SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, in partnership with Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, announced the return of the Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship exhibition, running from Jan. 23 through April 5, 2026.
The biennial exhibition honors the legacy of Roy and Frances Rydell and features the 2024–2025 fellowship recipients María Isabel LeBlanc, Louise Leong, Shirin Towfiq and Christian Rex van Minnen.
“The Rydell biennial exhibition is one that the museum and the community most look forward to and showcases some of the best contemporary art today, and it’s created right here in Santa Cruz,” said Ginger Shulick Porcella, the MAH’s executive director. She said many of the artists are known within the larger art world but rarely have the opportunity to show work in their own community.
Roy and Frances Rydell established the Roy and Frances Rydell Visual Arts Fund at the Community Foundation in 1985 to promote Santa Cruz County artists and arts organizations. After their deaths, their estate was bequeathed to the foundation. The gift has generated more than $1.7 million in fellowships for artists and support for Santa Cruz County visual arts organizations.
The Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship program was developed with input from the local arts community and is now in its 18th year. The program has issued $20,000 awards to 38 artists. A complete list of current and past award recipients is available at cfscc.org/rydell. According to the foundation, the gifts allow artists uninterrupted creative time to focus on their work and its impact on the local community and the larger world.
“The combination of the funding and the exhibition helps advance the professionalism of local artists, giving them a platform to show their work in their hometown’s art hub,” said Community Foundation CEO Susan True. “The Community Foundation is honored to be trusted by the Rydells to carry out their vision.”
Christian Rex van Minnen, born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1980, lives and works in Santa Cruz. He received a bachelor’s degree from Regis University in Denver in 2002. His oil paintings have been exhibited worldwide and are held in public and private collections.
Louise Leong is a cultural worker, printmaker and illustrator from the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2018 she co-founded Little Giant Collective, a printmaking studio and community hub in downtown Santa Cruz. Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally, and she serves as head of exhibitions at the UC Santa Cruz Institute of Arts and Sciences.
María Isabel LeBlanc was born in New Orleans and is a first-generation American. Her work focuses on California’s Central Coast and examines the land as a marker of time and history. Her current project documents agricultural regions south of Santa Cruz. She holds degrees from the University of Georgia and has exhibited her work nationally.
Shirin Towfiq is an interdisciplinary artist whose work emphasizes installation, sculptural photography, textiles and printmaking. Drawing from her experience as a second-generation Iranian refugee, her work explores belonging, placemaking and cultural memory through a diasporic lens.
Community Foundation Santa Cruz County was established in 1982 and manages more than $200 million in charitable assets. Since its founding, the foundation has awarded more than $235 million in local grants and scholarships.
TOP IMAGE: Clockwise: Louise Leong, Christian Rex van Minnen, María Isabel LeBlanc, and Shirin Towfiq.