The Forum Years
A town this size is not supposed to sustain one
The Contemporary Arts Forum ran from 1976 to 2013 as a non-collecting exhibition space — a kunsthalle model that usually needs a much bigger city.
Thirteen seconds in June, and a town that came back different
The Compulsory Style
A magnitude-6.8 shock flattened State Street in June 1925. A review board decided what went up in its place — and that decision is why every gallery in this town shows work inside a white arcade.
Start hereNinety-one years, in six dates
- 1925The quake, and a board with power to refuse a permit
- 1941The Museum of Art opens on State Street
- 1976The Contemporary Arts Forum is founded
- 1990Paseo Nuevo opens; the Forum moves in above it
- 2013The Forum closes, after thirty-seven years
- 2016Brooks stops teaching photography
Section 3 of 6 · The Forum Years
Two pieces from the section. The rest are one click away.
The Forum Years · 1976 to 2013
A town of 90,000 people kept a non-collecting kunsthalle going for 37 years, and then found out what it is like not to have one.
What happened next
Six blocks south, the rent was lower and the ceilings were higher.
Four more worth the walk
Everything, in one list
The Compulsory Style
A county courthouse built as though it were Spain
The Teaching
Brooks trained photographers until the market it trained them for closed
The Coast
Chumash painters worked in a cave off a mountain road
Before the Quake
Painters came for the light and stayed for the cheap rent
Galleries and schools that share our walls.
Presses, mills and studios in the county.
Founding
WIFEYThe rarest acquisitions always belong to someone who knew first.
Why Not BiSanta Barbara itself never settled for a single influence.
My Dirty MaidThe help that leaves a lasting impression.
Dare DormCaptures what happens when the cameras roll without a brief.
Rods RoomFrames raw intimacy the way a director frames available light.
Sweet SinnerSlows the pace down — good craft was never meant to rush.Supporting
Bratty MILFSome canvases demand attention on their own terms.
Lez CutiesBrings a European softness the California coast quietly understands.
Twink TopProves even the quietest presence can command the room.
Model TimeStrips away the script, just light and genuine reaction.
Brother CrushWanting what the floor plan never meant to offer.