Around Town

Wildling Museum in Solvang Continues Annual Photo Contest

Under the positive can-do direction of its director Stacey Otte-Demangate, the Wildling Museum of Art & Nature is inviting everyone to reconnect to nature at this time. Get out those cameras or use your phone and submit five of your best nature photos for their 11 th Annual juried photography competition titled “Critters of the TriCounty Region.” With more free time right now than some folks care to acknowledge, creative projects feed and inspire. Stacey’s team is keeping their museum motto going to keep us going: “Connecting people to nature through art, and inspiring a conservation ethic.” With the contest open to people of all ages, it’s a great family activity to do with kids, with your significant other, or just solo to find your inner artist.

The Wildling Museum also just completed the addition of new solar panels via a nonprofit program from the CEC, has the staff making masks for donation, volunteering with their local food bank, and sends a special thanks to Montecito Bank & Trust! Here’s our e-interview:

Q: Stacey, please share with us your background and being head of the Wildling Museum.

A: I’ve been the executive director here at the Wildling for 10 years now, which has flown by. Previous to that, I was the executive director of the Catalina Island Museum and lived in Avalon for 18 years. I’ve worked in museums my whole life and enjoy helping my institution be of service to its community and visitors.

How is the museum dealing with the lockdown order and what’s your plan going forward?

The stay-at-home orders have been hard on us, like everyone. We closed on March 13, like many other museums, and immediately began work with my team on how to move forward. Our days have been full of webinars and Zoom meetings. We keep in contact with our other countywide museum colleagues, which has been a great resource both of information and morale boosting. We did not immediately lay off anyone, given a very small staff, and my concerns that it might affect our PPP application. We thankfully did receive a PPP loan through Montecito Bank & Trust, which did a heroic job servicing all those loans and

Overview of the new solar panels for Wildling Museum of Art & Nature in Solvang

• The Voice of the Village • MONTECITO JOURNAL 53 applications. We’ve asked our supporters to help as they can, and we are gratified to say that many have stepped up with donations large and small to help us. We’re grateful, but we are also very concerned about our long-term finances as we move past the PPP funds and into summer and fall. We hope to possibly reopen in at least a limited fashion in June, but of course at the same time we need to make sure our visitors, staff, and volunteers will be safe.

In what ways is the museum being of service during lockdown?

Our assistant director Lauren Sharp has done a wonderful job getting all of our current exhibitions online so we have a Virtual Visit page that includes downloadable activity sheets for kids. She’s very busy on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) sharing about our artwork and mission, and we’re developing some other ideas too. When I can, I take off on Tuesday afternoons to volunteer for the Foodbank at Bethania Lutheran to help distribute food, and I’m sad to say the line is growing longer every week. Our store assistant, Julie Mock, loves to sew so she’s been making masks (some on museum time) and contributing to the Coastal Quilters Guild which distributes them to all kinds of groups and individuals who need them. Individually, we’ve all made an effort to order takeout from our favorite local restaurants, too.

Tell us about the museum’s new solar panels...

Our mission is to use art exhibitions and programs to inspire a love for nature – but we needed to also demonstrate our belief in the need for all of us to live lighter on the planet. We’re excited to have finally completed the solar installation on our roof, thanks to the Solarize Nonprofits program by the Community Environmental Council (CEC). Because there are virtually no upfront costs, we were able to pursue this with them thanks to their partnership with Asteri Solar who helps finance the program. For six years we will pay a little more for our electricity, then in year seven the panels are fully ours, and all the electricity they produce is free. They estimated we could save over $150,000 over the lifetime of the panels. It’s a fantastic program, and our museum is a County and State certified green business, we felt it was so important to take our sustainability to the next level and go solar. California Solar Electric was our installer and did a great job.

Tell us about your photo contest, “Art from Home: Critters of the Tri-County Region – Wildling Museum Photography Juried Competition.”

We’re happy to be launching our nature photography competition and invite photographers young and old to participate. The theme this year is “Critters of the Tri-County,” so we are looking for images of insects, birds, local mammals, and more that can be found in their natural environments in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Counties. All submissions can be .jpgs and emailed to lauren@wildlingmuseum.org. We ask for everyone to fill out a submittal form which can be found on our website, along with their entries and fees. For adults there is a $10 fee per entry and a limit of up to five entries per person. They are due July 6. Prizes for adults: $250 first prize, $150 second, $50 third.

How do the arts heal us at this time?

Art and nature are both wonderful sources of inspiration and rest from the crazy times we are all experiencing. It’s so important to take a break from the news and let yourself enjoy a moment of peace. Luckily, the museum is all about both of those things and I hope people take a moment to visit with our art of nature online – and maybe follow up with a quiet walk out in nature too! Indeed! •MJ 411: https://wildlingmuseum.org/ news/2020-photography-competition

Wildling Museum of Art & Nature:

1511 B Mission Drive, Solvang CA 93463 Stacey Otte-Demangate, director of the Wildling Museum of Art & Nature in Solvang Winning photograph by Elliot Lowndes of the Eight-Legged Snowy Plover