Sunflowers are coming to State Street in Santa Barbara.
The sculptured flowers will be mounted on State Street from March to May in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Vincent Van Gogh Exhibition, “Through Vincent’s Eyes.”
The State Street exhibit is put on by The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture.
The sculptures are made from steel, wood, mesh and epoxy resins, and were created by the local artist firm “The Environment Makers,” made up of Kym Cochran and Jonathan Smith.
“I think they are wonderful, and I will try to refrain from picking a flower,” said Steve Hausz, a member of the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission, at last week’s meeting.
Students from several local schools, including Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara High and San Marcos high schools and Goleta Valley, Santa Barbara, La Colina junior high schools, painted the flowers during art classes.
The Environment Makers developed and produced the sunflowers at The Arts Fund Gallery and invited community members to join in the production of the flower petals during open workshop hours.
The artists offered virtual painting instruction to the student participants.
“Making this project as inclusive as possible to represent the talents of local artists and residents was important to us,” Cochran said in a statement.
The exhibits will stand as high as eight feet and be three feet wide. The flowers will have flexibility for wind and movement, but enough rigidty to keep them durable and upright, said Sarah York Rubin, executive director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture.
The six sculptures will be affixed to pads from Carrillo to Victoria streets.
“Santa Barbara Beautiful is excited to be a collaborative funder in this year’s Sunflowers on State Street exhibit,” said Deborah Schwartz, chair of the Santa Barbara Beautiful Board. “Internationally-renowned artist Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers are among his most famous works and some of the most iconic paintings in the world.”
Project sponsors include the city of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Beautiful, American Riviera Bank, Farmers and Merchants Trust Company, Fess Parker Winery, Stephen and Libby Erickson, Santa Barbara City College Foundation, Village Properties, the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Downtown Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Education Foundation, Vista Paint, Home Depot, the Santa Barbara Public Library and The Arts Fund.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. March 3 at the Sunflower sculpture in front of Old Navy, 1137 State St.
“I think it is going to be lovely, and I am very much in favor of this,” said Historic Landmarks Commissioner member Michael Drury.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.