
Chinese Restaurant, 2017
28 x 28 inches | oil on canvas
Patricia Chidlaw was born in San Francisco, California and moved to Germany six months later when her father was deployed for a three year tour of duty. Thus began many years of travel and nomadic family life as her father’s career as an officer took them on a tour of the world. Much of Chidlaw’s childhood was spent looking out the windows of a Chevrolet as the family drove through Europe and the United States.
Patricia’s earliest exposure to art was in Europe at the age of thirteen when her father was stationed in France. Patricia and her mother would visit cathedrals and museums as well as flea markets and shops, educating her eye for art and her sensibility to things that are time-warm and reflect a sense of the past. In 1969 Patricia landed in Santa Barbara, California to attend the University where she received a degree in painting and has been there ever since.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARTIST'S WORK
Patricia’s painting style is reminiscent of Edward Hopper. Her compositions are graphic and the mood is often lonely and quiet. She cites Hopper as an influence and has an annual Hopper calendar hanging in her studio, keeping track of the present time while she paints of things remembered.
Snapshots of the edges of urban life show up frequently in her paintings. Some are timeless and some are places whose heyday has passed. More about place than people, American iconography and road-side signs create the narrative. Her paintings often reflect the by gone era of the American automobile.
Patricia is well known for capturing the light as it shifts from dusk to night, when lights are just coming on in the cities. Neon lights reflected in a puddle from a recent rain and a diner sign buzzing to life. Patricia’s proximity to Los Angeles shows up in paintings that are right out of a Raymond Chandler novel and relate to the genre of film noir.
EDUCATION
Under Construction
AWARDS & AFFILIATIONS
Emeritus Member of the Oak Group
COLLECTIONS
Hilbert Museum of California Art
EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions
2022 PATRICIA CHIDLAW: The Pool Show, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara CA
2020 Elsewhere, Paradise, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara CA
2018 The Moving Picture Show, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara CA
2016 Departures, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2009 On the Road, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2008 Everything Must Go, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2007 Everything Becomes Electric, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2006 Time and Again, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2006 New Spin, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2005 On Blue Highways, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2003 Once/Again, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2003 Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2002 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2001 Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
2001 Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2000 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2000 Paintings by Patricia, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
1998 Vanishing Points, Joyce Robins Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1998 Roadshow, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1997 Vanishing Points on the American Highway, Tatistcheff/Rogers, Santa Monica, CA
1997 Long Distance, Bakersfield College Art Gallery, Bakersfield, CA
1996 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1994 The Urban Landscape, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1994 Recent Paintings, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1993 Standard Time, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1993 Daylight Savings, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1992 Vanishing Points, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1992 Painting the Town, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1991 A Certain Light, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1991 City Lights, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1987 Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1984 Santa Barbara Portrait, Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Group Exhibitions
2015 Agoraphobia, Portraits of American Interiors, Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2013 The Cityscape Show III, George Billis Gallery, LA
2012 The Cityscape Show II, Images of L.A. Land and City, George Billis Gallery, LA
2011 Cityscapes, Featuring Patricia Chidlaw and Gus Heinze, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco
2011 The Cityscape Show, George Billis Gallery, LA
2011 Five at Eleven, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2011 The Cityscape Show, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011 San Diego Art Fair, Koplin del Rio Gallery, San Diego, CA
2011 Cityscapes, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Small Works, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Urban Light, Marcia Burtt Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2007 Stilllife Show, Reynolds Gallery, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
2007 The Urban Myth, Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2007 Oak Group Show, Palm Loft Gallery, Carpinteria, CA
2007 Westmont Still Show, Santa Barbara, CA
2006 Urban California, California Art Club, Pasadena, CA
2005 Trains and Trees, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Windows: 4 Views, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
2004 The Political Landscape, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Santa Barbara After Dark, Fielding Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA
2002 Painting the Santa Clara Valley, Ventura County Museum of Art, Ventura, CA
2001 Chinatown, California Art Club at Hong Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2000 In the Eye of the Beholder, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA
1999 California Style - Contemporary Urban Scene, California Heritage Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 Two-Person Exhibition, Reynolds Gallery, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
1996 After Midnight, Tatistcheff/Rogers, Santa Monica, CA
1996 Summer in Paradise, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1988 Four Californians Working for Life, Arpel Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1984 Landscapes, The Art Corner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1981 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA
1981 Inner Light, Cabrillo Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA
1980 7 from Santa Barbara, Cabrillo Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA
1979 Arts Festival Invitational Exhibition, Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara, CA