SBVA Pop-Up Gallery at Paseo Nuevo and the Artists Behind It

The Santa Barbara Visual Artists (SBVA), a nonprofit organization of area artists, is hosting a pop-up gallery at the Paseo Nuevo Mall through the end of July. The exhibit, curated by Roger Balabanow, features a range of art from photography, paintings, mixed media, and sculptures from over 45 artists. Artists from SBVA are passionate about creating art and celebrating it by displaying their work at local venues.

Welcome to the Gallery

Judy Villa is an artist whose work makes people ask, “How does she do it?” This is a question that came to me when seeing her work in the gallery. Even after interviewing her and asking that exact question, I was still in awe of how someone could create something with such movement. Villa focuses on fluid art in her paintings and uses acrylic paints, along with chemicals and a blowtorch, to achieve the look she wants. Two of her paintings displayed at the gallery, “The Earthly Ascension” and “Celestial Emergence,” use this technique. When describing “The Earthly Ascension,” she said, “It’s like a portal opening up with a vertical flow, like a rising plume.” Villa’s paintings are a chemical miracle that showcase her dedication and passion for abstract art. 

While looking at Stan Evenson’s art, I couldn’t help but laugh. His paintings show his humorous and adventurous side as an artist. “I love it when people smile at my artwork, even if they say ‘that’s really bizarre,’” said Evenson. My favorite of his three pieces at the gallery is, “Art Abduction,” which tells the story of aliens coming to our planet in search of art. Another piece showcased is “Pipe Dreams,” showing a cigar pipe resting atop a sea of clouds. Evenson used his design background to paint the smoke excluding from the cigar pipe, saying, “I did a ton of album covers back in the ‘70s and ‘80s and so I used to be hired for my lettering and even my handwriting, so it was kind of fun to get that back out.”

Jan Baker, a realist artist, loves to capture moments in time through her paintings. The two paintings of hers that I was struck most by tell the story of people crossing the American border in search of a better life. Baker used photos of people crossing the border in 2020 and painted them exactly as they were. “It’s meant to be hopeful for the children and families coming for a better life,” said Baker. The emotions captured in these people’s faces, especially the children’s, are portrayed beautifully through Baker’s painting. 

Walking from painting to painting, one artist stood out and made me ask, “Is that a painting or a picture?” Felice Willat is a fine art photographer that enjoys capturing nature and people as she travels. Her favorite subject to capture are trees. ”I just think they’re so graceful and there’s so many different levels of the tree, the bark, the leaves and the flowers,” she said. Her piece, “View From The Bridge,” is a breathtaking picture taken in Portland, Oregon, that appears to be multiple photos layered but really is all captured in one photo. Her photos have a certain whimsical quality to them that makes them paint-like. 

The SBVA Pop-Up Gallery is open daily, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The next event held at the gallery is an art walk on July 18 from 5-7 p.m. For more information, visit sbvisualartists.com.