Bloom Projects

This exhibition series is programmed at MCASB’s Main Space location. Bloom Projects features artwork by regional, national, and international emerging, early-career, or under-recognized artists. Bloom Projects gives contemporary artists whose work has begun to garner significant attention an opportunity to move beyond their studio practice, encouraging experimentation and giving them the resources necessary to further their careers as professional visual artists. An online brochure, with scholarly essays written by MCASB or guest curators, accompanies each exhibition.


Current & Future Bloom Projects

Past Bloom Projects

Ro Snell, Sorry, 2012, Sage root and hemp, 9 1/2 x 20 x 5 in., Courtesy the Artist. Photo: Wayne McCall

Bloom Projects: Ro Snell, All That is Left

Santa Barbara-based artist Ro Snell has been invited to create a new body of work for Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara’s Fall 2013 iteration…

Edgar Orlaineta, Sophie as Kachina (Detail), 2012, Carved walnut, acrylic paint, turned wood from fallen trees, fabric and filter, Dimensions variable, Courtesy the Artist and Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

Bloom Projects: Edgar Orlaineta, Katsina Horizon

Orlaineta's work focuses on the minutiae of everyday life, thus transforming them into sculptural forms. Inspired by modernist design and its legacy, the artist combines…

Glen Fogel, Video, 2013, Smoke plexi, red mirrored plexi, and magnets, 125 x 14 1/4 in., Courtesy the Artist and Callicoon Fine Arts, New York, NY

Bloom Projects: Glen Fogel, Recent Video

CAF invites New York-based artist Glen Fogel for the next installment of Bloom Projects. Inspired by a recent visit to Santa Barbara, Fogel explores the…

Molly Smith, Sure, 2012, Hydrocal, pigment,weight, rocks, and wood, 75 x 4 x 6 in., Courtesy the Artist and Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY

Bloom Projects: Molly Smith, Root

Molly Smith's Bloom Project is a response to her experiences and records from visiting Santa Barbara. Natural matter and found refuse collected during walks and…

Ethan Turpin, Video Feedback: Pixel Behaviors, 2010, Sight-specific installation, Kala Studio, Berkeley, CA 2010, Courtesy the Artist

Bloom Projects: Ethan Turpin, Video Feedback: Pixel Behaviors

Pointing a live video camera at it’s own projection gives what is known as a "video feedback loop." The camera reads the screen and then…

Annie Lapin, Phase Pre-Portrait (#3), Oil on canvas, 2011, 48 x 36 in., Courtesy the Artist and Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Bloom Projects: Annie Lapin, History =ing

Annie Lapin's artworks mine from a wide swath of art historical references and search for an intersection where image and memory become another material that…