UCSB Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration to Benefit from Art Exhibition

Inspired by their efforts, members of the Pastel Society of the Gold Coast, a nonprofit arts organization, have completed various and diverse paintings from the campus’s bluffs, beaches, and restoration projects. They will show their work in “Preserving Native California,” an exhibition at the UCSB Faculty Club, beginning May 1. An opening reception with the artists will take place from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

The Pastel Society of the Gold Coast consists of approximately 30 southern California artists who work in soft pastels to produce images reflecting the nature and beauty of the Gold Coast region. A percentage of sales from the Faculty Club exhibition will support CCBER’s continuing restoration work.

The Coastal Fund, a UCSB student initiative dedicated to conserving the UCSB coastline, is co-sponsoring the exhibition, and many of the paintings reflect projects originally funded through Coastal Fund grants to CCBER. Among them are restoration of the coastal dune areas known as “depressions,” adjacent to the campus lagoon; installation of interpretive signs on campus; improvement of access to Campus Beach and along the West Campus Bluffs Trail, with associated restoration conducted by CCBER; and restoration of native coastal sage scrub vegetation on the lagoon island.

The exhibition will continue through June 28. Faculty Club hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.