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(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture is pleased to announce the opening of the art exhibition, “New Muralism: Inclusive Visions of Self and Place,” at Channing Peake Gallery, located in the County Administration Building at 105 E. Anapamu Street in Santa Barbara. An opening reception with artist representatives, Slingshot Gallery Director Jessica Schlobohm, and Office of Arts and Culture Curator Tomas Pazderka will be held as part of the 1st Thursday Art Walk on March 7, 2024, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The exhibition features artwork from six artists who work out of Slingshot / Alpha Art Studio, a progressive art center that supports artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Santa Barbara County. Ten mural-scale works rendered from the artists’ original work to the size of the gallery panels will be featured. Slingshot Gallery Director Jessica Schlobohm noted that the intention is to “surround the viewer in the artists’ vision of themselves and the worlds they occupy or imagine.”
For over a decade, Slingshot has supported artists with IDD by facilitating their artistic practice and advancing their recognition and inclusion within the local community and the broader field of contemporary art. Ms. Schlobohm added, “Norms, culture, and history shape how we all see ourselves, our world, and our place within it. The diverse experiences of those who live with disabilities can reframe our assumptions and offer alternative visions for us to consider. Notably, these works begin to challenge our familiar distinctions between the person and the landscape, the real and the imagined, and our internal reality versus that of the external world.”
About the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture
The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture is a Division of the County’s Community Services Department and a CA Arts Council State-Local Partner, serving as the local governmental umbrella for arts and culture projects and programs. The Office represents a longstanding partnership between the County of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara. For more than 30 years, both governments have shared resources and staff to maximize support for Santa Barbara arts and culture institutions, programs, initiatives and projects. For information, visit www.sbac.ca.gov.