THE SANTA BARBARA MESA ---

A HAVEN FOR FINE ARTISTS FOR NEARLY A CENTURY

by Morgan Green
 

Since the early 20th century, the Santa Barbara Mesa has been a haven and inspiration to notable western artists. That's not surprising since The Mesa is a friendly neighborhood blessed with a spectacular panorama of sea and islands that is unsurpassed on the California Coast.

The Mesa is among the rare California residential communities that perch on the shore, but were not overtaken by the tourism industry or the very wealthy. The result is a neighborhood just a stroll from city college and the picturesque harbor. The Mesa has its own beaches, seaside and hilltop nature parks, churches, restaurants and shopping district. It even has its own newspaper. Its rural cottages and farmhouses of the late 1800s and early 1900s nestle between modest middle-class homes and vacation getaways. This enclave of green hillside byways and lanes is among Santa Barbara's best "secrets." Those who live here proudly say, "I live on The Mesa."

Famed artists who have called The Mesa home include Ed Borein, a cowboy turned artist who counted President Theodore Roosevelt as a friend. Borein's New York and Santa Barbara studios drew art world notables such as Carl Oscar Borg, Maynard Dixon and James Swinnerton as well as celebrities from Buffalo Bill to Will Rogers. Borein came to The Mesa in 1921, and spent the rest of his life here perfecting his watercolor style and etchings.

The Mesa also was home to Thomas Moran, whose western landscapes helped conservationists convince Congress to create the National Park System in 1916. He lived here in the years before his death in 1926 at age 90.

And there was Carl Oscar Borg, who studied art in Paris and Rome under the patronage of Phoebe Hearst, mother of the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, and under British marine art and portrait painter George Johansen. After World War I, Borg came to The Mesa and taught at the burgeoning School of Arts.

Today, the 12 members of The Mesa Studio Artists, all award-winning professionals, are carrying forward the area's traditions. Their biographies and samples of their art are featured on this web site. Please take a look for a hint of the works to be on display at their home studios this November.