Zoom Conversation: Holli Harmon & Nicole Strasburg

Artists Holli Harmon and Nicole Strasburg to join Wildling Museum for

March 24th Zoom conversation, Art Through the Window

Online presentation: Art Through the Window: A Conversation with Holli Harmon & Nicole Strasburg

When: Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 4 – 5 p.m.

Register online at: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/2021-art-through-the-window

Suggested donation: $5.00

The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to announce its March virtual program, Art Through the Window: A Conversation with Holli Harmon & Nicole Strasburg, taking place Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 4 – 5 p.m.

Artists Holli Harmon and Nicole Strasburg are the creative force behind the Wildling’s two new art installations designed specifically to be viewed from the outside-in during its mandated Covid-19 closure. In their upcoming presentation, the two will discuss their process and the work that went on behind-the-scenes while creating these site-specific installations.

“I plan to focus on how an artist uses materials to express and communicate a story,” says Holli Harmon. “We’ll look at what an art installation entails – and how we got to this point.”

Harmon will give attendees insight into how she moved from painting to building three dimensional clouds and planting live kokedama plants in the course of her work.

In the museum’s new immersive Tower Gallery installation, Holli Harmon: The Nature of Clouds, centers around a Norfolk Island Pine tree floating beneath bright blue, cumulus cloud-filled skies. Large chandelier crystals hang suspended by invisible thread from ceiling to floor in a brilliant rain shower as plants are suspended throughout at varying heights. These plants – made up of kokedama moss balls – are planted with coleus, spider plants, and various succulents. Centered beneath the suspended crystals and plants are three weathered eucalyptus tree stumps, their faces covered with mirrors to reflect back the sky and patterns above. The exhibition will be on view through fall 2021.

Accompanying the new Tower Gallery exhibition is a window art installation titled Wintering: A Fox Tale by artist Nicole Strasburg. The series of papercut fox silhouettes was specially designed by Strasburg to bring joy and wonder to passersby during the museum’s extended closure. The public is invited to enjoy the works – which are illuminated at night – through Spring 2021.

Both Harmon and Strasburg generously donated their time to the Wildling Museum in a joint effort to find creative ways to bring visibility to the museum while continuing to inspire and engage audiences during the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions on indoor museums.

The suggested donation for this virtual event is $5.00. To register and learn more, visit: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/2021-art-through-the-window.

Please email info@wildlingmuseum.org or call (805) 686-8315 with any questions.

The Wildling Museum’s ongoing Zoom programming is sponsored by Montecito Bank & Trust.

About Holli Harmon

Holli Harmon’s work is rooted in California’s culture and environment. In 2020, her solo exhibition, CALIFIA, at Sullivan Goss Gallery summarized her interpretation of the California experience. This followed recent exhibitions and projects focusing on California’s environment and cultures.

In 2018, Harmon co-created The River’s Journey project, which documented the Santa Ynez Watershed. The exhibition debuted at the Wildling Museum, followed by exhibits at Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara City Hall, and Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. She worked with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in 2017 to create a portrait of Juana Maria, also known as “The Lone Woman of Santa Cruz Island” following a major portraiture exhibition, Portraits of the Central Coast, at the Elverhøj Museum in Solvang, CA in 2016.

Harmon earned her master’s degree from San Diego State University and her bachelor’s degree from University of California, Santa Barbara. She has attended Santa Barbara City College for life drawing and printmaking classes, as well as the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA and Sedona Arts Center in Sedona, AZ. For more information about Holli Harmon’s work visit: www.holliharmon.com

About Nicole Strasburg

Nicole Strasburg is a locally-grown Santa Barbaran. After spending years roaming the UCSB campus where her father taught set and lighting design, it seemed a natural fit to accept a fellowship to the College of Creative Studies and later graduate in the studio art program. Nicole’s focus is contemporary landscape paintings in both oil and gouache.

Nicole has a long history with the local Santa Barbara art scene as contributing member of SB Arts Collaborative, past president of Santa Barbara Printmakers, and current member of both Westmont Arts Council and Wildling Exhibition Committee. After owning and running her own studio gallery in downtown Santa Barbara for 12 years, Nicole closed her doors to be represented locally by Sullivan Goss and nationally by the Sundance Catalog. She is currently co-curating a new show with the Wildling for when they reopen, as well as preparing her next solo show for Sullivan Goss which opens in July 2021. For more information about Nicole Strasburg’s work, visit: www.nicolestrasburg.com.

About the Wildling Museum

The Wildling Museum of Art & Nature, where art and nature meet, offers visitors a unique perspective on the importance of preserving our natural heritage. Through the eyes of artists, and education and field experiences, guests can renew their relationship with the wilderness and understand its fragile nature – hopefully leaving more committed toward ensuring those spaces remain for future generations. For more information, and to volunteer or join as a member to support this important local arts and nature institution, please visit www.wildlingmuseum.org.

Additional digital resources are available at www.wildlingmuseum.org/virtual-visit, including online galleries from all current exhibitions, links to art activities, videos, and more to help online visitors experience the museum from home.