The Wildling Museum is thrilled to announce a window art installation, Wintering: A Fox Tale by artist Nicole Strasburg. The series of papercut fox silhouettes was specially designed by Strasburg to bring joy and wonder to passersby during the museum’s extended closure and bring art to the sidewalk for visitors to enjoy from the outside-in. The public is invited to enjoy the ongoing installation, which is illuminated at night.
Read MoreJanuary 2021 - March 2022
Michele Kuelbs Tower Gallery
The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is kicking off 2021 with an invitation for the public to experience art from the outside-in during its ongoing public closure due to state and local Covid-19 public health mandates for indoor museums.
In the museum’s new Michele Kuelbs Tower Gallery installation, Holli Harmon: The Nature of Clouds, artist Holli Harmon’s immersive work centers around a Norfolk Island Pine tree floating beneath bright blue, cumulus cloud-filled skies. Large chandelier crystals hang suspended by invisible thread from ceiling to floor in a brilliant rain shower as plants are suspended throughout at varying heights.
Read MoreJoin us on Sunday, January 24, 2021, 1:30 - 3 p.m. and Sunday, February 21, 2021, 1:30 - 3 p.m. for a fun virtual art class led by artist Kathy Badrak. Learn the basics of wrapping stones with waxed linen to make one-of-a-kind serenity stones, each as individual as you are!
Rock wrapping is an art form rooted in Japanese tradition. Wrapped stones could be used in Japanese gardens to guide visitors along a prescribed route or the correct spiritual path. Today, there are many variations of rock wrapping using many different materials. For this workshop, attendees will learn two methods of rock wrapping to create your own serenity stone.
Read MoreUPDATE (December 6, 2020): Due to new regional stay-at-home orders, and in the interest of public safety and that of our staff, the Wildling has revised its holiday shopping weekend scheduled for December 11 - 13th to change it to private, appointment-based shopping.
Every Wednesday – Sunday, we are happy to accommodate private parties for shopping (or pick-ups of items ordered online) through December 23, 2020. Please call (805) 688-1082 to set up a private shopping appointment or shop our new store online here for all of your holiday needs. New items are being added to our online store every day, so if you haven't visited in a while, please check back! Please don’t hesitate to contact Julie Mock at julie@wildlingmuseum.org with any questions.
Read MoreJoin us on Wednesday, December 2, 4 - 5 p.m. via Zoom for a fun conversation with conservation leader and author Beth Pratt as she shares tales of wild wonder from California and beyond. Enjoy photos and videos from her extensive encounters with animals including pika, frogs, mountain lions, bears, and more! She’ll talk about how we all need to be a part of fostering a coexistence ethic with wildlife, and what we can do in our own backyard to help wild animals thrive.
Beth will also lead participants through a couple of the exercises from her new book, I Heart Wildlife: A Guided Activity Journal for Connecting with the Wild World. Be sure to come with questions about your wild neighbors!
Read MoreJoin us on Thursday, November 12, 2020, 4 - 5 p.m. for a virtual Zoom presentation by James Hines, Conservation Director for the Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club.
While serving as an activist for a wide range of conservation issues in the region and beyond, Hines’ presentation will largely focus on plans for the Wildlife Overpass at Liberty Canyon, a wildlife crossing planned in Agoura Hills that will provide a safe way for wildlife – including mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, deer, and many other species – to cross the eight-lane 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills.
Read MoreNovember 7, 2020 - February 14, 2021
Second Floor Valley Oak Gallery
Wildling Museum of Art and Nature will mark its 20th anniversary with a special exhibition celebrating the Museum’s 20-year history in the Santa Ynez Valley. 20/20: A Retrospective will showcase 20 works spanning two decades of exhibitions representing one work for each year of the Wildling Museum’s history.
Read MoreNature Takes the Wheel marks the Wildling Museum’s first public art initiative in collaboration with the City of Buellton Arts and Culture Committee. The installation features more than 55 upcycled hubcaps on view now at the Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden and on display in the Wildling Museum’s windows through October 31, 2020.
Read MoreHelp us celebrate 20 years of art and nature! Grab a glass of something delicious and join our first ever online fundraising event on Friday, October 16, 2020, 5 - 6 p.m.!
Read MoreSeptember 1, 2020 - January 10, 2021
Juried Online Exhibition & Competition
The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to present its 11th nature photography competition. Our 2020 competition highlights the native critters that call the Tri-County region home.
Winners from both the adult and youth categories will be displayed in an online exhibition through January 10, 2021.
Read MoreAugust 25, 2020 - February 7, 2021
Juried Online Exhibition in Collaboration with Allan Hancock College
The Wildling Museum is delighted to collaborate with Allan Hancock College this summer featuring highlights from adult education instructor Michael Messina’s photography class. The students’ photography was first intended to be a Barbara Goodall Education Center exhibition, but with the intrusion of Covid-19, it has now evolved into an online Wildling exhibition.
Over the course of the spring semester, Messina’s class persevered online, adapting to Zoom and learning new skills and methods as they completed their course while navigating the pandemic, culminating in this virtual exhibition documenting various scenes of nature and wildlife captured as close as the students’ own backyards, as far as Africa, and as deep as beneath the ocean’s surface.
Read MoreThe Wildling is thrilled to welcome artist Holli Harmon for our next Zoom presentation on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 4 p.m. Harmon previously exhibited at the Wildling Museum as part of The River's Journey in 2018 and on July 31st, she opens a new exhibition at Santa Barbara's Sullivan Goss Gallery featuring her most recent body of work, Califia.
We'll talk to Harmon about her artistic process and enjoy an up-close look at her many different techniques, including monoprinting, oil painting, mixed media, and more.
Read MoreJoin us for a spectacular presentation by nature photographer Nic Stover on Tuesday, July 14 at 4 p.m. via Zoom!
Stover, whose work was highlighted in the Wildling Museum’s 2019 Celebrating the National Lands of California exhibition, will lead a discussion about his work capturing California’s Central Coast and beyond, including some of our state’s most iconic parks and landscapes.
Read MoreJoin us for a breathtaking presentation by night sky photographer James Studarus on Wednesday, June 24 at 4 p.m. via Zoom!
Studarus, whose timelapse video footage of the Aurora Borealis is included in our Starry Nights: Visions of the Night Sky exhibition, will lead a discussion about his experiences traveling the northernmost parts of the globe to capture the glow of the Northern Lights across Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Norway, and beyond.
Read MoreApril 4 - December 31, 2020
Tower Gallery & Online Exhibition
Opening concurrently with 20/20: A Retrospective, is the Wildling Museum’s inaugural Tower Gallery exhibition featuring Remembering Bud Bottoms: A Legacy of Art and Activism. The exhibit features sea life sculpture works by the Santa Barbara artist locally-renowned for his iconic Dolphin Family sculpture installed at the base of Stearns Wharf in downtown Santa Barbara.
Read MoreJoin the Wildling for a special Noontime Concert in the galleries with Opera Santa Barbara on Wednesday, March 25, 12 - 1 p.m.
This free concert will feature selections from Opera Santa Barbara’s upcoming production of Charles Gounod’s Romeo & Juliet and will include performances by Opera Santa Barbara’s four Chrisman Studio Artists: Julia Metzler, soprano; Kelly Guerra, mezzo; Chandler Johnson, tenor; and John Allen Nelson, baritone.
Read MoreJoin us for a special presentation on Sunday, March 15, 2020, 3 - 4:30 p.m. by acclaimed equine author and photographer Deborah Kalas as she shares her background and highlights from her new book, The Wild Herd: A Vanishing American Treasure.
Books are available for purchase from the Wildling Museum Store.
Read MoreJoin the Wildling on a day trip in partnership with Buellton Parks and Recreation to visit the incredible Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, see Elephant Seals on the coast, and enjoy stops in the creative towns of Cambria and Harmony on Tuesday, February 11, 2020, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Read MoreJust in time for Valentine’s Day! Join us on Saturday, February 8, 2020 for a unique natural perfume workshop at the Wildling Museum, led by artisan perfumer and owner of Sol Aromatics, Susan Farber, MFT.
Two sessions offered: morning workshop 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. or afternoon workshop 2 - 4:30 p.m.
Read MoreJoin the Wildling for a special Noontime Concert in the galleries with Opera Santa Barbara on Wednesday, February 5, 12 - 1 p.m.
This free concert will feature selections from Opera Santa Barbara’s upcoming production of Daniel Catán’s Il Postino and will include performances by Opera Santa Barbara’s four Chrisman Studio Artists: Julia Metzler, soprano; Kelly Guerra, mezzo; Chandler Johnson, tenor; and John Allen Nelson, baritone.
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