OPENING RECEPTION: 1st THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th  |  FROM 5-8pm

How many murals would you guess there are in Santa Barbara? 10? 20? 50? Would you be shocked to learn that the city is currently home to more than 100? If so, you are not alone. 

In late September of 2024, gallery owner Nathan Vonk was similarly astonished when he first encountered a beautiful map of the Murals of Santa Barbara created by Santa Barbara Beautiful board member Melinda Mettler. Inspired by the sheer number of murals documented in Mettler’s map, Vonk reached out to see if she would be interested in collaborating to heighten community awareness of this underappreciated cultural legacy. Together they created a new interactive Google Map documenting more than 250 qualifying public murals, mosaics, and sculptures within Santa Barbara’s city limits. 

To further the effort, Sullivan Goss Gallery has teamed up with the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative, Santa Barbara Beautiful, and Irene Hoffman Design to create a project called 100 Years of Santa Barbara Public Art that aims to engage the community in voting for their favorite public art pieces in the city. Voting will take place September 4–24 in a partnership with the Santa Barbara Independent.

The gallery’s accompanying exhibition, The Muralists, brings together a diverse group of artists from the past and present who have played a major part in creating Santa Barbara’s public art legacy. Accompanying each artist’s work will be information about the artist and their public artwork including where it can be found in the city. The opening reception for the exhibition will coincide with the first day of community voting for their favorites.