Whitney Abbott was born in 1972 in San Francisco, CA. At the age of three, she and her family moved to Carpinteria, CA, where she spent much of her childhood drawing the life she found around her on her family’s avocado and lemon ranch. Whitney attended UC Santa Cruz from 1990 to 1994, majoring in Fine Art through Porter College. In 1993 she received a fellowship to study at the Yale School of Art in Norfolk, CT. After graduating, she returned to Southern California, where she continues to paint and teach in the Santa Barbara area. Whitney shows her work with the Santa Barbara based Oak Group, and at the Easton Gallery in Santa Barbara, CA.
“Painting, for me, is a celebration of our material world in a very spiritual sense. As a painter, I study the interaction of light against surface, and take this material relationship into the personal world of my imagination. At the same time, working with the very tangible elements of the paint itself, I honor the physical nature of creativity.
“To give to the world by taking from it, is the best way to describe why we make art. Some paintings may be more successful than others. But if, in the process of investigation, we stumble across a new idea, or an old, well used understanding of beauty, the discovery is worth celebrating.”
EDUCATION
University of California, Santa Cruz, B. F. A. June 1994, Art Major, with honors
Yale School of Art, Norfolk, CT, 1993
Cate School, Carpinteria, CA 1990, cum laude
ART EXHIBITIONS — SELECTED SHOWS
2012
“East West” with Whitney Hansen, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2010
New Work, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2009
“Roads Leading Home,” solo exhibition, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2007
“Harvest,” solo exhibition, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara. CA
2005
“The Greening” solo exhibition, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2003
“Industry and Agriculture,” solo exhibition, Santa Barbara Arts Fund
“Antiphon” solo exhibition, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2002
“Inside Out,” with Susan Colgan, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2001
“Fresh Paint,” with Tom Henderson, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2000
“Through Windows and Doors,” with Whitney Hansen, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
1999
“New Works,” with Whitney Hansen, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1997
“Generations,” with Whitney Hansen, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1994
“Paddock”, Solo exhibition, Bridge Gallery, University of California at Santa Cruz, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1994
Arlington Gallery, Santa Barbara , CA
1995-2009
Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2000-2009 Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2004-2005
Le Celle Gallery, Fairfax, CA
2005-2009
Trowbridge Gallery, Ojai, CA
1994-2009
Santa Barbara Based Oak Group, environmental preservation themed: Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Cabrillo Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA
Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Nicassio, CA
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, “The Political Landscape”, Los Angeles, CA
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
1992
William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship
1993
Yale Summer School of Art Fellowship
1994
University of California at Santa Cruz, Dean’s Award
2002
Santa Barbara Arts Fund Individual Artist Award, in painting
PUBLICATIONS
Fine Art Connoisseur, March 2006, “Welcome Spring”
American Artist, September 2006, “The Oak Group, Preserving Natural Landscapes”
Southwest Art, November 2004, “In Their Element”
Southwest Art, September 2002, “21 Under 31”
Santa Barbara Magazine, Winter 2001, “Meet the Family”