Image credits, left to right: April Rhodes, Roy Cannon Berg, Andrea Sanchez-Gonzales, Lauren Crawford

wall space gallery begins the new year with a juried show co-produced by Santa Barbara High School’s Visual Art & Design Academy. Home presents local talent in an exhibition that challenged students to define a meaning, feeling, memory, or sense of ”home.” Striving to express something often intangible, students worked in their preferred media of oil paint, pen & ink, charcoal, mixed media, and assemblage. wall space is thrilled to showcase their great young talent in the gallery and through daily artist spotlights on the flat file.

We invite the public to enjoy this student work at an artist reception tonight from 5-8pm. A portion of all sale proceeds will benefit the Visual Art & Design Academy.

Roy Cannon-Berg

Participating Artists: Roy Cannon-Berg, Lauren Crawford, Tessa Dewell, Iris Estrada, Hannah Jaffe, Isabel James, Ernesto Juarez, Josh Kass, Paige Lambert, Patsy Marian, Michaila Miller, Parker Oswald, Miguel Portugal, April Rhodes, Ganija Safranavicus, Andrea Sanchez-Gonzales, Alida Siefel, Eden Turner

(Image credits, left to right: April Rhodes, Roy Cannon Berg, Andrea Sanchez-Gonzales, Lauren Crawford)

Letter from Daniel Barnett, Director of the Visual Arts & Design Academy of Santa Barbara High School

Last year, Crista Dix, Owner and Director of wall space gallery reached out to propose a collaboration between Santa Barbara High School’s Visual Arts & Design Academy (VADA) an offer we excitedly accepted. After meeting to discuss possible show themes, we arrived at the idea of Home. Attracted to the idea for its far reaching interpretive potential, our call for entries emphasized fresh and unexpected, current visions of what Home means to individuals.

April Rhodes

Working between Thanksgiving and the Christmas Holiday a perfect time to reflect on Home students imagined and created notions of Home that ranged from representational icons of personal comfort, to dystopian and socially critical commentaries of traditional concepts of what a home is. Many students referenced, in divergent ways, their own interior life of mind and collected memories and experiences as a kind of “home”.

Tessa Dewell

To underscore the aspect of VADA that aims to prepare students for their professional life after high school and college, the Home Project was established as an actual juried call for entries, complete with specific guidelines and timetables. Students learned sometimes the hard way to work within the parameters of the project, draft a coherent artist’s statement, and follow through on time with a quality product. Working with Crista at various points during the process, students learned about working as a creative professional, the process of getting work shown, the inner workings of a functioning gallery, pricing work and building confidence as we demystify the gallery institution.

Josh Kass

In the week running up to the show, VADA Seniors visited the gallery to complete their gallery “education” and to help install the show. The Visual Arts & Design Academy together with participating VADA Seniors, wish to thank Crista and her staff for their enthusiastic and generous support and for sharing their insight, wisdom and themselves for the benefit of a next generation of emerging artists. Daniel Barnett VADA Program Director and Art Instructor