Jami Joelle Nielsen Retrospective Opens at SBCAW
**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.
Date & Time
Thu, Aug 06 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Fri, Aug 07 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Fri, Aug 14 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Address (map)
631 Garden St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Venue (website)
S.B. Community Arts Workshop (SBCAW)
A solo retrospective exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of interdisciplinary artist Jami Joelle Nielsen (1983–2025) will be on view at the Community Arts Workshop (CAW) in Santa Barbara from Thursday, August 6 through Sunday, August 16, 2026. Jami Joelle Nielsen: An Otherworldly, Rusty Retrospective showcases the depth and breadth of her artistic practice while honoring her vision of symbiosis, transformation, and hope. The exhibition marks the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work following her passing in 2025.
Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Jami Joelle Nielsen was a self-taught eco-artist who lived, worked, and exhibited in Santa Barbara, California. Her art combines a reverence for science, nature, and the human experience, challenging destructive patterns of consumerism through mixed-media collage, assemblage, drawing, painting, and photography. She sought to create work that speaks to social and environmental concerns while fostering dialogue, education, and collaboration. Nielsen began exhibiting her art in 2007, showing in over 70 exhibitions and 10 solo exhibits nationally and internationally.
Nielsen lived with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a painful genetic degenerative joint and neurological disease. By 2015, as her disability progressed and led her to create most of her work from bed, she shifted her attention from found-object assemblage to what she referred to as her “Otherworldly Landscapes,” a signature mixed-media art series inspired by science fiction and crafted from discarded science textbooks, recycled greeting cards, and vintage ephemera. She worked incessantly in this new artistic direction, creating an extensive body of work exploring the intersection of art, science, community, and social change.
The opening reception is on Thursday, August 6, from 5–9 p.m. Gallery hours are Friday, Aug. 7, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 14, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., or by appointment. Select artwork will be available for purchase, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Community Arts Workshop.
