CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Outside In: the architecture of Smith and Williams

April 13, 2013-June 16, 2013

Smith and Williams decisively shaped the modern vocabulary of architecture in post-war Pasadena and Los Angeles County.  Working in the wake of the first generation of avant-garde architects in Southern California and riding the postwar building boom, the partners Whitney R. Smith and Wayne R. Williams developed a pragmatic modernism that, through remarkable site planning and design, integrated landscape and building.

Despite the significance of their work, “Outside In” is the first monographic study of Whitney Smith and the Smith and Williams firm.  Co-curators Jocelyn Gibbs and Christina Chiang drew on the extensive archives within the museum's Architecture and Design Collection.  Kris Miller-Fisher designed the exhibition.  The catalog for the exhibition is scheduled to be available in June.  Please contact Marie Vierra at vierra@hfa.ucsb.edu to reserve a copy.

Smith and Williams, Shoreline house for Orange County Home Show (Costa Mesa, Calif.), 1957.  Photograph of a drawing by Al Spencer mounted on board: 8 x 10 in.  Architecture and Design Collection.

Outside In: The Architecture of Smith and Williams is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.  This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together several local arts institutions for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city’s development and ongoing impact in new ways.

Gas Station DeSign: A Tour Through the Collection

February 16 - May 12, 2013

Gas Station DeSign surveys the architecture of gas stations from the widespread popularity of the automobile in the 1930s to the height of twentieth-century car culture in the mid-1960s. The exhibition includes photographs and drawings of gas stations from the museum’s Architecture and Design Collection.  This visual tour emphasizes the pivotal and contested role of signs used for advertising.  This exhibition is organized by Christina Chiang, the Assistant Curator of the Architecture and Design Collection.  Companion exhibitions are on display in Cheadle Hall, second floor and the Arts Library entry.

The exhibition at the Arts Library displays pages from two photography books about gasoline stations.  Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1962) by pop artist Ed Ruscha is considered to be one of the major early influences on the emerging artists' book culture.  His photographs of gas stations along iconic Route 66 between Oklahoma City and Los Angeles depict an era and culture devoted to the automobile.  Thirty years later, artist Jeff Brouws exploed the fate of similar gas stations in his Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations (1992), a respectful riff on Ruscha's work and a poignant commentary on the vanishing independent gas station in America.  This companion exhibition was organized by Christina Chiang with the assistance of undergraduate intern Tara Kopp '13, who organized the display in Cheadle Hall.

Kem Weber, Union Minute Man Service, Union oil station, 1945-1947, Architecture and Design Collection.

The exhibition is supported by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, in memory of Reuben Katz, who was the owner/operator of "Commercial Super Service" truck terminal, Los Angeles.

Fame and the Mundane: Andy Warhol’s Photography

February 16 – May 12, 2013

Examining the photographs Warhol took of celebrities and the affluent, as well as candid snapshots of the everyday, this exhibition presents two distinct aspects of Warhol’s photographic practice. This collection of photos was given by the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. It has been organized by art history undergraduate Breanne Lewis ‘13.

Andy Warhol; Debbie Harry, 1980;  © 2013 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Art on the Table: Food and Drink from the Permanent Collection

February 16–May 12, 2013

Art-making, eating and drinking: all fill basic human needs. This exhibition explores the diversity of approaches artists and craftsmen have taken to celebrating these essentials. Assembled from the permanent collection, the exhibition looks at a wide range of cultures and materials. It also highlights the theme of the All Gaucho Reunion Weekend, “Savor UCSB.”

Irma Cavat; The Japanese Basket, 2000; oil on canvas; 60 x 60 in.; The Cavat Family (Irma, Karina and Nika)

The Arts of Precolumbian and Spanish Colonial America

April 12 - May 12, 2013
 

This exhibition focuses on the seminar and survey classes taught by Jeanette Peterson, Ph.D. of the History of Art and Architecture department at UCSB. On the Matter of the Sacred: from “idols” to saints in the Americas will explore the role of sacred images and how they functioned in Spanish Colonial America of Mexico and South America. Students in the survey class, The Arts of Precolumbian America, will be required to identify objects within their cultural context.

Cristóbal de Villalpando, (b. Mexico, ca. 1645-1714), The Mystic Marriage of St. Rose of Lima, ca. 1700, Gift of Robert K. and Gene O. Wolf