In Santa Barbara’s ever-shifting art scene, one old reliable is rooted in the notion of young minds and artists finding themselves and finding their way into corners of the art world and/or the real world at large. This special encounter takes place in the ripe and beautifully outfitted venue of the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, where the annual senior art show ends each academic year, a fitting finishing touch to that season.
This year’s model of an exhibition goes by the title Re-Encounter, and although the styles and ideas put forth are expectedly diverse among the 14 artists, a certain theme clearly arises. Many of the artists find their own expressive routes to deal with the transition from youth to adulthood, with spiritual themes in the sidecar, linked to the Westmont’s official Christian institution status.
The memory lane venturing begins at the beginning of the show, with Kailea Najera’s intriguing family scene tributes painted on wood. It’s not just any wood, but wood salvaged from cabinets from home and, evocatively, spilling onto the art frames themselves. Next to these paintings, Marco Valdez’s charcoals make touching tributes to his family, a border-crossing legacy fringed by the family crest colors of blue and white.