Santa Barbara Beautiful Awards 2015 | East Beach Collection

image: Rochelle Rose / Noozhawk

image: Rochelle Rose / Noozhawk

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Beautiful organization.  Santa Barbara Beautiful recognizes the work of design professionals in beautifying our community through their Annual Awards Gala.

This year, CJM::LA’s Courtney Miller received the Multi-Family Residence award for her work on the East Beach Collection project.  Congratulations to the whole project team for a job well done!


ARCHITECTOURS 2015 | THE GOODLAND HOTEL

ArchitecTours 2015
On Saturday, October 3 CJM::LA provided tours of our Goodland Hotel property as part of the AIASB ArchitecTours.  This event is held annually as a celebration of local architecture within the Santa Barbara area.  This year was one of the most successful tours to-date!  Thank you to all of our friends, clients and supporters who came out for the tour.  To view photos from the event, click here.


Architects in Film | A Presentation by Dennis Thompson AIA

On Thursday, October 1 at 7:00 pm our friend and local architect, Dennis Thompson AIA, will take us through 60 years of American films which depict architects as fictional characters.  From “The Fountainhead” to “Towering Inferno” to the more recent “It’s Complicated”, Dennis will show clips of architects at work and in love as they are portrayed in a dozen films.  This lighthearted and free lecture is sponsored by the Santa Barbara chapter of the American Institute of Architects and is part of the celebration of Architecture Week.

For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.


AD&A Museum | Walter S. White

image: AD&A Museum
image: AD&A Museum

On Friday, September 25 5:30-7:30 pm, the Art, Design and Architecture Museum at UCSB presents the opening of Walter S. White: Inventions in Midcentury Architecture.  This is a fantastic opportunity to view drawings, plans and photographs of this inventor, builder and architect.  For more info, click here.


AIASB ARCHITECTOURS 2015 | FEATURING NEW WORK BY CJM::LA

AIASB_title_new
CJM::LA’s recently opened Goodland Hotel property will be featured on this year’s AIASB ArchitecTours!

The Santa Barbara AIA’s annual ArchitecTours, a celebration of local architecture, will showcase nine homes and businesses including our recently opened Goodland Hotel property.

The theme of this year’s ArchitecTours is ‘Architecture with a Story’.  Each of the nine projects features an intriguing personal or construction story that profile many of the design obstacles encountered during the building process.  This event draws attention to the extraordinary architectural legacy in Santa Barbara and the value of well-designed architecture to its surrounding community.  Equally, ArchitecTours highlights the expertise that AIA architects (and Landscape Architects!) possess including a thorough understanding and expertise in urban design, sustainability, accessibility, structural improvements, building materials, and historic renovation.

The tour will be held on Saturday October 3rd from 10am – 4pm and will culminate with a festive party.

Early Bird Tickets are $65 for general public, $55 for AIA members and seniors, and $25 for students. Please note that early bird tickets are only available until September 13th.  This year, five percent of the proceeds earned by the event will be donated to Habitat for Humanity for their next project in Santa Barbara County.  Habitat has been a valued client of ours and we are proud to contribute to another opportunity for fundraising for this incredible organization.

Tickets can be purchased here.

CJM::LA Landscape Architecture Santa Barbara
This year CJM::LA is a site sponsor at The Goodland Hotel property, which we completed in 2014.  This is a great opportunity to see our work in action, and receive a personal tour of the property with representatives of our firm as well as DMHA, our Architect partners for the property.  We look forward to seeing you there!


DROUGHT RESISTANT: SUMMER ART SERIES FEATURING JENALEE HARMON

Slippery When Wet

slippery when wet, 2015

CJM::LA presents the third and final show in our series DROUGHT RESISTANT, featuring recent works by Jenalee Harmon.
Curated by Patrick Melroy, the show runs August 3, 2015 through August 28, 2015.

Jenalee Harmon is an artist who works most often with vibrant color palettes that assault any notion of boring. She creates large photographic images, videos and objects of sleek clunky materials. Her work is arresting from a distance and captivating up close. Harmon’s work occupies the uncanny arena in which image and object converge. The images she creates spark elaborate back stories in the minds of the viewer. Often the viewer is left feeling like they saw both a wink and a nod which only left them with more questions. Harmon never gives in to the obvious and always presents art that makes you triple-take.

Harmon received her MFA from UCSB, a BFA in New Genres, from the San Franciso Art Institue. Her work is well traveled and she shows regularly. In addition to DROUGHT RESISTANT, her work will appear in Peak Experiences, Shangri-LA in Joshua Tree this September. She was also recently seen in Moist curated by Ginger Shulick Porcella at OCCCA in Santa Ana, CA. A small selection of the other shows she has been featured in include: Mystical Absolutes, Nervous for a New Reason and Ectoplastic Fantastic in Santa Barbara; Pardon My Condition curated by Andrea Huber at the Raymond Gallery Pasadena and Spectacular Subdivisions curated by Jay Lizo for High Desert Test Sites in Wonder Valley, CA.

The three artists in DROUGHT RESISTANT, Cathy Ellis, Megan Mueller, and Jenalee Harmon, are contemporary experts within their individual disciplines and regularly show their work nationally. The series is curated by Patrick Melroy. The idea for DROUGHT RESISTANT came from a creative conversation between CJM::LA principal Courtney Miller and several artists within the community. The substance of the discussion surrounded the desperate need for more quality venues for contemporary art within the very rich cultural center of Santa Barbara. Miller engaged curator Patrick Melroy who in turn invited three artists who have persevered through the shortage of show space and continued to advance their artistic practice despite not having a lot of room to spread out. The title of the series was entirely the idea of artist Megan Mueller.

The opening will be on Thursday, August 6 at 5 pm in collaboration with the Downtown Organization’s 1st Thursday event.

CJM::LA is located in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, visit our Contacts page for more info.


DROUGHT RESISTANT: SUMMER ART SERIES FEATURING MEGAN MUELLER

[thud], dimensions variable, cast cement boulder and trampoline, 2015

[thud], dimensions variable, cast cement boulder and trampoline, 2015

CJM::LA presents the second show in our series DROUGHT RESISTANT, featuring recent works by Megan Mueller.
Curated by Patrick Melroy, the show runs July 1, 2015 through July 31, 2015.

Megan Mueller is known as a sculptor who assembles tactile full color/pattern drenched objects. She is a artist who is unafraid of any medium, moving between cast concrete and wood constructions at will. Her work doesn’t so much walk a tightrope as swing wildly on the slack rope of surprise and improvisation. She is just as likely to mine the language of the rural Virginian countryside of her birth as to harvest the feeling of cold urban landscapes. She is a sculptor with limitless humor and innovation.

Mueller received her MFA from UCSB, a BFA in Sculpture and Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BA in Political Science from George Washington University. She has shown recently at Long Beach Arts Exchange, Shangrila, The Glassbox Gallery, (e)merge Art Fair with Transformer Gallery, Some other time travel, California State University Channel Island, INTERWEB, curated by Ana Torok, Grand Art Haus, GLAMFA 2014, University of California Long Beach, Drift & Fixation, curated by Kai Tepper, Arts Fund Santa Barbara, Spectacular Subdivisions, curated by Jay Lizo, High Desert Test Sites and Monte Vista Projects,  2008

The three artists in DROUGHT RESISTANT, Cathy Ellis, Megan Mueller, and Jenalee Harmon, are contemporary experts within their individual disciplines and regularly show their work nationally. The series is curated by Patrick Melroy. The idea for DROUGHT RESISTANT came from a creative conversation between CJM::LA principal Courtney Miller and several artists within the community. The substance of the discussion surrounded the desperate need for more quality venues for contemporary art within the very rich cultural center of Santa Barbara. Miller engaged curator Patrick Melroy who in turn invited three artists who have persevered through the shortage of show space and continued to advance their artistic practice despite not having a lot of room to spread out. The title of the series was entirely the idea of artist Megan Mueller.

The opening will be on Thursday, July 2 at 5 pm in collaboration with the Downtown Organization’s 1st Thursday event.

CJM::LA is located in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, visit our Contacts page for more info.


City of Santa Barbara | New Bike Corral

Helena Street Bike Corral

Helena Street Bike Corral | photo courtesy of SB BIKE

The City of Santa Barbara’s Public Work’s Department recently opened a second bike corral within the Funk Zone neighborhood.  We could not be more excited to see further support of multi-modal transportation within our community, especially in an area of town that is home to so many bikes!  This project was a partnership between the City of Santa Barbara Public Works Department, the Architecture Review Board, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition as well as local business and property owners.

This particular location provides space for 18 bicycles without the loss of any vehicular parking.


Big Betty Butia at Alameda Park

CJM::LA recently completed plans for the restoration of a small area of our local Alameda Park.  The project included the relocation of an existing non-functioning well in order to bring it back into operation and provide another much-needed water source for the Santa Barbara community.  As part of that restoration, our office worked closely with the City of Santa Barbara, the Historic Landmarks Commission, and the Parks and Recreation Commission to restore a small area of the park.  A few existing non-specimen trees were removed and replaced with beautiful new palm trees.  This park is a significant part of the open space network within our community, and historically has been home to hundreds of unique tree species.  We worked with Seacrest Nursery to select and install a unique specimen known as Big Betty Butia.  She is a Butia capitata, or Jelly Palm, and has a beautiful grey-green canopy.  Photos below::

Big Betty at Seacrest Nursery
Big Betty at Seacrest Nursery
Big Betty planted at Alameda Park
Big Betty planted at Alameda Park

DROUGHT RESISTANT: SUMMER ART SERIES FEATURING CATHY ELLIS

Shots From the Sky by Cathy Ellis, 2014

Shots From the Sky by Cathy Ellis, 2014

CJM::LA presents the first show in our series DROUGHT RESISTANT, featuring the works of Cathy Ellis.
Curated by Patrick Melroy, the show runs June 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015.

Cathy Ellis is known for her exceptionally competent compositions and dramatic color combinations.  Her development of subject matter reveals a thoughtful mind at work in the sloppy sticky edges of memory and mistake.  The work lures viewers into it, leaving room for them to fill in the back-story and to build the associations of meaning around the elegant and yet clumpy figures and landscapes.  Her work makes big noises about quiet subtle reflections.

Cathy Ellis received her BFA from Sonoma State University and her MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014.  She has exhibited nationally, including exhibitions at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara, the Minan Gallery in Los Angeles, Cal State Channel Islands in Camarillo, 186 Carpenter in Providence, RI, the Sonoma Valley Museum in Sonoma, SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery, Trillium Press and Southern Exposure in San Francisco.  She is currently a Teaching Fellow at the College of Creative Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, and the 2014 winner of the Howard Fenton Award for Painting.

The three artists in Drought Resistant, Cathy Ellis, Megan Mueller, and Jenalee Harmon, are contemporary experts within their individual disciplines and regularly show their work nationally. The series is curated by Patrick Melroy. The idea for DROUGHT RESISTANT came from a creative conversation between CJM::LA principal Courtney Miller and several artists within the community. The substance of the discussion surrounded the desperate need for more quality venues for contemporary art within the very rich cultural center of Santa Barbara. Miller engaged curator Patrick Melroy who in turn invited three artists who have persevered through the shortage of show space and continued to advance their artistic practice despite not having a lot of room to spread out. The title of the series was entirely the idea of artist Megan Mueller.

The opening will be on Thursday, June 4 at 5 pm in collaboration with the Downtown Organization’s 1st Thursday event.

CJM::LA is located in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, visit our Contacts page for more info.


DROUGHT RESISTANT: Summer Art Series

DROUGHTRESISTANT_1

Courtney Jane Miller Landscape Architecture is sponsoring a summer art series at their Canon Perdido design studio. DROUGHT RESISTANT will feature the works of three women artists who maintain studio practices in Santa Barbara. Each artist will present their work via a solo show for one month during the summer from June to August. All three are contemporary experts within their individual disciplines and regularly show their work nationally. The series is curated by Patrick Melroy. The idea for DROUGHT RESISTANT came from a creative conversation between CJM::LA principal Courtney Miller and several artists within the community. The substance of the discussion surrounded the desperate need for more quality venues for contemporary art within the very rich cultural center of Santa Barbara. Miller engaged curator Patrick Melroy who in turn invited three artists who have persevered through the shortage of show space and continued to advance their artistic practice despite not having a lot of room to spread out. The title of the series was entirely the idea of artist Megan Mueller.

CATHY ELLIS, MEGAN MUELLER, and JENALEE HARMON will each present a solo show at CJM::LA this summer. Each show will open with a celebration in partnership with the downtown association’s 1st Thursday Art Walk. CJM::LA will have food and drink on hand at each reception and the artists and curator will be in attendance to discuss the work and the current state of the art scene in Santa Barbara. All art will be for sale.

THURSDAY JUNE 4TH, 5-8PM CATHY ELLIS

THURSDAY JULY 2ND, 5-8PM MEGAN MUELLER

THURSDAY AUGUST 6TH, 5-8PM JENALEE HARMON

 

CJM::LA is located in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, visit our Contacts page for more info.