San Diego Gallery News: Space 4 Art @ Art Produce

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

The centerpiece of the new show at Art Produce in North Park:
Urban Totem by Brennan Hubbell.
The artist also led a free Cardboard Art Workshop
in the gallery’s garden January 25^th.

There’s a small but interesting exhibit at Art Produce Gallery now with the somewhat daunting title Non-Objective Lessons.  It’s a display of mostly small pieces by 14 San Diego artists unrestrained from expressing reality in a gallery that has been an experimental art-space for over 25 years and is now going into a new phase of existence.

For decades, Space for Art in East Village and Art Produce in North Park have been known for creating and encouraging community-based art. This exhibit is the first in a yearlong Space 4 Art @ Art Produce residency and includes a piece by the gallery’s founding director, Lynn Susholtz.  It’s also an introduction to the gallery’s new interim director, Katie Ruiz, an artist/curator from Space 4 Art who curated the current show.

Katie Ruiz with several of the artworks on view.

Maurice and I were lucky enough to be able to chat with both Lynn and Katie just before the show opened, so we got the full scoop. 

To begin with: The Space 4 Art @ project is funded by a major grant from the Prebys Foundation, which enables Space 4 Art collaborations with varied arts organizations to produce workshops, performances, and all sorts of cultural programs. The inaugural connection with Art Produce comes at a perfect time, just when Lynn Susholts was ready to step back from all the administrative obligations of running a gallery and concentrate on doing her own artwork. But she won’t actually be leaving for good.

“My studio is on the other side of this wall,” she said, tapping on the gallery’s back wall. “So I get to show up at receptions and have a cocktail, but I don’t have to manage everything anymore.”  

 

Lynn Susholtz with her own artwork Anyforce

The current show will be on view through February 12^th.

Art Produce Gallery
3139 University Ave., San Diego.
Gallery Hours: Fridays and Saturdays, 12-6 p.m., 
Or by appointment by contacting Katie Ruiz

There will also be more art workshops in the garden.
Next up: A Community Knitting Circle January 31^st 

That’s it for now. Keep in touch with Katie for more news about Space 4 Art projects at Art Produce and other locations in the coming year.

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net