Virtual Visual Arts, Plus Chances to Actually Visit

This issue arrives on May 7, which, in normal times, would have been a time for art lovers to gather downtown on lower State Street and nearby blocks to partake in the gallery, museum, and boutique self-guided tour known as 1st Thursday. That would’ve meant huge crowds jamming the two big open spaces at Sullivan Goss, the well-known gallery on Anapamu Street, to view the latest opening and sip on glasses of wine while hobnobbing with the artistic elite.

COVID-19 has clamped down on that, of course, with everyone heeding to strict lockdown rules outside of essential businesses to prevent the spread of the virus. But Sullivan Goss has announced that the gallery will open its two new exhibitions not only virtually – as has nearly every major museum and art gallery in town since mid-March – but will also welcome actual in-person visits to its downtown space.

Within pandemic parameters, that is.

Individuals or cohabitating families can make one-hour appointments to see Angela Perko’s “Just Another Pretty Picture,” 17 paintings “stretching across time and place and exploding with abundance and allegory,” as well as UCSB MFA students’ collaborative “20/20” project, comprised of contemporary drawing, painting, and sculpture with works by Eric Beltz, Ann Diener, Cathy Ellis, Yumiko Glover, Nathan Hayden, Mary Heebner, Madeleine Eve Ignon, Elisa Ortega Montilla, R. Nelson Parrish, Tom Pazderka, and Maria Rendon. Phoebe Brunner‘s exhibition “A Wild Delight” has been briefly extended in order to give potential buyers a chance to see the works on site, not just online. Appointments are available 9 am to 5 pm daily. Visit www.sullivangoss.com.