Continuing its celebration of coastal living, Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) will present The Peaceful Sea: Paintings by Kevin A. Short, featuring some 30 seascapes and ocean-themed landscapes by Short, a contemporary painter and Santa Barbara native.
The display will be on view Aug. 11-Dec. 31, thanks to the support of Mimi Michaelis, June G. Outhwaite Charitable Trust, the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, and American Rivera Bank. SBMM is at 113 Harbor Way, Ste. 190.
Short began his art training with a toy watercolor set and a pile of crayons, drawing on leftover butcher paper in the middle of his kitchen floor. He went on to formally study oil painting at the University of New Mexico; Pepperdine University in Malibu, California; and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
Now internationally recognized for his landscapes of the Pacific Coast, Short is considered a keen observer of the ocean who paints the surfing and coastal subcultures using his signature heavy, impressionist brushstrokes and rich, saturated color palettes.
Born in San Diego and raised in Santa Barbara, Short grew up along California’s coast. He developed his love of the sea through sailing, fishing, and spending long days in the surf. The Peaceful Sea exhibit offers a selection of his work that captures this lifelong passion. It conjures moments in time, both imagined and remembered, and celebrates the living colors of the sea.
“There is magnetism in looking at glare and the effects of sunlight; something magical and calming that somehow makes our troubles seem smaller and our thinking become clearer,” Short said of his work.
“Short’s paintings are imbued with narrative and emotion,” said Emily Falke, director of collections and curator at SBMM. “They chronicle our experiences as a coastal community, depicting all the outdoor joys available to us — paddling, boating, surfing, swimming, just being at the beach — and pay tribute to the beauty of the ocean and the culture that has helped form this part of the world.”
Short’s paintings have been featured on the covers of the Los Angeles Times and the Surfer’s Journal. The Pasadena Museum of California Art selected his work for the landmark exhibition, In The Land of Sunshine, numbering Short as one of the California Coast’s most influential narrative painters.
Short’s work is in the permanent collections of the Irvine Museum, the Hilbert Museum, the First Foundation Bank Sprint Nextel Art Collection, US Steel Corporation, and the Scripps Cardiac Center Collection.
Short’s book “TRESTLES” (2007, privately printed), which captures the spirit of California’s famous Trestles surfing area and sounds an urgent call for nature conservation in the area, features illustrations of the artist’s paintings, and text by Mike Evans. The book will be available for purchase at the Maritime Museum’s store.
For more, visit sbmm.org or call 805-962-8404.