California Dreaming in Southern California

Thanks to Mary-Austin Klein for getting images of the California Dreaming exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art before it closes and moves to the Riverside Museum. It is a juried show that debuted in Italy before returning to California for it's 10 months on So Cal walls. It will reopen in Riverside at the end of April with a reception on May 7, 2015. More information HERE.

California Dreaming - An International Portrait of Southern California

The freeways are a huge part of our lives here in Southern California and getting to be more so with new overpasses, carpool lanes and throughways being built each year as an attempt to alleviate some of the congestion. I don't know that Caltrans can keep up with our population explosion, it takes far too long to erect something of this scale while trying to keep commuters commuting.

I digress though... this post is about an exhibition, an exhibition that is representative of a snapshot portrait of Southern California. It was an open call to artists from the Oceanside Museum of Art with the lure of a year long exhibition that travels to three venues, Oceanside Museum, Riverside Museum and the Salone d’Ingresso of Il Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone. That's right, the show launches in Italy!

Of 900 works by 335 artists, 50 artworks were selected by a panel of 4 curators. "Overpass No. 5" 30x30" Reductive Woodblock Monoprint was accepted to show and travel until next July.  The Italian leg of the journey has started and the exhibition will open October 4th and run through the 28th, Then the work is crated and shipped back to the states for an opening in Oceanside in December 2014.

OPS No. 5 ©2014 Nicole Strasburg

Our Italian Host

Alfio Borghese, Gallery Director of Il Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone, has been acclaimed throughout Italy for over 40 years as art critic, curator, film director and journalist. He serves as artistic director of the Festival of Contemporary Visual Arts sponsored by the City and the Province of Frosinone and frequently curates prominent exhibitions throughout Italy. Since 2012 Borghese has served as president and curator of the Biennale di Frosinone, Anagni and Alatri.

A member of one of Italy’s most prominent noble families founded in 1266, Borghese has produced hundreds of live theatrical performances, in addition to a distinguished series of films and documentaries featuring the most important European artists, writers and political figures of the twentieth century.

Exhibition Venue

California Dreaming: An International Portrait of Southern California is privileged to exhibit in the grand Salone d’Ingresso of Il Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone for the month of October 2014.




Located 56 miles (90 kilometers) southeast of Rome’s Villa Borghese, Il Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone was constructed in the 1930’s by architect and sculptor Giovanni Jacobucci. Designed in the neoclassical style, the monumental structure dominates the Piazza Antonio Gramsci with its immense proportions. The grandeur of the Palazzo’s Salone d’Ingresso is enhanced by a majestic double staircase leading to the upper levels of the structure, which house the provincial offices of Frosinone and a permanent collection of artworks by notable artists including abstract sculptor Umberto Mastroianni and mannerist painter Giuseppe Cesari, instructor of Caravaggio during the late 16th century.


 

Just in case you can't rush off to Italy, there will be two opportunities to see the show in Southern California.


Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone, Frosinone, Italy, October 4 – 28, 2014
Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside CA, December 6, 2014 – March 29, 2015
Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, April 21 – July 5, 2015

 

Northern Exposure: Paintings on the road

Foggy Shore 48x24" ©N Strasburg

Santa Cruz Art League
84th Annual Juried Landscape Exhibition
June 6 through July 6, 2014

Mountain Swim 12x12" ©N Strasburg

California State Fair
Fine Art Competition
July 11 through July 27, 2014

Bare Limbs 1 28x19.5" ©N Strasburg

Slice:A Juried Cross-section of Regional Art
June 29 - August 24, 2014
Reception & Award Ceremony: Friday, July 11, 6 - 9 pm 

Winter Shoreline: another opportunity ...

to be seen. This painting, Winter Shoreline, was painted six years ago in 2008. It has hung in several different galleries, two shows and won one award in Santa Cruz. Yet it sits in my cupboard in my studio, waiting.

It's sad to me that many shows have expiration dates that don't allow older, viable, worthy work to come out from hiding in an artist's studio to grace the walls and be admired again. Not only do beautiful works sit in collector's homes to be admired by few but so do many wonderful works sit in the artist's collections because viewers want to see what's new, what is the artist making now.

This painting, one of my personal favorites, favorite for it's ethereal ambiguity, will be heading south to San Diego next week; selected by Peter Frank, juror for the San Diego Art Institute open juried show running from April 5th to May 20th 2014. It's a chance to hang on the gallery wall again, to be seen, at least for a month, by others, in a city south by the sea.

Winter Shoreline 36x48" ©Nicole Strasburg

New Terrain

Thank you Joe Woodard for the fabulous review! 

And thank you to everyone who came out to 

First Thursday, great to see so many people.

There is one more reception for New Terrain in November and the show remains on the walls until December 1st.

If you haven't seen Susan's poetic video... here is the link! 

SGTV New Terrain

First Thursday OCTOBER 2013

There IS a reason, for certain, to leave your house tomorrow evening. Here are just a few:

S-tubes line up © hank pitcher

Hank Pitcher: The Long View

opening at Sullivan Goss

Threes a Charm © evan lewis

Meld: A Survey in Contemporary Metal

also opening at Sullivan Goss

Bare Limbs 1 © nicole strasburg

New Terrain

2nd reception for yours truly Sullivan Goss

You don't want to miss Ray Strong, Tonalism Then and Tonalism Now ... all showing

at Sullivan Goss, 7 & 11 East Anapamu!

East Fork in Flux ©sara woodburn

Annual Open Juried Show

Santa Barbara Printmakers

Reception at the Santa Barbara Public Library Main Gallery

Morning Light © thomas van stein

Thomas Van Stein & Wyllis Heaton 

Showing Urban Scenes and Architecture

at the Architectural Foundation

If you are looking for music!! My choice would be 

Carl & the Coconuts 

900 State Street {Marshall's Patio}

Born in Hilo, Hawaii, Carl is an acclaimed ukulele player, vocalist, and guitarist who enjoys a following from Hawaii to Japan to our own mainland. Carl has been performing professionally for more than 30 years and also teaches ukulele and guitar at SBCC Adult Education. It was during these classes he met Martin Osborn and Tod Matz - together they formed the band Carl & The Coconuts.

Mezcal Martini

Paseo Nuevo Center Court

Mezcal Martini is a Latin jazz band from Santa Barbara,been playing together for more than five years: Colin Griffiths, James Siu, Michael Wallace, John Leonard , Bruce Hale, Jeff Davis and Armand Renga. The band takes a very non-traditional approach towards Jazz standards by infusing them with Latin rhythms.  Their music is punctuated with infectious grooves and scintillating horn lines.

Hope to see you out on the town!

NEW TERRAIN

Just a few days from delivering all the work and a few more until the reception next Thursday, September 5th. Happy Labor Day indeed.

Along the Greenbelt 2  10x48" ©2013 N Strasburg

Solo show on the horizon

The NEW TERRAIN show cards are here and will be winging their way in the mail during the next week. If you are wanting something good in your post box send me word and I'll be happy to make sure you get one. Or you can stop by FRAME at 901 De La Vina and collect one, say hello to Elaine. She can give you the scoop on the show as she has had a sneak preview!

Hope to see you all at the gallery First Thursday September 5th from 5-8pm.

Sullivan Goss

11 East Anapamu Santa Barbara!

September Countdown

A new exhibition of paintings at Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara will open First Thursday in September. I'm marking the weeks as the show creeps closer and tethered to the studio finishing paintings. As in the past, there will be a large grid of 12x12" panels. I keep finding new source material so the number increases with each passing week. Recently finished:

Spring Meadow 12x12" ©2013

Spring Thaw 12x12" ©2013

New Terrain

New paintings by Nicole Strasburg 

Sullivan Goss

September 5 through December 1, 2013

Opening reception, First Thursday 

September 5 from 5-8pm

11 East Anapamu, Santa Barbara

First Thursdays May

The Spring Salon opens this evening....

Island Hike Diptych 19.5x59" ©NStrasburg

in addition there are three other galleries hosting a wide variety of images from Anders Aldrin to Howard Warshaw and new works by Joseph Goldyne. 

Tonight at Sullivan Goss, 7 & 11 East Anapamu.

Don't forget! The Channing Peake Gallery will be premiering the new juried show by Santa Barbara Printmakers. 105 East Anapamu... first floor of the County Building.

And then there is always the fabulous shows at The Project... tonight featuring new work by Rafael Perea de la Cabada. 

4 East De La Guerra.

First Thursdays, May 3rd, 2012 from 5-8pm

Tomorrow

is the day ... the show is hung and dressed. The gallery doors are open for those wanting to preview and the party is tomorrow night. Hope to see you there..... xo

Stormy Anacapa  12x12" oil on birch panel ©2011

Islands Valleys Home

 

showing at Sullivan Goss

Reception: 5-8 pm November 3rd

11 East Anapamu

Santa Barbara

805 730 1460

The sun is shining...

despite the dense layer of fog. The paintings are finished, cataloged in the database, signed, dated, and checked over twice. There are yet more details to be fussed over but breathing is easier. I long to clean my studio once the piles of wood are moved to the gallery next week, dust off the printing press and maybe draw for a while.

Towards Willows  12x12" ©2011

The show will host 65 painting, 40 of the much coveted 12x12" size and 25 medium to large pieces. It will be hard to say goodbye to living in and amongst the islands day in and day out. But, I'm already dreaming of what might come next!

November is nearly here

Time is flying and the delivery date is but a mere 7 days away. Putting on the finishing touches to the last paintings. Looking forward to seeing them all in the pristine gallery space.

Preview days will be Tuesday and Wednesday, the first and second of November. Come by the gallery for the first look at the show. I guarantee there will be a lot to see.

Winter, Scorpion Landing  12x12" ©2011

Two weeks from today

Summer Cove  12x12 ©2011

Worktable Wednesday

Winter, Santa Cruz Island 10x 48" ©2011

Islands Valleys Home 

coming soon to a gallery near you, Santa Barbara

Show Prep

Slowly and surely working toward the delivery of my next show at the end of the month. All hallow's eve is the delivery deadline, just a mere 24 days away. There is finishing to be done on quite a few paintings plus all the publicity and marketing yet to be accomplished. Deep breath.

The show? you ask? 

Islands Valleys Home 

opening November 3rd, 2011 from 5-8pm 

during Santa Barbara's First Thursday event. 

Location: Sullivan Goss, 11 East Anapamu. 

More information to come! Back to the easel and breathing.

Ridge Patterns 20x30" © 2011

Thank you Sundance

New to the website:

New Year Sky 01 18x40" ©2011

Recently placed

 

Refuge 01 24x16"

From Indian Summer to Fall in 24 hours

Just 7 weeks left to work on paintings for my November show in Santa Barbara. Mark your calendars, show opens Thursday, November 3rd. Reception will be from 5-8pm at Sullivan Goss downtown Santa Barbara.

Gaviota Peak, Looking South

From start to install "Gaviota Peak, Looking South". This painting was a commission through the County Arts Commission for the new Emergency Operations Center for the County of Santa Barbara. It is part of the "Percent for Art Program" through the county, a program that insures that any new structures have a budget to be used for public art.

The gals at the county office, Ms. Rita Ferri, Ms. Ginny Brush and Ms. Linda Gardy, make sure that this happens for the artists in our town but also insure that the County of Santa Barbara preserves it's visual heritage within it's own collection. Amazing. I love these women. They work with a board of equally fantastic artists, art teachers, administrators, city and county employees.

Today we got to install this painting into it's new home, with a few others, which will be semi-permanent in the new building. Semi... because it will remain in the collection of the county to be used in other shows if there is a call for it. I'm honored and thrilled to be part of history and art history of this community.

concept/design

second coat of paint

light wash over entire painting

building in the shapes

final glaze of golden yellow

bring it back to contrast and finish

installation day

islands valleys home

Another promo piece for the upcoming show. There will be 5 in all. Collect one.. collect them all. Bookmark size for all you readers out there.