It has been such a mild summer here on our piece of coastline. I’ve been wondering when the hot days would arrive. So often we get a good blast of heat in October and as the summer ticked away, with cooler than usual temperatures, I kept wondering if September and October were going to be blazing. The heat always shows up, it’s just a matter of when.
Evening Sizzle, 14x14”, oil on birch panel
Summer Solstice marks the first day of of the new season, the season of blue skies, heat, and running to the shoreline, lake or mountain tops to cool from the radiating summer sun. Sundance has a new collection of paintings celebrating the season, big sky and cool ocean colors or mountain pines with night skies.
Summer is closing in and the longest day of the year is on the horizon. Sullivan Goss is launching new shows at the gallery with an opening reception happening this week for First Thursday events. I have a brand new painting fresh off the easel being shown in the Summer Salon in their back gallery. I’m so honored to be hanging with artists John Nava, Hank Pitcher, Nathan Huff and Susan McDonnell, to name just a few. AND I get to be on the wall next two lovely Lockwood DeForest paintings.
Patricia Chidlaw is in the front gallery with a beautiful show celebrating the swimming pool and the in main gallery FORMALIZE: Strategies for Abstraction, an exhibition that emphasizes the formalist view of abstract art.
So much to see and enjoy as we slide into the new season.
Western Shore 48x24” Oil on Birch Panel
A warm thank you to Sundance for showcasing 16 new paintings online. Represented are paintings from seashore to mountain top, estuary birds and cloud filled skies.
Wild Pines, 12x48” Oil on Birch Panel
My show concluded at the end of September of this year and what an amazing show. I felt like I ran a marathon at a sprint putting together the 54 pieces that were delivered to the gallery in July.
By the end of the show all the gas had been consumed from my tank. My normal pattern would be to celebrate by traveling somewhere and filling my eyes and heart back up before returning to the studio. Alas, it has been another grounded year.
Life continues and despite being home there are shows still on the horizon. Right now at Sullivan Goss you can find my work in both the annual 100 GRAND exhibition as well as the Winter Salon.
Sky Sea 40, 4x4”, Gouache on Arches Board - 100 GRAND Exhibition at Sullivan Goss Santa Barbara
I hope the season finds you all well and thriving. May your creativity find you hard at work. Happy Holy Days.
Campus Tide 5, 28x40”, oil on cradled birch panel - Winter Salon, Sullivan Goss
NEWS FROM THE STUDIO OF NICOLE STRASBURG
May the change of the seasons find you well and thriving. There are just 5 days left to experience SEA CHANGE at Sullivan Goss in downtown Santa Barbara. The show will close on Monday, September 27th. Thank you to all the visitors who have reached out, letting me know you enjoyed the show. HUGE gratitude to clients taking work home, both to add to their collections and start new ones.
I want to thank Marilyn McMahon at the Santa Barbara Newspress for the spectacular spread in the Life section on Saturday, September 18th. Thanks also, to Kit Boise-Cossart for the wonderful studio interview in LUM Magazine. There is a catalog that accompanies the exhibit which is available both at the gallery and online HERE.
Fall means cooler weather, shorter days and often times, color! Leaves changing, clear crisp days and (fingers crossed) rain in the forecast. Honoring the change of season SUNDANCE has twelve new paintings celebrating the fall, plus a few others to choose from.
Fall Willow Tunnel, 10x30”, oil on birch
Recently opened in the main gallery at Sullivan Goss is PAPER TRAIL: The Life Story of Great Works of Art. This is an exhibition focusing on the significance of how art moves through the world and across time. My Overpass Series No. 5, a reductive wood block print created at the Atelier of Richard Tullis, can be found in this exhibit. It is a large print inspired by the San Francisco freeway system. This print traveled in 2015 with the exhibit titled California Dreaming through the Oceanside Museum of Art, Riverside Museum of Art and the Palazzo della Provincia di Frozinone before landing on the walls at Sullivan Goss. Exhibition runs through October 27, 2021.
Overpass Series No. 5, 30x30.5”, reductive woodblock monoprint
There is only one week left to view SEA CHANGE at Sullivan Goss in downtown Santa Barbara. Yesterday this wonderful article appeared in our local paper the Santa Barbara Newspress. Thank you to writer Marilyn McMahon for making that happen. I’m hugely honored to be featured.
Santa Barbara Newspress, LIFE section, September 18, 2021
Author Marilyn McMahon
Fourteen new original paintings were just added to the collection online. See them all HERE!
Once in a Blue Moon (left) Milky Way & Pines, 12x12” oil on birch panel
Badwater, Death Valley by Nicole Strasburg 29.5 x 58.5” Oil on cradled birch panel.
We are about ready to send the catalog to press. Sullivan Goss has put up a digital preview HERE and Beth Taylor-Schott has outdone herself with an exceptional essay about the work. I’m speechless and grateful. Thank you Beth for the poetic expression of my visual experience.
Catalogs should be in the gallery by mid month.
Please join me in celebrating a new exhibit at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara. It’s been 5 years since my last solo show and I’m returning to the subject of a perpetual obsession, the pacific ocean. After the many months pummeled by news of the world and forced seclusion, I offer you color and vast horizons.
The First Thursday reception has been cancelled for August but don’t let that stop you from the respite that the show can offer, a traveling armchair, a breeze blowing onshore, sunshine radiating from the work.
A catalog for the show is also in the works, look for it mid month.
With hopes of seeing you around the gallery, be well, stay safe and let joy find you outside in the sun.
Gallery walls, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara
CATALOG EXCERPT:
SEA CHANGE: a profound or notable transformation, substantial change in perspective, transformation after undergoing various trials or tragedies.
This body of work emerged after the long months of quarantine. We can all agree that the year 2020 altered the way we see and experience the world, a noticeable change in our work patterns, change in our socializations, change in emotional atmosphere.
During the long seclusion I spent my time combing through old source material for inspiration. Reexamining photographs, I tried to recall the “aha” moment that captured my attention. Looking more closely at these images I was reminded how much information the camera records verses what our eyes are capable of seeing. I question how this influences my work in the studio, the actual verses the recorded, the recorded verses the perceived, all woven into the personal dialog with my materials.
This work represents healing in the making of marks, solace also comes to mind and growth after a long winter. The uncertainty of this past year is veiled as horizons beckon us forward, the passing clouds offer comfort and respite that the storm is moving on, leaving the glorious remains of being washed clean and full of hope.
SEA CHANGE catalog coming soon!
Bloom (detail) Quadtych, 29.5 x 78”, oil on panel
BLOOM will be part of SEA CHANGE opening a week from today at Sullivan Goss. Hope to see you all around the gallery.
Westward Ho, 30x40” oil on birch panel
I love it that paintings have no expiration dates. Even though this was made following a 2009 excursion with beloved artist/writer Thalia Chaltas this painting quietly waited it’s turn to be out in the world in a bigger way.
Badwater, Death Valley was shipped off to Sundance for their catalog. I’m excited for this triptychs debut on the bigger stage this fall.
Badwater, Death Valley Triptych 29.5 x 58.5” oil on birch panel ©2009
Every day alchemy
details of new work with mixed color on palette
Color swatches from details of the new work coming soon to Sullivan Goss.
I’m in the final stretch of creating a new show for Sullivan Goss that will open at the end of July. The weeks are ticking away.
I fell in love with the color charts I was making last year and it has influenced the new paintings. I was looking for light and joy in the confines of the quarantine.
I love to be hanging with friends and beloved colleagues.
Coastal Fog can be viewed now at Sullivan Goss through July 26, 2021 beside the works of John Nava, Nathan Huff, Patricia Chidlaw, Phoebe Brunner, Angela Perko, Colin Campbell Cooper, Lockwood DeForest and many more.
Left to right, Nathan Huff “A Sudden Lurch to Help”, Angela Perko “Refugio Beach, West End #2”, Nicole Strasburg “Coastal Fog” and John Nava “Summerland 4-2”.
Installation day
January Passing Storm installed in its new home in Santa Barbara. It’s always wonderful to see work placed in such beautiful environments. The paintings sing in a new way when they move from the studio into living spaces.
Skye & Molly, Silkscreens by Teresa Zepeda
Two treasures made their way to me in the mail from talented art pal Teresa Zepeda. My two beloveds in small format silkscreens. Teresa is a star. These small gems are remarkable in their technique and Teresa’s skill at capturing the expression and posture is heart squeezingly beautiful. Pure gold winging through the US post.
Thank you to Caleb Wiseblood for the wonderful article in the Santa Maria Sun this morning.
READ all about the new exhibition at the Wildling Museum of Art & Nature. Exhibition includes artists Scott Chatenever, Dorothy Churchill-Johnson, Catherine Eaton-Skinner, Lynn Hanson, Karen Kitchel, Maria Rendon, John Robertson, Sommer Roman, Carol Saidon, and Nicole Strasburg.
Spring time means new beginnings. A new iteration of the Fox Tales windows arrives at the museum before the re-opening in April. The Wildling opened their doors again April 17th with two new shows and a refresh of the papercuts “wintering” windows. There are cubs at play and new color for daylight hours. STILL, the best viewing times are after dark when there is drama at play.
Wildling Museum of Art & Nature
1511 Mission Drive, Solvang California
Springtime Fox Tale large papercuts
Springtime Fox Tale large papercuts
Springtime Fox Tale large papercuts
Springtime Fox Tale large papercuts