Interior of the Del Mar Art Center Gallery. Courtesy of Roberta Veatch
Del Mar gallery provides alternative to typical
For anyone looking to get the art gallery experience minus the stuffy, commercial atmosphere, the Del Mar Art Center Gallery may be the place to turn. The nonprofit arts organization aims to encourage the appreciation of visual arts and artists and introduce a fresh understanding of fine arts to the general public.
After a one-year hiatus due to the loss of its space, the gallery reopened on May 3 at a new location in the Del Mar Plaza.
"We just had our grand reopening, and it was such a wonderful day," said Roberta Veatch, a featured artist in the gallery. "Over 150 people from the community and surrounding area celebrated us and our return. We had music and refreshments at the event, and paintings, jewelry and sculptures were sold."
Initially opened on July 5, 2000, the Art Center Gallery brings together local artists and in a step away from the traditional art world, encourages young artists to interact and learn from more experienced artists. As a nonprofit volunteer and member organization, the center works toward giving all artists a chance to shine through a juried process.
Through this process, a local curator or art academic monitors the work that is submitted to the gallery and keeps it fresh by rotating works in and out. The process occurs every two months, allowing visitors to experience something new most every visit and allowing a variety of artists to display work.
The gallery, a cooperative effort, features about 40 local artists and includes many kinds of media, including acrylic, oil and watercolor painting, photography, etching, jewelry, mosaics, mixed media, printmaking and more.
New in June, one area of the gallery is dedicated solely to small images of no more than 12 inches and priced less than $100 so as to afford anyone the luxury of a piece of original artwork. Artists can also rent rooms to exclusively feature their own works of art. For example, an artist may not want to split up a series of work into segments, and renting a room would allow the series to be shown together.
During the months of June and July, the gallery will celebrate the city of Del Mar's 50th anniversary by dedicating one wall inside to works reflecting an aspect of the city.
"Summer is a great time to visit the gallery, because the Del Mar Plaza has music at sunset," Veatch said. "People can enjoy the art in the gallery and then sit out on the plaza and have a glass of wine."
As part of the gallery's educational program, poetry readings, seminars and public lectures are often presented, as are technical demonstrations by visiting, professional artists. In the future, the center hopes to offer performance art and children's programs as well.
Tina Safi Tina Safi is a freelance writer from Poway. She is a recent graduate of Boston University. To make comments on her stories, contact editor@delmartimes.net.
Although the Del Mar Times does not have any obligation to monitor this board, the Del Mar Times reserves the right at all times to check this board and to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to the Del Mar Times in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. The Del Mar Times also reserves the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions. All threats to systems or site infrastructure shall be assumed genuine in nature and will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Submission of any comments will be considered permission to use online or in print.
