A Magnificent Vision
Irma Eubank's Peppertree Ranch Art Show lives on . . .
By K. Reka Badger

n 1976, cattle dominated the Santa Ynez Valley, a serene expanse of rolling pastures dotted with grazing herds, grain fields and the occasional winery.

That same year, in a bold move that presaged, perhaps even shaped, the future of the Valley, Irma C. Eubanks founded the Peppertree Ranch Art Show, a carefully crafted event now hailed by Western art aficionados as the best and longest-running of its kind in the country.

A gifted athlete who reigned for several years as Michigan's Figure Skating Champion, then mastered the moves of Spanish dancing to perform as a featured member of the Pedro Lorca Flamenco group, Irma Eubanks always found time to cultivate her love of design and fine art.

Described by son Trace as a "wannabe artist" whose abilities with a brush and palette didn't quite satisfy her critical eye, Irma dreamed of throwing her talents behind a show that would bring original, high quality artwork to her community.

Irma and her husband, Bob Eubanks, of television and radio fame, purchased a 20-acre portion of a working cattle ranch on Roblar Road in 1970, and when they added 26 acres two years later, the family had plenty of room for the riding and roping that they loved. Irma, who believed that art&emdash;which never needed feed, shoes, or pricey veterinary care&emdash;offered a far more reliable return than horseflesh, made plans to host an art show at the ranch.

When she approached her family with the idea, Trace, who was 14 at the time, remembered, "We thought she was crazy. It was something normally our family wasn't into."

"She had a vision," Bob declared. "Her whole theory was she wanted the show to be as much a work of art as the art inside. Because I was not an artist, I didn't know what she was talking about, but when I walked into the first show, I thought, 'Oh my God. This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.'"

Not one to judge art, but rather to simply love and appreciate it, Irma hoped to open the world of Western Americana to a new audience, as well as to satisfy those already collecting the genre. In her mind's eye, she visualized the interior of an old barn on their property emptied of hay, decorated with feathery potted plants, and lined with dramatically lit paintings, sculptures and bronzes.

One day in the mid-1970s, Irma stopped by Cody Gallery, then the only art gallery in Los Olivos, and announced her plan to hold "an important event in her barn, bringing buyers and world-class artists from all over the world," longtime local Connie Cody recalled. "Irma's Peppertree shows attracted art buyers, and forever linked 'the Santa Ynez Valley' with 'a place to buy art'."

Diminutive powerhouse that she was, Irma Eubanks directed the renovation of her barn, contacted a select group of artists, organized, hung, and produced the Peppertree Ranch Art Show by herself, without the aid of email or spreadsheet software, for over two decades.

She mounted two shows each year, spanning weekends in November and May, until fragile health curtailed her activities. In 1998, at the urging of her family, she scaled back the show to just one weekend a year.

"It was very hard for her to do because she had to let go of half her artists," Trace said quietly. "She was like a mother to the artists. She picked them up when they were down, praised them, scolded them. She knew what the potential of an artist was. If she got a painting with a lot of unusual greens or yellows she'd call up and say 'Okay, what's going on with you.' She'd say, 'I'm not gonna put a painting in the show that's not you.'"

With Irma's passing in 2001, son Trace assumed the weighty role of General Manager of the show, now called simply Peppertree Art Show, and brought back the twice-a-year format.

"We dropped the word 'ranch' because we wanted the flexibility to do the shows at other places," Trace admitted. "I found many letters after Mom's passing, she'd say, 'I wish I had room for this, I wish I could have this artist.'

Down the road, what I'd like to do is have mini shows, maybe 10 artists at a time, in a hotel or similar venue, in places like Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Las Vegas. I know it's what my mom wanted to do.

"I worked side by side with my mom for 18 years," he said thoughtfully. "I wanted to help her because she always supported what we did as kids&emdash;when I was big enough, I started assisting, mainly with set up, making sure the electrical was okay, the mechanical stuff, the sound system worked. Then I started helping her hang the art."

"Trace was raised with the show," Bob said proudly. "She taught him about art, about lighting, that every piece is hung with purpose. We didn't know if we could follow her act, but she taught Trace well. It's a marvelous show and it keeps getting better and better."

"We use a hand-built lighting system," Trace said, revealing one of the secrets to the show's great success. "We use different bulbs to bring out sunsets, landscapes, to light it the way the artist initially saw it. If you put just one flood or one soft light on a painting, it flattens it. We put several lights around to give it depth. We're very picky about our lighting.

"It was a little tradition Mom and I had," he continued. "After the show was lit, it was our little forté, we'd go through at night and fine tune it. She was a perfectionist and now I'm the other perfectionist in the family. I used to wonder why she did things that way and now I'm doing the same things."

Trace recalled a tense moment at the November 2003 show when the power, and all those carefully placed lights, suddenly went out.

"The show was supposed to start at three-thirty, but it was raining so we let everyone in at three. When the power went, people started to leave, so I frantically called everyone I could think of for power generators. For some reason, a narrow band from here to Montecito got power back right at three-thirty, the original start time for the show. It was miraculous. I looked up and said 'Thanks, Mom.' We ended up having the best show, the best sales ever."

Married and the father of three children, Trace Eubanks worked as a stuntman for 12 years; as a stunt coordinator, and sometime stunt double for Michael Landon "forever." As that career wound down he hired on as a firefighter with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, a challenging, 18-year gig from which he recently retired to live full time on the ranch and help his dad keep Irma's art show alive and thriving.

Father and son divide the labor, with Trace selecting the art and producing the show, while Bob monitors the accounts, oversees promotion, and makes sure the barn is in order.

The Eubanks family decided to celebrate this year's show, the 50th staging of the event, by adding a 1000 square foot gallery to the barn, and by inviting twice as many artists, about 100 in all, to show their work.

"This will be a selection of returning artists," Trace explained. "The reason why is to have a balanced show, so that when you walk in you won't see an abundance of one particular type. It's all mixed and it flows. It's not just a Western art show, it has a lot of different media and styles.

"If someone had told me I'd be producing an art show in my lifetime," he laughed, "I'd have said they were crazy, but it's very much a part of our family. It's like her still being here..It would have been too devastating not to continue."

"It's so positive,"Bob enthused. "It's the best business I've ever been in. People here are so respectful, they're so friendly&emdash;I think the show as been a real plus for the Valley. We've involved the Lions, Elks, Kiwanis, Boy Scouts. We've tried to involve the community...We think we're giving a gift to the Valley, but, really, they've given us a gift."

"It's breathtaking," Trace summed up what many refer to as "the Peppertree Experience."

"People have tried to duplicate it, but they can't. It's just magical."