art Museum UCSB. He
has also been a lecturer and artist-in-residence at colleges and universities in California and the
Midwest. Recently he has been a panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts.
Colin Gray works in the medium of drawing, sculpture, and more recently, tapestries. His drawings
embody both movement and form, bridging the gap between seemingly static work and the
animated play of a sublime graphic novel. The work in this exhibition is from his Unknown Land
Series which explores animated sculptural forms originally made on paper. Gray has been
exhibiting publicly for over 30 years and is a graduate of Leeds Polytechnic Fine Arts Department,
U.K. and UCSB.
Mary Heebner works in several mediums including painting, photography and handmade artists
books. The work in this exhibition combines photography and ink-painting on handmade paper to
create an image that is at once an exploration of topography and of human form, utilizing carved
sandstone images from Angkor Thom, Cambodia as her point of departure. This continues her
basic exploration of how we perceive and create reality through piecing together fragments, and
how impermanence, which delineates all living form, can be witnessed in matter as durable as
stone. Heebner has been exhibiting publicly for over 30 years and received her MFA,at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. Her work is in many private and public collections including
J Paul Getty Research Institute, The National Gallery of Art, San Francisco and Santa Barbara's
Museums of Art, Yale University Collections and the British Library. Her work can be seen at
Edward Cella Art+Architecture in Los Angeles.
Ed Inks' meticulously crafted sculptures take on classic forms and bring them into the present in
large scale, but with a surprising lightness of touch. The work in this exhibition is from his historic
vessel series, which continues with an investigation into the numerous associations with the
'vessel'. He attempts to construct celebrated objects and makes them seem less familiar by
removing functionality in order to reveal potential associations. Inks has been exhibiting publicly for
over 25 years and is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University. His public works can also be seen
on the campus of Westmont College and will be installed on the campus of Santa Barbara City
College, this summer.
Wayne McCall has been making, and exhibiting, photographs for the past forty years. His work, in
this exhibition, reflects an ongoing concern that nature seldom presents itself in a fully-realized
form. These images have been "expanded" to include the concept of time- what might have been,
and or, what might become. His photographs find play between the different worlds within the
photographic image itself: the real and invented, the present and the past.
Barbara Parmet's photos and collaged works of people and objects, reveal and illuminate the
hidden dimensions of her subjects. The work in this exhibition is from her "Lifesize Portraits and
Other Illusions," which continues her exploration into the basic condition of impermanence using
human, animal and plant forms. Parmet has been exhibiting publicly for over 19 years and is a
graduate of Indiana University and the University of Missouri. Her work can also be seen in the
collections of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles.
Rafael Perea de la Cabada's layered images both evoke and obliterate history, like old city wall
might, but, are pulled into the present with clearly contemporary forms. The work in this exhibition
is from his series “Faces & Facets” (Caras y Facetas). Perea has been exhibiting publicly for over
27 years and is a graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara. He has exhibited at
many galleries and museums in Southern California including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art,
the Contemporary Arts Forum, the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena and the HunsakerSchlesinger Gallery in Santa Monica. His work is included in numerous public and private
collections in Mexico, Switzerland, France, Germany and the United States.
Keith Puccinelli's installations and drawings straddle a high wire balanced between the menacing
and the comic. The work in this exhibition is from his intricately rendered large, on-going series of
pen & ink drawings continuing his basic investigation into the nature of the fragility of life and
human fallibility. Puccinelli has been exhibiting regularly for over 15 years and is a graduate of San
José State University in Northern California. His work is included in numerous private collections in
North America.
The oil paintings exhibited by Marie Schoeff are created with numerous glazes rendering a
polished surface and colorful glow. The images are purposely ambiguous: floating, floral, figurative,
and female. Marie Schoeff has been exhibiting publicly for over 25 years and has an MFA from
Hunter College in New York City. Her work is in private and public collections including the Santa
Barbara Museum of Art.
Ilene Segalove is a multi media artist working in the mediums of photography,
video, text, and audio. The work in this exhibition is from her Perilous Paths Stunted
Stories which continue her basic investigation/exploration into how humans find their
way around art, game boards, and the geography of their inner and outer psyche.
Ilene Segalove has been exhibiting publicly for over 34 years and is a graduate of
UCSB and Loyola University. Her work can also be seen at the Jancar Gallery in
Chinatown, Los Angeles and in numerous museum and private collections around the
world.
Rick Stich is a painter who uses acrylic and encaustic as the medium to convey light,movement
and depth in a series of paintings
entitled "Water-Mirrors.These varies explorations of water by the artist have been exhibited for over
30 years and are included in major
collections such as Eli Broad Museum and various private collections.The artist currently exhibits
his work in the Edward
Cella Gallery in Los Angeles.
Joan Tanner currently works in the medium of sculpture and installation. In this exhibition, Tanner
is showing a series of drawings related to work for Standing Yellow, an installation project for the
Speed Art Museum. Tanner is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and has been
exhibiting publicly for many years. Her work can be seen at the Edward Cella Art + Architecture Los Angeles; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Speed Art Museum - Louisville Ky; and in Special
Collections of the Houghton Library at Harvard University and the Getty Research Institute - Los
Angeles.
Special thanks to Colin Gray, without whom this exhibition would not have been possible. Colin
worked tirelessly as my teacher, my guide, my navigator. It is his hard work that shaped the vision
for N e i g h b o r s and because of him, we can now truly "Love thy Neighbor."
For more info: please contact sylviawhitegallery@gmail.com or call 805 643 8300