Exhibiting Hope and Beauty in the Valley

Santa Ynez Valley artist Max Gleason launched his Art Medicine workshops last year, buoyed by the feeling that the series could lead to something more. And where it led is to the opening of a new exhibit space, Indah Gallery, planted among the vines of his family’s Roblar Winery and Vineyards.

Gleason debuted the Santa Ynez Valley art hub with a group show opening reception on the vernal equinox — March 20, 2025 — a date purposefully chosen for its connotation of rebirth, but also the balance of light and dark, when day and night are of nearly equal length.

In a newly whitewashed barn space with an open, roll-up door framing views of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon vines, Gleason is housing works of 15 very local artists in the aptly named Spring Equinox Art Show. Two of the artists are from Santa Barbara; all others from the Santa Ynez Valley. Some are established; some are just beginning to succumb to the vulnerability of showing their pieces in a public forum.

“I lived in New York and Los Angeles over the course of 13 years, where there was ample opportunity and venues for artists to show their work, and to gather with each other for inspiration and a sense of community,” Gleason said.

A schooled fine artist, Gleason moved to the Santa Ynez Valley in 2016, where he’s been gauging and observing the growing, local art scene. He wanted to build a space for togetherness, as opposed to divide, where the region’s skilled denizens could collectively exhibit to showcase the local wealth of artistic ability.
When not working in his studio, Gleason is the director of creative and marketing for his family’s Gleason Family Vineyards portfolio of hospitality brands. Between the artist connections he has fortuitously made through friends and colleagues, and students from his own series of workshops, he has amassed an artistic arsenal of varying talents.

The 55 pieces in this first show display a masterful mix of mediums. At the space’s center are Roy Vessil’s organic mini-worlds, whimsical, “bricolage-style” sculptures comprising found, recycled objects. Lining the gallery walls, fantasy doodles by the artist known as “El Dood” (a k a Jeffrey Chernov); oil paintings by Bobby Williams, timely depictions of Central Coast agricultural workers; Elysse Castillo’s precise pieces in charcoal and graphite; Reena Howmiller’s mesmerizing bursts of vivid swirls; nature-inspired moments in acrylics by Julia Newmann; Aubrey Ashburn’s boldly colorful, contemporary, and contemplative oil-painted wildlife; and Danvy Pham’s modern meld of charcoal, oil pastels, sometimes pencil and watercolor, bringing to light the dynamic and shifting “human experience.”

Also on display are two Central Coast Art League talents, Nicole Burnett and Michelle Juliet Feldman, both showing vibrant, updated takes on classic still life paintings using oil on panels or paper, as well as pieces by newcomer Sara Camilleri, David Friesen, Stephanie Patterson, and sunny and cool-hued paintings by Morgan Peyton, reflecting this coastal slice of California.

Gleason’s own ethereal and often deeply personal works, are also there, including a painted trio of his heaven-bound family watching from above, joining in the celebration of his new effort.

Gleason visits Bali with his wife, Jasmine Hanson, as often as possible. “Indah means ‘beautiful’ in Indonesian. And this space is meant for just that: a place to exhibit hope and beauty.”

The Spring Equinox Art Show runs through April 20. Indah Gallery (2190 N. Refugio Rd., Santa Ynez; look for the Roblar Winery service entrance) is open Friday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m. See maxgleason.com/indah-gallery.