10:00am | Douglas Orr runs Gallery Expo, which has monthly themed exhibitions of work by local artists. The gallery is a free-standing temporary structure inside the Expo building, one of the centerpieces of Bixby Knolls’ renaissance.
This evening, as part of November’s First Fridays, Gallery Expo will present its second annual Dia de los Muertos show.
Sander:: How did you get started with Gallery Expo?
Douglas: Several years ago, I was asked by Blair Cohn, Executive Director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, if I would be interested in putting art in the windows of the recently vacated Expo Furniture building. I had already been involved with the space through a group I helped to form. We were interested in converting the space into a community arts center.
The Long Beach Shakespeare Company, where I was the VP at the time, needed a space for rehearsals and fund raising. We asked Blair if the space could be used for those types of functions while it sat empty.
The first Jazz & Art fund raiser we held at the Expo was a success and, because of the amount of work I was doing in the building, I was offered a space to put up a gallery and sell my art. The gallery was OK’d, with the condition that it be a temporary, movable space. In October, the Arts Council for Long Beach wanted to use the space, and wanted our gallery out during their event. We found that the walls were a bit too hard to put up and take down, so the idea of it being a movable space kind of went by the wayside.
At this point, the gallery has grown to be one of the main anchors of the First Friday Art walks. We not only activate the gallery, but we also activate most of the first level of the building.
Part of the success of the gallery has been that I run it like a professional gallery. The way the art is shown says a lot about the gallery. It really says it all! Some of the temporary art spaces downtown really look like temporary spaces, and I didn’t want that. Everything we do is an attempt to be professional, and to show the public what the space could look like with a bit of effort.
Sander:: What is the curatorial process for your shows?
Douglas: I always make an effort to show a wide range of art, from beginning to advanced. One of the great things about the gallery is that it offers beginning artists a proffessional setting to show their work. It helps them to grow, build confidence, and gets them ready to show in other galleries.
Artists submit to our open calls via e-mail. There is a $10 entry fee for each submission. They send scanned images to me and, from those submissions, I select the work to be shown in the gallery.
Sander:: How can people participate in future shows?
Douglas: Artists can e-mail me at [email protected] to get more info.
Sander:: You’re not just a gallery owner. You’re also an artist. What kind of media do you work in?
Douglas: I mainly work in acrylics. My subjects have ranged from medieval fantasy landscapes to religious alters, and some pop art. I like to work with wood, so I build most of my own frames, and they can often get more attention then my paintings. There is an art to the frames I make but. for me, the art and the frame are one piece, and they both combine to tell the story.
Sander: What is November’s theme for the gallery show?
Douglas: Gallery Expo will be opening our second Dia de los Muertos exhibit tonight, First Friday, November 5th. We have about 34 works being hung right now. The artist reception for the show is Sat Nov 13 between 6 & 8pm. We will have door prizes, artist awards, food, and beverages. Our music for the night will be Melissa Lewis.
Outside Gallery Expo, in the North room, we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of BMX . In the main hall I have music by Timberline, and I have Tinderbox, a mural and music group, showing seven 11’x8′ murals, two being painted live. Also, we have about 10 vendors selling art and doing live demos.
We are also starting a fund raising effort to generate $700 to put up a marque on the building. We will have a table near the entrance of the building for that. Please play and support the Expo building.
Sander: What are the hours?
Douglas: The building opens at 6pm and closes at 10pm. Gallery Expo is open every Friday & Saturday between 4 & 8pm. Call 562-208-4226 to make special arrangements to see any show, to talk about holding your event there, or showing your art in Gallery Expo.
Sander: How does this current adaptive reuse of the Expo Furniture building compare to your early ideas about the place?
Douglas: My first drawings of the Expo building included additional parking, without demolishing the building, and an elevator. It also include a 99 seat theater, and two art galleries, one selling art produced in the building. My design had class rooms, work spaces, a lobby large enough to hold fund raisers, meeting rooms, security, outdoor garden spaces, chess playing areas, and a ton more usable community space.
Sander: You’ve made great progress so far. Are you still working toward that vision?
Douglas: I have never stopped. While Blair works towards his short term goals, everything I do is with the thought of making permanent contributions to the building, with the end result being a sustainable Community Arts Center.
Because I am not the person in charge, and am sometimes seen as more of a pain in the butt then an asset, many of the ideas I have had for the space have been overridden, and I am almost always forced to take a back seat and try to work my ideas for the space in any way I can. Small step are still steps none the less.
Sander: What’s required to make that happen?
Douglas: I think, and have always thought, that there needs to be an Expo advisory board to develop a plan for the space, and help guide the space in the right direction. This board could be a committee of the BKBIA, with a BKBIA board member on it. In reality, I think the board should be made up of people and artists from the community, but not associated with the Arts Council, RDA, or BKBIA. It needs to be an independent group who can make decisions without pressure from these groups. The group would help to develop short and long term goals for the property, and even plan to relocate if the RDA decided to develop the building. Right now, when it’s over, it’s over.
I think we already have people in the community who would be willing to serve on the board. I have been speaking to some people. I told people from the start that I wasn’t the brains needed for something like this to happen. I am more of the seed planter that needs help watering the garden.