East of Yesterday Mural

East of Yesterday Mural – Hugh & Marjorie Award for Art in Public Places

Overview

The Funk Zone is a fertile ground for public art and a pair of murals there will receive this year’s Hugh & Marjorie Petersen Award for Art in Public Places for their contribution to Santa Barbara’s public art collection. The murals were created by artist Ruth Ellen Hoag, the proprietor of Grayspace Gallery in the Funk Zone and a long-time local resident of Santa Barbara. The murals were commissioned by the property owner and The Arts Fund Gallery.

Both murals are brightly colored scenes with recognizable local artists and individuals depicted in them, a kind of history of the Funk Zone Area. These scenes have an abstract effect, which is visually arresting and really pop off the brick wall background. Easily seen from a distance as well as close up, the mural’s well thought out details are impactful with the placement of the futures using flat, bright primary colors in a composition that leads the eye easily from the lower-left corner up through the scene in a zig-zag pattern to the sky.

“The Arts Fund and the owners of the building commissioned the two murals depicting the history of the Funk Zone. After months of researching and drawing, the concept finally grew in my head. It took about five months from that point to create the murals in my studio and install them on the building where they now hang,” commented Hoag.

Ruth Ellen Hoag is an award-winning artist with Signature standing with American Watercolor Society and National Watercolor Association among others. As a musician turned artist, music provides the subject matter for many paintings, as in the three that hang at the Music Academy of the West’s main office. Ruth’s gallery, Grayspace Art, features American Contemporary Art. A devoted teacher, Ruth also holds painting classes at the gallery, located at 219 Gray Avenue, in the Funk Zone. She is also represented by Kathryn Designs in Montecito.

Winners

Mural Artist
Ruth Ellen Hoag

Property Owner
Yanonali St LLC

Project Partner
The Arts Fund