Santa Barbara City College’s Atkinson Gallery was awarded $100,000 from the Getty Foundation for its newest edition of “Pacific Standard Time” scheduled to open in 2024.

“Pacific Standard Time” is a combination of institutions across Southern California presenting performances, publications, and exhibitions, all focusing on the region’s cultural history.

“The Getty Foundation’s philanthropic motive was to build a larger community while recognizing that some organizations don’t have the capacity the Getty has,” said Rachel Johnson, Director of Grants at SBCC Foundation.

In the newest edition, “Pacific Standard Time: Art x Science x L.A.” the Atkinson Gallery will collaborate with a community of 45 institutions with projects that will explore the combined history of art and science in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. 

The Atkinson Gallery project “Cosmovisión Indígena: The Intersection of Indigenous Knowledge and Contemporary Art” will focus on the process and history of cochineal dye-making stemming from Mesoamericans.

“We wanted to focus on indigenous knowledge that had a relationship to the land we are on or around us,” said Atkinson Gallery Director John Connelly. “There is a large Oaxacan population of immigrants in Ventura County who have a lot of knowledge about the history and use of the cochineal.”

The SBCC Foundation, in partnership with the Atkinson Gallery, will announce the project to the City College community in an art talk via Zoom on February 24th at 4:00 pm through the project’s main curators and artist advisors.

“The Zoom meeting is going to be the first chance for the curators to have a conversation with one of the artists,” said Johnson. “It’s an opportunity to learn from the people who are actually doing the work on the exhibition.” 

The project installation will involve an art lab and learning garden in Santa Barbara serving members of indigenous communities while also establishing a community research space in Oxnard where Oaxacan-American artists will teach the art of dyeing and weaving. 

The final exhibition will share pieces created in both locations along with curated artwork from contemporary and local artists.

“This iteration of Pacific Standard Time is focused around science, so the exhibition they put together where they are marrying scientific innovations along with indigenous practices is really unique,” said Johnson.