By their very nature, pop-up art exhibitions bank on the power of surprise elements. A solidly pleasant surprise has landed in the welcoming space of Santa Barbara City College’s Atkinson Gallery at the moment, in the form of Swings and Roundabouts, the Weavings of Julia Ford, through March 17.
Ford, the beloved and veteran fabric artist based in Santa Barbara, has flown into the gallery with an inviting small cross-section of her work from over the past nearly 50 years. On a recent afternoon visit, I found the artist in the space, working at a loom in the room. Now 70 and going creatively strong, she sniffed at the notion that the show was a retrospective and was only half joking when she explained, “I view this as a mid-career show.”
In a statement, she writes, “I think of weaving on floor looms as somewhere between a remedial workhorse, a vocational workshop, an art studio practice, and a meditation center.” Those combined qualities are well accounted for in the art here.