Queen of Solstice

There is one lady who is considered the ‘Queen’ of the Santa Barbara Solstice Festival, and that is Claudia Bratton. I was honoured to have been allocated her as my subject to follow at the recent documentary storytelling workshop I attended in Santa Barbara. The workshop was run by the brilliant Gail Fisher (National Geographic / LA Times) and the amazing photographer / teacher Dotan Saguy (Leika Akademie), with special weekend guest Mary Cooney (LA Times).

So who is Claudia? Well, apart from being a warm, vivacious and creative soul, she’s also an artist, with a varied background in broadcasting, television commercial production, and non-profit arts management.  

She has been a painter and printmaker, and has taught art at “Arts at Laguna”, the Ridley Tree part of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. One of the artists of Dresherville in Santa Monica, she was also an active member of Santa Barbara’s Art Soup. She worked with the Beverley Hills Art Association to create a guidebook for artists that includes advice about copyright issues and gallery representation. Her work has been represented by galleries in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and New York, and her posters have sold worldwide.  

She served on many boards, including fifteen years on UCSB Art Affiliates, three of which she was President. She was a dedicated Board Member of the California Broadcasters Association, served on the National Association of Broadcasters and Southern California Broadcasters, and was a founding member of the Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop, overseeing the design and all of the bureaucracy involved in creating this workshop and home for Solstice.

Claudia has incorporated her talents as painter and printmaker, as well as costume and hat designer, to enhance the multitude of public events she has produced, always affirming that, “Art is my first language.”

For sixteen years, Claudia was Executive Director of the Festival, a public art position that called upon all her skills. She successfully expanded the one-day celebration to a three-day city-wide arts and music festival that included a parade with over 1,200 participants that lined the streets with cheering crowds of more than 100,000 people.

I first meet Claudia when I joined her in the arts workshop in the lead-up to the parade, and watched her brilliance at work. The theme for the 2023 festival was ‘Roots’, and Claudia chose to honour her ancestors that came out from Ecuador in the 1850s. She arranged for a ‘ghost ship’ to be built, then designed the costumes and headpieces to suit- these were truly spectacular! At 79 years of age, to say that Claudia is an inspiration would be an understatement! As you’ll see in the following photos, her creations were phenomenal, her stamina unbelievable, and she was a magnet to the people - everyone loved her!

The workshop was an absolute hub of fun and creativity when I visited, and I took some time away from Claudia to also document what some of the other makers were up to.

The beautiful thing about meeting Claudia was that she reminded me a lot of my Mum - their creativity to pull together something amazing from virtually nothing. She also reminded me of my beautiful Grandmother, who was a dressmaker that made many stunning garments from scraps of fabric.

I was thrilled to be invited to Claudia’s house for dinner and a photoshoot. Her home was a stunning, eclectic mix of collections, and gave me more insight into the amazing woman that she is.

Claudia with her Ecuadorian ancestors in the background

Claudia’s personality was effervescent. Everywhere she went people greeted her with a hug or a smile. It was obvious that she was well-known feature of the festival, and that she was well loved, even by the police!

Her vision and stunning creations came to life in the parade. Claudia made her own outfit, those of the float characters as well as those amazing headpieces.

As the end of the parade neared, shoes came off, socks gained holes, and there were some tired faces all round.

And finally, a chance to sit down and celebrate a spectacular event.

What a pleasure it was to meet Claudia who, at 79 years of age, still has such a vitality for life. At the time of our last communication, she was organising a ‘Blue Moon’ party and wished I could join her. Well so did I Claudia, I know it would have been fun!

I thank Claudia and the whole Summer Solstice Festival staff for letting us document their workshop and Parade. What a privilege that was.

And thank you to Gail, Dotan and Mary for a truly fabulous documentary workshop!