The Environment Makers is an art company. We specialize in creating wonder by transforming spaces with projection, lighting, theming, and paintings, both traditional and digital.

Happening now…

Projected Californio Wedding in The Presidio Chapel

The Environment Makers (ThEM) worked with Kevin McGarry of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation and Mike Mooneyham of Full Moon Audio to create a historic, 200-year-old Mexican wedding as a permanent installation in the Presidio Chapel. 

Creating this project involved linguists, archaeologists, clothing experts, and historians. We shot it in two parts at Casa de la Guerra in Santa Barbara using a 55′ green screen. Jonathan PJ Smith of ThEM worked as the director, movie editor, and projection artist.  

The wedding movie is displayed using three, blended short throw projectors and is accompanied by twelve surround sound speakers.

It is now open to the public.

Visit our NEW webpage to see more.

Old Santa Barbara Mission – 1833

Jonathan Smith of The Environment Makers worked with Jessica Shea from the Old Santa Barbara Mission Museum to create 8 digital images. Collectively they present a snapshot of the Mission in 1833 (when the second bell tower went up).

The images hang from the ceiling and dimensionally depict the relationship of one area of the Mission to another.

Researching how the Mission looked in 1833 proved challenging. There is little information and, as far as we know, absolutely no images. To stay away from biases, we gleaned what information we could from the few books written by foreigners who spent time in the region. We also relied upon the few paintings, sketches, photographs, and maps available, mostly done by Americans from 1844 onwards. Naturally, the remnants of the Mission provided a lot of information, as did the artifacts hidden in the basement of the Mission and the museum. However, as so much of the information appears to be lost, we had to use artistic license and generalizations.

The final two images are now in place. Please visit it and give us your comments.

Visit the NEW webpage to see more.

Santa Maria: Past, Present and Future

Our 16-panel mural for Santa Maria’s Recreation and Parks Department is up. It can be seen on the City Hall Complex near the corner of Broadway and Cook.

Originally, it was supposed to be a traditional “paint-directly-on-the-wall” affair but was changed to accommodate future renovations. In other words, it can be taken down and put back up.

The featured artist is Enrique “Ricky” Nuñez. Kym Cochran and Jonathan PJ Smith of The Environment Makers painted the 16 panels.