The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture will present Post-Wild: Nature in the 21st Century, a juried exhibition featuring artworks by 34 emerging and established Santa Barbara County artists.

The community is invited to a free opening reception, 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Betteravia Art Gallery, 511 E. Lakeside Pkwy., Santa Maria.

Co-curated by Laura-Susan Thomas, Allan Hancock College professor of fine arts, and the Office of Arts and Culture, the exhibit highlights artists working across painting, ceramics, photography, digital media, and mixed media.

“Post-Wild explores how contemporary artists depict, interpret and challenge ideas of nature in the 21st century,” said Mark Oliver, County Arts Commission chair.

“Through traditional and conceptual approaches, participating artists address environmental change, urbanization and humanity’s evolving relationship with the natural world,” Oliver said.

Selected through a countywide open call for art, the display features 54 artworks representing a broad cross-section of Santa Barbara County’s visual artists.

“Santa Barbara County residents, North and South County, may not be aware of how many artists choose the Central Coast to make their home and to create work here” said Thomas.

“This exhibit shines a light on local artists, living and or working in Santa Barbara County, and the breadth of art forms that they are using to express themselves,” Thomas said.

For more, visit the Office of Arts and Culture exhibition website.