Art center to move to Old Town

Artist's rendering What Karin Geiger sees when she looks at the gutted building in Old Town Camarillo is a Sohoesque gallery where natural light, rich hardwood floors and tall ceilings accentuate the artwork.

That vision may be realized on Fri., Aug. 28, when Studio Channel Islands Art Center opens at 2221 Ventura Blvd. in downtown Camarillo.

Construction began recently to transform the 2,000-square-foot former optometrist's office into a gallery, art boutique and community art workshop.

"It's very exciting," said Geiger, art center president and a mixed-media artist who creates oil and silk paintings.

The landlord plans to raise the ceiling, refinish the hardwood floors under the worn carpet and add windows for more natural light, she said.

Since its inception a decade ago, Studio Channel Islands Art Center has called California State University Channel Islands home. But the burgeoning university needs classroom space and didn't renew a long-term lease for the art center.

Art center officials have said the move can be mutually beneficial. Old Town can offer easier access to the center for the public and more exposure.

Many Camarillo residents are unaware of the 10-year-old art center, founding member Pat Richards Dodds said when the art center announced it would leave the university earlier this year.

Once in its new digs, the art center plans to expand its presence in the community, Geiger said. It will be a place where artists can lead community workshops on weaving, ceramics, watercolor and other art forms. Money from the classes will pay for materials and help support the nonprofit art center.

Also, the art center and Los Primeros School of Sciences and Arts recently created an art education alliance. The school brings in students to tour the gallery, talk to artists and join them in a hands-on art lesson.

"The teachers and the parents are really excited about that because there's so much insight (the students) can get from them," Geiger said, adding that with the art center downtown the program can expand to include more schools.

The center also plans to host forums in its new home so the public can chat with artists about their work.

The retail space planned for the front of the art center will allow artists to sell their work. The center is supported in part by 300 paid members, including 100 artists such as jewelers, silk painters and pottery makers. The boutique will be a retail outlet for them and the 22 artistsinresidence.

Though the center's new building doesn't have enough space for the resident artists, art center officials are negotiating with the Pleasant Valley School District to lease space for studios at the Pleasant Valley Instructional Center, which is across the street, Geiger said.

If the deal with the school district pans out, Geiger and Richards Dodds say the area could become an artistic Mecca.

"We hope to generate a cultural hub here in downtown," Richards Dodds said.

"We think it's going to be an economic step for the downtown area and for us."

School Superintendent Luis Villegas said negotiations with the art center are "going very well" but settlement is "a ways" in the future.

"We believe that we will reach a position where they may be able to use some of that space," he said. "The district would be pleased to have them."

The district leases space at the instructional center to a county preschool program, a private preschool and a Head Start program.

The art center's so-called soft opening is scheduled for Aug. 28, the day before the fourth annual Camarillo Art and Jazz Festival. The opening will also coincide with Cruise Night, a vintage car show every fourth Friday in Old Town.

The official grand opening for Studio Channel Islands Art Center has not yet been set.