Hey chickens! Glad you could make it. You’re just in time to play tourist again, and tonight we’ll be loading my camera’s memory with a palette of visual goodies found inside Santa Barbara’s own Museum of Art. Our SBMA, if you will, located in the heart of downtown SB, and soon to be located in yours.

What’s not to love about a museum that allows you to browse its masterpieces gratis every Thursday night? The SBMA’s custom of offering free attendance the first Thursday of the month has been extended to include every Thursday evening, no matter what the date, though the small donation asked otherwise is certainly worth the expense.

Senior, Student and Group Rates available.

Not only are the exhibits phenomenal, the atmosphere is perfect.  Jim and I walked into the main salon to the soft strains of contemporary jazz underscored by the gurgle of indoor fountain, and after purchasing a reasonably priced glass of wine & bottled, imported beer, proceeded to admire our surroundings. Roman statuary sculpted in the Greek tradition, to be specific.

Mithras sacrificing the Bull.

Itinerant docent Molora was happy to be even more specific, educating me on some of the finer points of the figures and busts: informing me this style of unadorned, marble sculpture had been a break from the Roman custom of painting statues in gaudy colors, and that the David-like figure I was admiring so much was indeed modeled after the famous statue by Michelangelo.  At 8 feet tall, the look-alike “Hermes” was roughly half David’s size.

I still think you’re marble-ous.

Still larger than life, though, and a fitting stand-in for Jimmy. After capturing the Kodak moment, we waved good-bye to my marble man, eager to check out the nineteenth century French Art salon, a mainstay exhibit hall that showcases museum-owned works by Monet and Van Gogh—to name just a few—and which entrance was fronted by the current exhibit on loan. Continue reading →…