FEBRUARY 4 – FEBRUARY 17, 2025
SANTA YNEZVALLEYSTAR.COM
Making Communities Better Through Print.™
A love story inspired by art, nature, preservation, and friendship Chris Chapman and John Iwerks’s shared passions have resulted in a successful professional and personal partership
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Community | Pg. 10 Solvang’s Jr. Entrepreneur Fair becoming a January tradition News Briefs . . . . . . . . . Pg. 2 • Solvang Brewing Company temporarily closed after Jan. 20 fire
By Pamela Dozois Contributing Writer
hris Chapman came into the world with the eye of an artist. She was born in Pasadena and lived at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and in Las Virgenes Canyon. As a youth she appreciated and absorbed the detail of the beauty of the natural world that surrounded her. Developing her innate artistic nature, she became a plein air landscape painter and a member of the Pastel Society of America and Santa Barbara’s Oak Group of dedicated land preservation painters. “By character, I’m very observant. I see the little things. I remember walking home from the bus stop, and I’d be the only one looking up at the sky and urging my friends to, ‘Look at the sky!’ but nobody looked. I had a fanciful head, I think. I started writing poetry at 9, and at 14 I began painting. At 18 I attended college in Oregon,” she said. She moved from Oregon to San Francisco, living there for a couple of years, but the city wasn’t her cup of
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News . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 3 • Buellton City Council opts for special election to fill District 4 vacancy Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 5 • Letter to the Editor: Solvang must follow the law Education . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 7 • Sierra Freedman named Elks Student of the Month for January Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 8 • Linda Johansen shares journey to Spain, Portugal
Chris Chapman and John Iwerks are shown in their garden surrounded by nature that they love. Photo by Devyn Marseilles
tea. She returned to Oregon, where she worked as a bookkeeper for 10 years. However, she came back to California and the Central Coast to be with her parents and eventually found her own place in Santa Barbara. “I started working for Mike Love as an office manager for the Beach
Boys,” she continued. Although deep in the managerial aspects of her job during the day, she continued painting in her spare time, joining the Santa Barbara Art Association and doing oil paintings and watercolors. It was there she met her life partner. “I met my husband, John Iwerks, at
Gallery 113 and became a member of the Santa Barbara Art Association,” she continued. “John was managing Gallery 113 at the time. I had been working as a bookkeeper and became the manager/treasurer for the gallery and showed my art there.” In Iwerks, who was born and raised CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
Lifestyles . . . . . . . . . Pg. 12 • DR. LEE: Self-examinations helps identify potential breast cancer early Arts & Nonprofits . . . . . Pg. 13 • Tower Of Power to perform at Chumash Casino Resort on Feb. 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . Pg. 15 • Government meetings and events