One of Santa Barbara’s most unique and fabulous holiday traditions is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. I’m talking about Brad Nack’s 100% Reindeer Art Show, which starts on December 8 at Restaurant Roy . Of course, if you want to purchase one of his iconic reindeer paintings, make sure to get there early, as these reasonably priced, quirky works of art tend to sell out rather rapidly.
Brad, who is one of the most delightful people I’ve met this year while reporting these questionnaires, explained the genesis of his reindeer over a fun-filled lunch at Louie’s in the Upham Hotel. It all started in 1997, when Elaine Esbeck, the owner of Frame on De la Vina Street, asked to borrow a small reindeer painting that Brad had painted for the mother of Spencer the Gardener three years before. When Esbeck hung it as part of a winter solstice party, 20 people wanted to buy it. So the next year, Elaine suggested he paint 20 of them.
“I go overboard on things all the time,” says Brad. “Instead of 20, I made 70.” Most sold, and a tradition was born. He was reluctant to do it the second year, but carried forth. “I love how constrained it was — the challenge of having to make each different,” he explains. By the third year, he started getting into it, but then he had to twist Elaine’s arm to host the fourth and fifth years. By the sixth year, he moved the annual show to Roy, and Christi Westerhouse from Frameworks took over framing duties.