Little Big-Hearted Art, at Westmont

As sure as the holiday season lays itself out, with traditions, celebrations and fundraising appeals, Santa Barbara’s art season settles into a continuing practice of offering collectors and collectors-in-training small artworks at big savings. Sullivan Goss has filled a gallery with small, affordable pieces in the annual “100 Grand” show — 100 works of art for $1,000 or less — showcasing local artists of varying renown (on view through December 31).

The going gets smaller, and the prices potentially more affordable, in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art’s now 12-year-old tradition of the “5×5” exhibition, an auction-based showing of custom pieces created in a 5-inch square format. Launched by ceramic artist and the museum’s curator and collections manager Chris Rupp, this year’s cavalcade attests to the exponential growth of the concept: “5×5: Westmont College Celebrating 85 Years” features no fewer than 680 separate pieces lining the museum’s available walls.

For a best practice viewing of the art, head out to the lush environs of the college, in the hills of Montecito, and the impressive full service ambience of the museum. Wander and gander, up close, and admire the great variety of expressions, mediums and artistic voices, and take note of those with special appeal to your subjective eye. Note pieces worth bidding on, for this art museum’s worthy sake.

Or, for those who can’t make the actual trip, head over to the online “museum/auction house,” for a cyber-survey (link here).

Vastness is the operative term, beyond the inherent economy of scale here. The selection runs a broad gamut of sources, including notable Santa Barbara-based artists who have had important shows in this museum, the likes of assemblage master Dug Uyesaka, Dane Goodman, Marie Schoeff, and Linda Ekstrom (whose powerful exhibition in this space was a highlight of  the art year in town) and Westmont art scene mover-and-shaker Tony Askew.

Artists of some celebrity have also contributed, including the recently belated Los Angeles artist Billy Al Bengston (the heart-encoded “In the Beginning”), and famed Christian artist Tim Hawkinson (“Normal,” a few degrees left and right of normal).

Shrinking and unifying the scalar playing field in this curatorial format can sometimes encourage the winds of whimsy, as seen in Nathan Huff’s “This Drawing Blows,” with post-it sized pages seemingly ruffled by the imagery of electric fans. Bob Van Breda’s “Keep on Smiling” gets spiky, with a barbed metal bed of nails and a piranha-like retooled bottle cap, while Joe Suzuki fesses up about his stylistic point of reference in the cheeky-cool “Lichtenstein Style—K-Pop Finger Heart.”

Among the straight-ish paintings on view, a few grabbed my eye on impact: Nancy Jenson’s charming wee “Tea Cup and Saucer,” Teri Fricker’s affectionate poultry tribute “Rooster Portrait,” and Megan Forbes’ delicate watercolor view of a lovely but drily thorny cactus flower, “Anza Borego.”

Among drawing work, Jane Callister’s “Penguin in Shoes” —  part of a series of the artist’s gently warped animalia pieces — reveals its subject, with deadpan directness, in the title. Dick Dunlap’s intricate and deliciously tangled drawing “Tango” conceals as much as it reveals, while Joy Kloman’s “Drifting Off” is an alluringly spare and airy drawing of a drowsy dogpile.

In other dog news, revered photographer Richard Ross and his daughter Leela Cyd show “Miso,” in which the canine subject looks on warily at an approaching paintbrush doused in bright red paint. Apparently, this dog is not as willing a model as William Wegman’s dogs (as surveyed in Wegman’s fascinating recent slide lecture at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art).

Photographer Nell Campbell conjures up some nocturnal Americana roadside ambience, as she does so well, with “Stardust Motel, Marfa,” and Harry Reese brandishes his organic gift for handmade paper art, with “Familiar Fields.”

Collage has its day, and its say, as well: Katy McCann’s “The GOAT” is a piece in which the miniaturist impulse rules, with an effect very different than Marjorie Shipp’s collage “Autumn,” all Jean Arp-ish shapes aswim in the frame.

Another artworld-related reference feeds into the piece, tucked into a back corner of the main gallery, teasingly dubbed “Figure Ground,” by Winick Architects. Which visual stimuli is figure, which ground? That’s the question and the game afoot here.

The short and the long of it: there is a whole lot of input and ideas both big and fleeting in this “5×5” outing. In-house or online, the show makes for a pleasant world to get lost in as our holiday-timed minds lean towards drift and renew modes.

Click here to view the exhibition online and bid on works. All auction items close on December 15 at 5 p.m. The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art (955 La Paz Road) is open weekdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.