The Wildling Museum is the museum we visit the most. We live in Long Beach, and it is almost a three-hour drive, but the museum's focus on the intersection of art and nature resonates with us. We have attended events sponsored outing put on by the museum and have never been disappointed. The staff and volunteers are very knowledgeable and helpful.
The Wildling Museum, with its mission "to inspire our community and visitors to enjoy, value, and conserve wildlife and natural areas through art," has been the museum we have visited the most over the past several years. This, in spite of the fact, that the museum is a 2 1/2 hour drive from where we live in Long Beach.
No other that we have visited better understands what Jack Turner wrote in the Abstract Wild: "Yet most of us, when we think about it, realize that after our own direct experience of nature, what has contributed most to our love of wild places, animals, plants - and even, perhaps, to our love of wild nature, our sense of our citizenship - is the art, literature, myth, and lore of nature. For here is the language we so desperately lack, the medium necessary for vision."
Besides providing exhibits of the highest quality, the Wildling also guest speakers and other community events. On a more personal level, we have become friends with several incredible people through our patronage of the Wildling. The Wildling is a vital part of the art community of the Santa Ynez Valley and the larger Central Coast.
The Wildling Museum is a wonderful gem in the Santa Ynez Valley. The museum offers varied art and nature experiences to the public, as well as encouraging interactive and creative experiences. It lends itself as a great teaching tool to the educators in the SYV, as wfll. All in all, a marvelous, fun, and relevant art and nature museum.
Amazing exhibition, great use of small space, beautiful classrooms, cool classes. A perfect pairing of art and nature. What a joy to discover the Wilding Museum during our visit to Solvang! I can’t wait to return.