The Art of Peeping

Frameworks’ Third Thursday Parties

Text & photos by Shannon Kelley Gould

Since the weather gods seem to have missed the memo, one could
be forgiven for not realizing that summertime — in the Santa
Barbara nightlife sense, anyway — has arrived. As far as I’m
concerned, the sunny season’s unofficial kickoff is marked not with
a groundhog, a solstice, nor the last day of school, but instead
with the start of the Nights Third Thursday parties at the S.B.
Museum of Art, a milestone that passed last Thursday with
Renaissance to Rococo, which went off with a characteristically
fabulous bang. But even after the last Martini de Sade had been
poured, my crew (which included Matt Kettmann and his freshly
blinged fiancée Joanna Yates) and I weren’t ready to call it a
night, and so we hoofed it over to Frameworks, the Caruso Woods
Fine Art gallery on Santa Barbara and De la Guerra streets, to hit
up their ongoing contribution to the Third Thursday block party,
check out some art, and do a little bit of well-lubricated
peeping.

Owners Christi Westerhouse and David Court wisely ensure that
their events accommodate even the most devoted art-loving,
party-hopping set, which is to say that The Works’ Third Thursday
parties get going just as the Nights events are winding down. Those
two are people after my own heart, who not only clearly share my
philosophy that, in all fairness, the weekend really should begin
on Friday, but don’t even charge admission to their fantastic,
year-round, monthly soirées, asking only that you “bring a beverage
and be prepared to imbibe.” Consider it done and doner.

We arrived to find the cool space comfortably packed and the
festivities in full swing: The band, Whispertrip, playing in the
main gallery, DJs Sam and Soren spinning in the courtyard, the
peeps mingling, dancing, drinking, and admiring pieces from the
Buddha Abides exhibit that hung on the walls. Time flew,
conversation sparkled, wine disappeared, and, in a bizarre and
uncharacteristic show of willpower, I deftly dragged myself out of
there just in time to circumvent any shopping. An unmitigated
success, on all fronts.

If only every Thursday were the Third.

Where will your peeps be? Email shannon@independent.com.