‘Sea and Summit’ in Santa Barbara

Bright blue waves crash against sweeping mountain-scapes in the latest exhibit at the Marcia Burtt Gallery in Santa Barbara, Sea and Summit, on view through August 14. This series of paintings and photographs — featuring artists Robert Abbott, Marcia Burtt, Patricia Doyle, Marilee Krause, Ann Lofquist, Susan Petty, Ian Roberts, Erling Sjovold, Randall David Tipton, Marilyn Turtz, Jeff Yeomans, Anne Ward, and Robert Zaca, and photographer Bill Dewey — is inspired by towering, shadow-lined peaks dropping into the vast expansiveness of the ocean below. Some pieces show a gentle glimpse of shining ocean poking over the peaks of the mountains in the foreground, while others display white water colliding with cliffs, splashing and glinting in their moment of impact, or tall, solemn mountains sinking quietly into a sea of fog.

The artists’ attention to light and shadow create an acute sense of depth and distance. The mountains, jagged and contoured by the sun shining on the rocks, are reflected in the gleaming surface of the ocean below. The expanse of sky rests behind the peaks, mirroring the vast blueness of the ocean below, casting soft white clouds like a halo behind the summits. 

Marcia Burtt, one of the artists and the owner of the Marcia Burtt Gallery, remarks at the way the artists are able to capture such vast, fleeting landscapes and immortalize them on canvas: “Horizon lines pulled into taut blue stripes appear both reachable and boundless. Gestural brushstrokes and vibrant lines forever suspend tidal surges and crashing waves on canvas and paper.” 

The Marcia Burtt Gallery (​​artlacuna.com) is open Thursday-Sunday, 1-5 p.m.

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