New Muralism: Inclusive Visions of Self and Place

Slingshot/Alpha Art Studios

When Gallery Director Jessica Schlobohm speaks for the artists that come to her studio, they say “I create something because I want to, because I find joy in the activity of creating.” This sentiment seems to be the ethos of Slingshot/Alpha Art Studios, an art studio space and gallery for adult artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Schlobohm, an artist herself, began teaching at Slingshot in 2018 after receiving her MFA, and chose to join the studio because its “person-centered” approach made it stand out from other teaching opportunities. The studio, located in downtown Santa Barbara, was founded in 2018 as a program of the Alpha Resource Center, and features a gallery as well as a studio space. The goal of Slingshot is to provide artists with the materials and resources they need to best facilitate their practice as well as to increase visibility and inclusion in the broader art community. The studio receives funding from the state, and each artist must be eligible to receive services from the Tri-county Regional Center to Participate. Slingshot/Alpha Art Studios, in collaboration with the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture, has opened a new exhibition called New Muralism: Inclusive Visions of Self and Place currently on display in the Channing Peake Gallery.

Schlobohm described a typical morning in the studio, stating that she and the other teachers arrive a little early to make sure all the materials are ready for the day, and that the artists typically arrive around 9 am. Staff are usually familiar with the individual artists’ projects, or the method in which the artists like to work, so their main function is to support them by making sure they have all the materials they need, but other than that staff opt for a hands off approach. The studio functions “openly and organically” with the goal of the staff being to expose the artists to different styles and media without steering them in one direction or another. The amount of facilitation from the staff required depends on the individual artist and their needs and personalities. The ‘person-centered’ approach means that there are no assignments and no directions; the artists take the lead and operate independently to create whatever work they want to.

One aspect of Slingshot that Jessica appreciates is that it bypasses the over-intellectualization and “heady self-importance” in more traditional or formal art spaces that can become tiresome and act as a barrier to creating. She enjoys that the members are confident in themselves as artists and are fixated on their work, finding joy in their very act of creating without being dragged down by self-consciousness. The artists often use pop culture and events in their own lives as references; some examples including old magazines from one artist who loves them and sailboats for another who’s family owns one. These wide-ranging and varied sources of inspiration lead artists to create a wealth of artwork in Slingshot studios, from which Schlobohm was able to curate their latest show, New Muralism: Inclusive Visions of Self and Place.

Slingshot Studios created New Muralism in collaboration with the County Office of Arts and Culture as a brand-new exhibition for the Channing Peake Gallery in the County Administration Building. Schlobohm curated the show herself, choosing pieces from their gallery she believed would be appropriate for a civic space while being engaging enough to grab the attention of those who may be there for purposes other than seeing art. She searched for pieces that were thematically cohesive that would also complement and strengthen each other to make the work more accessible. She opted for a theme of landscapes, of pieces that offered a window into, in her words, “how the artists see the world around them and how they view their place in it.” However, Schlobohm was confronted by an issue of space, given the capacious gallery and the small frames of work she had chosen. She deftly navigated this problem by choosing to scale up and reproduce the artworks, so she would have the engaging and approachable size and scale of murals, without the practical and logistical issues of producing them directly on the wall. She and another teaching artist created reproductions of the pieces they could, and made prints of others. They selected works to be either printed as enlargements or reproduced based on the goal of maintaining and upholding the “integrity of the artists’ hand and technique and aesthetic.” Her hard work paid off; and through the authenticity and talent of the artists combined with Jessica’s tireless work, Slingshot Studios has created a dynamic and stimulating exhibition on display now at the Channing Peake Gallery.