Friends of the Buellton Library will unveil and dedicate a painting by local artist Rebecca August, 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26.
The artwork depicts what the new library site at 202 Dairyland Road in Buellton looked like from the 1950s through the end of the 20th century, when it was home to the Willemsen Dairy.
August will speak briefly about the painting at the event.
“The painting features the life and work of the Willemsen family and is meant to honor the legacy of dairy farming in the Santa Ynez Valley, but in my mind were the thousands of generations of peoples that have passed through or stopped to live whole lives against the backdrop of these mountains and along these riverbanks,” August said.
“Families throughout the history and future of this land were alive for me in every brushstroke,” she said.
To accurately reflect what the dairy looked like decades ago, August created a reference collage using black-and-white archival images, current photos, and plein air sketches of the landscape along the Santa Ynez River.
“The scene does not exist today because an entire neighborhood has grown up in the pastures,” August said. “Even the dairy cows, once common among the dozens of dairies across the Santa Ynez Valley, had to be imagined.
“I’m proud that my painting will be an enduring part of the library and a complement to the contemporary Chumash art, also commissioned by the Friends of the Library, where Buellton’s future families can connect with our shared history,” she said.
August is a contemporary landscape painter living in Buellton. Her work can be found at the Marcia Burtt Gallery in Santa Barbara, online at augustartist.com, and locally via a mural created with fellow artist Stacey Thompson at the California Art and Nature Museum in Solvang.
She is a member of SCAPE and the newest member of The Oak Group, which celebrates 40 years of painting to protect Central Coast landscapes.
The painting was made possible through the support of the Friends of the Buellton Library, a grant from the Artists’ Advocacy Foundation, and an in-kind donation by Rebecca August.
Following the painting dedication, the Friends will host an Authors’ Afternoon featuring local authors Adam McHugh and Gerald Di Pego. A portion of book sales will be donated to the Friends of the Library. Light refreshments will be served.
The mission of the all-volunteer Friends of the Buellton Library is to raise money and public awareness in the community to support the services and programs of the Buellton Library.
For more about the program or the Friends of the Buellton Library, visit FOBLBuellton.org or email friendsofthebuelltonlibrary202@gmail.com.