Art gallery opens at new location

By Rick Longley and Lydia M. Harris

Local art lovers gathered for the long-awaited opening of the new Orland Center for the Arts and Gallery Friday.

The grand opening showed off works by Chico artist David Simcox as well as the newly remodeled first floor of the Orland Masonic Building at 732 Fourth St., the center's new home.

"It looks wonderful," Simcox said at the opening. "It's as good a show of my work as I've seen. The space makes it. I0 think any artist would be happy to show their work here."

Friday's event featured food and refreshments from Farwood Bar and Grill and Alta Marie's Bakery.

But that is not why people were there.

Longtime Orland area supporter, Gyda Buelna said he liked that "there's more room and better lighting. The location is definitely better" than the smaller out-of-the-way gallery location on South Street.

The new location is "great for Orland. We'll get some culture going here," Buelna added.

It is much larger than the suite at the Stony Creek Square Shopping Center which housed the gallery from 2007 to June of this year.

The new gallery boasts elegant rubberized flooring and a high ceilings and state-of-the-art lighting. And, on the dais in the back sits a baby grand piano.

Orland Arts Commissioner Rae Turnbull said that "pianists are coming out of the woodwork" wanting to play at events.

She and her husband George Turnbull said the new location is ideal for visitors, because it is downtown and a block from Highway 32.

It also is ideal to members of the Masonic Lodge that owns the building.

Larry Donnelly said, "Our lodge is thrilled to death to have this here. This is exactly what we want our lodge to be used for."

The gallery is "a wonderful addition to our community and we are extremely proud to be a part of it," he said..

Featured artist

This month's featured artist, Simcox's display includes 43 linoleum block prints done in Arts-and-Craft Era style.

He owns Art Etc., a framing shop and gallery, with his wife, Anna, in Chico.

He has exhibited at a number of places around Northern California, he said, but he is excited about being the first artist to show at the new Orland location.

The building was constructed in 1913. While setting up the show on Wednesday, Simcox said he thinks his art fits nicely with the structure, since the Arts and Crafts movement ran from the 1850s to the 1920s.

"This town has a lot of bungalow houses and this style of art went into those houses," Simcox said, making this art a good fit for decorating them.

He added most of his pieces were rolled over wood blocks and printed in black and white. Then he used five colors of ink to fill them.

"They look like water color, but they are not," he said. "It is ink used to look like water color."

Simcox said he has done this style of art for three years after researching the movement and discovering "it resonates with me."

He and his wife purchased their shop and gallery seven years ago and he listened to what people were interested in buying and the type of houses in Chico, Simcox said,, Then, he decided there was a market for this style of artwork.

There are a few pieces like a deco salmon and a print of a woman riding on the moon that do not fit with the Arts and Crafts period, Simcox said, but they were done for fun.

Everything in the show will be for sale at prices ranging from $175 to $5,000, he said. Unframed prints priced from $60 to $150 also will be sold, and he is offering 20 percent off framing at his Chico store.

If a buyer does not have a lot of cash, Simcox said he will consider trades for his artwork as well.

"I could really use a pickup or even a weedeater," he said.

George Turnbull said Wednesday that the gallery offers 2,500 square feet of space with recycled rubber flooring donated by Will Tasto and state-of-the-art lighting to highlight the artwork.

It also features two new handicapped accessible restrooms and plenty of storage in a building that previously housed a pharmacy, bank, paint store and flooring company.

Besides artwork, the gallery will feature poetry readings and musical entertainment, Rae Turnbull said Wednesday. Art classes also will continue.

"It has come full circle as an arts center," she said. "It will not just have visual arts."

Contact Rick Longley or Lydia Harris at 934-6800, 865-3110 or rlongley@tcnpress.com or lharris@tcnpress.com.

KNOW AND GO

Who: Artist David Simcox
What:  Orland Center for the Arts and Gallery monthly show
When: 3-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through Sept. 18
Where: 732 Fourth St.