In partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, The SPACE presents, Celebrate Culture: Roots Beyond the Surface, a one-week exhibit centering Indigenous artists, culture bearers, and historically marginalized voices. Experience art through a cultural lens: view, hear, and appreciate stories from our long-time local families and people who have contributed to the beauty of what Santa Barbara is today!

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Maria Elena Lopez leads Su’nan Protection, Art & Cultural Education (The SPACE), an organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and celebrating the rich Indigenous culture of the Chumash people through education, art, and community. With more than 25 years as a Cultural Educator, Mia has worked to ensure a legacy of advocacy, collaboration, and stewardship by sharing traditional skills and perspectives. She previously worked at the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation, where she supported advocacy, legal, and educational efforts for local Indigenous people and natural cultural resources. Mia serves as a liaison between the Tribe and groups such as the City of Santa Barbara, the County of Ventura, NOAA, and other state and federal organizations. She has cultivated relationships with institutions like UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, local schools, and parks to teach about both contemporary and historical Chumash life and culture. 

 

John Khus was born in California. He is an artist from the Bear Clan of the Chumash. His art, cultural teaching, and curating work have been recognized by the local community, Indigenous community, and political leaders.

 

Anthony Castelo has lived his passion for Yaqui/Yoeme culture for the past 30 years. He envisions himself supporting our local cultural educators and artists, drawing on his background in construction and environmental design and his love for community. Along the way, he hopes to showcase his own artistic talents and dreams while giving back to his community through advocacy and activism. Dragonfly Industrial was founded in 2025 to carry this vision into the future. Anthony thanks Su’nan the SPACE, the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society, and his Mother for their support. 

 

Elena Rios is a Cultural Practitioner, Nature Connection Guide, and Interdisciplinary Artist. She draws inspiration from the life of her late grandmother, Maria Rios, who was a “curandera” and a “huesera” on Tataviam/Tongva territory in the San Fernando Valley. Her journey toward deepening relationship with the healing power of trees, plants, herbs, and flowers has continued throughout her life. It has taken shape within the context of their inclusion in intertribal circles of learning, ceremony, dance, and song, including Danza Azteca Chichimeca. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. Currently, she is based on Chumash land in central/southern California. Instagram: @elenarios.innernature https://www.elenariosinnernature.com.  

 

Toni Scott is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores ancestry, memory, migration, and the spiritual landscapes that connect people across generations. Working across painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, she examines how history is carried through bodies, landscapes, ritual, and place. For more than two decades, her ongoing Bloodlines series has investigated identity, resilience, and belonging through portraits, sculpture, vessels, photography, and immersive installations that honor both personal and collective memory.

 

The Cultured Abalone Farm sustainably hand-raises red abalone from hatchery to harvest, ranch purple sea urchins, and tumble culture red seaweed. In addition to serving premium seafood nationwide, they are involved with several conservation efforts, restoring abalone along the California coast and bringing balance back to our kelp forest ecosystems.

 

The Chumash Maritime Association is a non-profit group that revives and protects the traditional ocean-going culture of the Chumash tribe. The group builds traditional redwood plank canoes, called tomols, and leads historic annual cross-channel paddles to the California Channel Islands.

 

The Northern Chumash Tribal Council’s (NCTC) mission is to offer a foundation for Chumash people to bring our Culture and Heritage back to life, to create dignity with the people, and to educate the public that the Chumash have always been here; we have not gone anywhere, and we will always be here, one continuum. We are Chumash; by our cultural understanding, we have lived on the Central Coast of California since time immemorial.

 

The Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation is dedicated to preserving and protecting our ancient cultural heritage while enriching the lives of our community members in the modern world. Through education and advocacy, we honor our ancestors while creating opportunities for future generations. Our work connects thousands of years of Indigenous wisdom with today's challenges, supporting sustainability, cultural growth, and tribal sovereignty.

 

Kasia Shebloski is a devotee to the seeds, soil, and story. She stewards alongside community a humble farm nested in the Cuyama Valley at Quail Springs. Her path is guided by the tangled wonderment of ‘belonging’—tracing a legacy of homeland reclamation of her maternal lineage in the Carpathian mountains while braided as a visitor on Chumash territory and Turtle Island. 

 

Kasia’s practices orbit the poetry of place, and the magic and profundity of the fool. She is an herbalist and seed guardian, and weaves the stories of these beings for and with community through ritual performance, theater, and puppetry ~ This condor was only made possible in collaboration with many loving hands ~ Thank you for this opportunity to share these soaring wings in community. 

 

One Thread Collective offers fair trade work, business training, and leadership opportunities to Indigenous Wayuu weavers in La Guajira, Colombia, paving the way for sustainable, self-determined futures.

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Pyrovibe (Allison "Ace" Claudio Miguel) is an emerging artist based in Santa Barbara, California, driven by curiosity and the freedom to create. Working primarily with glass, Ace believes creativity should never be confined to a single medium. Each project is an opportunity to explore new ideas, develop new skills, and discover new ways of making.

While glass remains the foundation of their practice, Ace embraces the challenge of working with any materials that best fit the vision, allowing each idea to determine its own form. Ace is committed to building meaningful partnerships with fellow artists, cultural organizations, and local communities to celebrate collaboration through community-centered projects.

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Beyond the studio, Ace is passionate about making art accessible to others by hosting creative workshops and teaching hands-on lampworking classes. Through education and shared experiences, they introduce new makers to the beauty and possibilities of glass while fostering creativity and confidence. Whether creating intricate glass sculptures, teaching emerging makers, or contributing to public art, Ace approaches every project with a commitment to craftsmanship, collaboration, and bringing people together through art.

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Depth Psychologist Dr. Tara Jones is a published writer, visual artist, holistic academic counselor, and cultural worker specializing in Black womxn’s wellness. She holds a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology, Community, Liberation, & Eco-Psychologies from Pacifica Graduate Institute, a Masters in the Science of Teaching from Fordham University, a Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology and Black Studies from UCSB. She has served as a: cultural center coordinator at UCSB, psychotherapist, public school teacher,  social-emotional learning facilitator, and employment specialist working with houseless communities and other diverse communities. As a public scholar, she researches the ecology of well-being in public-education, cross-professional applications of counseling to teaching, Pan-African traditions of educational fugitivity, Black maternal necropolitics, and Black Central American studies. Her scholarly writing has been published in the academic journal, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, the anthology Disrupting Political Science: Black Women Reimagining the Discipline, and the Routledge Handbook of the Lived Experience of Ideology. Her artwork has been featured on the covers of the National Political Science Review. She is the 2023 winner of the Caribbean Philosophical Association’s Anna Julia Cooper Award.

 

Tima Lotah Link: “I grew up on Jim Henson. Sesame Street, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth—David Bowie in those pants! So, when a puppeteer I met proposed working together—I checked an item off my life bucket list. And we made birds from gourds, woven like Chumash baskets, that actually flapped. 

like I’m giving a TED talk, so here’s the actual truth: I don’t see two lanes there. I see a runway. 

People love to ask if what I make is ‘traditional’ or ‘contemporary,’ like I’m supposed to pick a lane. I never know how to answer that without sounding 

 

There’s the sourberry, juncus, and tule that still grows along this coast, the same plants my ancestors gathered long before the 101 cut through where the rivers used to run. I learned coiling and twining from people who learned it from people before them, back further than anybody bothered to write down. And a basket pattern isn’t just something that looks nice—it means something. I don’t think of that as decoration. I think of it as inheritance, and I don’t take it lightly.

 

I didn’t inherit a rulebook that says ‘only weave this.’ Nobody handed me a basket and said, ‘now weave this exact same thing forever, changing nothing, for the rest of your life, as a tribute.’ That’s not how culture survives—it survives by being used, which means being pushed, bent, occasionally argued with until it does something new. 

 

Imagine what a gourd wants to become if you let it. At whatever strange, borrowed, unexpected material or idea will make the work do something it hasn’t done before. I’ll take inspiration from anywhere—to make cell phone cases, puppets, kites, masks, shoes, sculpture. None of those inspirations dilutes my work. It’s what keeps my soul truckin’!”

 

David Deurson captures the essence of powerful figures through dynamic and emotive portraiture. His work often features iconic personalities, rendered with meticulous attention to detail. Utilizing vibrant colors and expressive strokes, David brings to life both the intensity and subtlety of his subjects. His diverse portfolio spans from majestic wildlife to influential sports and music legends. Each piece reveals a deep appreciation for capturing movement and emotion. Viewers are invited to explore the stories of the characters depicted in his work. David's art connects with those who appreciate a blend of realism and expressive flair. 

 

Rod Rolle is a freelance photographer based in Santa Barbara, CA. Since graduating from Brooks Institute in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in Industrial/Scientific Photography, he has built a business and reputation as a community documentary photographer, corporate photographer, and photojournalist. A native New Yorker, he has traveled and photographed widely and has had several prominent exhibitions on view. His work has also appeared in major media outlets. Getty Images and Sipa USA currently distribute his photographs, which have sold to over 250 publications worldwide. His 2022 Sipa USA credits include CBS Special Assessments, ACCESS HOLLYWOOD, ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA, and Variety Magazine (Santa Barbara International Film Festival).

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Special contributions by Isa Saldivar, emerging culture bearer and artist, Chumash Community member. 

 

LoriAnna Velez, land protector and artist, Barbareño Chumash.