New Exhibits at Solvang’s Wilding & Elverhøj Museums Bring the Outdoors in Focus

The vast beauty of the trails and sweeping ocean and mountain views of Santa Barbara’s More Mesa open space provide inspiration for Portals & Pathways, a yearlong installation at the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature in Solvang. Artist Kerrie Smith (kerriesmithstudio.com) designed the site-specific work to be an evolving meditation on the changing seasons and local flora and fauna. A resident of the More Mesa neighborhood for two decades, Smith’s daily walks have covered the more than 340 acres of beautiful trails and pristine beaches that make up this stunning part of our coastline.

A combination of mobiles, banners, paintings, and photography, Smith said she hopes her art will inspire others to “take their own journeys and joyous walks” into More Mesa.

“My banners rise out of the light and shadows that I witness through the seasons at various times of the day and early evenings. I recreate the ephemeral as organic, nature-driven forms that reflect this shape-shifting landscape. These shapes, bounded by curves, mirror the constantly unfolding transitions of light and color,” said Smith. “For me, they reveal optimism, expansiveness, creation, and the life force. I build my compositions with multiple layers and an array of techniques and tools as I seek a balance between the once tamed landscape and its original feral state.”

Also on view in Solvang is a new photography exhibition Greenland — Land of the Midnight Sun at the Elverhøj Museum of History & Art through September 18.

The exhibition features stunning images of the world’s largest island, which, contrary to its name, is not very green, but rather covered in ice and known for its glaciers. “Greenland is majestic — and so important. What happens in Greenland affects people everywhere,” said museum executive director and curator Esther Jacobsen Bates.

Created in collaboration with the Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County Museums (sbmuseumsalliance.org), exhibition viewers will learn more about the vast Greenland ice sheet the and Ilulissat Glacier (the fastest-moving glacier in the world), which are often included in conversations about the global climate system.

411

The Wildling Museum (1511-B Mission Dr., Solvang; wildlingmuseum.org) is open Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Elverhøj Museum (1624 Elverhoy Wy., Solvang; elverhoj.org) is open Thu.-Mon., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 

Support the Santa Barbara Independent through a long-term or a single contribution.