The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture (SBCOAC) will display Scaling the Walls, a multi-venue exhibition debuting seven new murals by local schools, nonprofits and artists.
There will be two free opening receptions, 5-8 p.m. Thursday, May 7, as part of the 1st Thursday Art Walk. One is at Channing Peake Gallery, 105 E. Anapamu St., the other at Santa Barbara City Hall Gallery, 735 Anacapa St., both in Santa Barbara.
A single exhibition presented across both galleries, Scaling the Walls examines muralism’s cultural impact and evolution over the last century and highlights its continued role as a community-centered art form, organizers said.
The dual-gallery format brings together artists and organizations from across Santa Barbara County, reflecting contemporary approaches to public art.
Santa Barbara City Hall Gallery will feature murals produced by the Arts Alliance, a youth mentorship program of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Under the artistic direction of program graduates Miguel “Omepache” Rodriguez and Denisse Villanueva, the artwork emphasizes collaboration and the community roots of the region’s mural tradition.
“The team created these murals using stylized art themes and symbols painted in rich, vibrant tones to depict our shared journeys and struggles, particularly those of migrant farm workers, and Indigenous peoples,” said Ricardo Venegas, who has managed the program for the past 25 years.
“The murals acknowledge the diversity and journeys of Indigenous peoples and serve as a powerful tool for cultural reclamation,” Venegas said.
Channing Peake Gallery will show new murals from Allan Hancock College, Carpinteria Arts Center, Cheri Owen, Corazón del Pueblo, Helen Yanez, John Khus, and the UC Santa Barbara College of Creative Studies’ Social Print Lab.
Commissioned by the County Arts Commission, the work was produced via distinct mediums from painting to silkscreen and collage.
“The resulting murals highlight the breadth of artistic approaches as well as the diversity and continued relevance of mural practices across the county,” organizers said.
The largest mural on view is 7 feet high, and 32 feet wide, created by student artists from the Social Print Lab. To develop their concept, the students traveled by bicycle and on foot through Santa Barbara and gathered imagery of architectural frameworks, stickers, tags and debris from the urban landscape.
“Scaling the Walls is important because it opens up conversations about public art in a way that reaches beyond traditional audiences,” said artist Cheri Owen. “It invites people to engage with the collective voices and perspectives that mural work represents, regardless of how they experience it.”
Scaling the Walls is curated by SBCOAC as part of an ongoing initiative to map and document the region’s public art tradition.
“Throughout its history, mural art has served as a tool for cultural representation, community engagement, and the celebration of shared identity,” said Tom Pazderka, SBCOAC curator.
“Scaling the Walls connects these roots to Santa Barbara County’s current public art landscape, where more than 100 murals exist in Santa Barbara alone and many more across the region,” Pazderka said.
For more, visit Scaling the Walls Gallery Exhibition website.