Santa Barbara’s Oak Group boasts a 35-year history of masterfully blending artwork with advocacy. For more than three decades, this prestigious group of painters has crafted intricate portraits of endangered landscapes in an effort to enlighten audiences about the stakes of environmental degradation. The Oak Group now has 25 active members and has hosted more than 100 exhibitions that have benefited dozens of conservation efforts. The Oak Group’s activism has culminated in $3 million in sales, which has been used to help preserve tens of thousands of acres throughout California.
The Oak Group will once again be hosting a show in October, this time to benefit the UCSB North Campus Open Space. The North Campus Open Space is a breathtaking wetland habitat that is currently undergoing a massive restoration project that aims to return the site to its original state. During the 1960s, the property was filled to create a golf course. In 2013, the land was gifted to the University of California and, since then, restoration efforts have attempted to excavate the topsoil that had buried the slough and conserve the space’s native ecosystem, especially those species that have become endangered.
Active Oak Group members include: Meredith Brooks Abbott, Whitney Brooks Abbott, Marcia Burtt, Chris Chapman, Bill Dewey, Rick Drake, Michael Drury, Rick Garcia, Carrie Givens, Kevin Gleason, Whitney Brooks Hansen, Jeremy Harper, Kerri Hedden, Tom Henderson, Ray Hunter, John Iwerks, Larry Iwerks, Manny Lopez, Linda Mutti, Rob Robinson, Ann Sanders, Richard Schloss, Thomas Van Stein, Skip Smith, Arturo Tello, and John Wullbrandt. Guest artists are Karen McLean-McGaw, Ben O’Hara, Paul Panossian, Sharon Schock, and Rebecca August.The Oak Group’s 2024 art show will be held at the Santa Barbara Central Library’s Faulkner Gallery (40 E. Anapamu St.), October 2-31. The exhibit will be open Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. The show will also be viewable online from October 2 through November 30 at oakgroup.org and ncos.ccber.ucsb.edu.
