By Melonie Magruder
Special to The Lookout News

August 27, 2010 -- It’s safe to say that Santa Monica lives art. According to the Cultural Affairs Department, 43 percent of Santa Monica residents make all or part of their living in “the arts” as broadly defined – the greatest per capita concentration of artists in any city in the country.

This column is the first in a series intended to explore the state of the arts in Santa Monica today, focusing on visual arts, music and theatre.

Jeff Wasserman, has been creating art prints in Santa Monica since 1964. He worked with Gemini G.E.L. – the renowned workshop that produced some of the most famous print editions in the world, including works by Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein.

Though Wasserman himself stays busy at Wasserman Silk Screen Co., where he silk screens everything from T-shirts to book covers, the last couple of years have been particularly slow.

“The art market went in the toilet ever since people stopped buying art as a hedge against inflation and went into the stock market,” Wasserman said. “Even wealthy artists aren’t making prints these days. The days of great art patrons are gone unless you’re someone like Ed Rusha.”

The recession is being felt by most of the 15 museums and public exhibition spaces and dozens of private galleries in the city displaying everything from miniature dolls to abstract works whose price could buy a small house.

Jessica Cusick, the city’s cultural affairs manager, said that the city wants to make sure not only that the art people love is readily found, but that the next generation of art collectors are exposed and enthralled by great art.

“We sponsor residency programs for artists at the Annenberg Beach House and are very engaged in promoting arts in the city,” Cusick said.

Adopted by the City in 2007, the Creative Capital program "guides our investment in public art and we diversify our grants over several programs, whether it’s seeding artists’ work, providing organizational support or putting together a great public works project," Cusick said.

One of the signature art centers in Los Angeles County is Bergamot Station – an art complex of 42 individual galleries and the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

The SMMOA, with a main gallery and two smaller project rooms, does not retain a permanent collection, so it is freed from chronic endowment chasing. Miranda Carroll, the director of communications, says the museum focuses on up and coming or established artists who were not sufficiently recognized in their lifetime.

She credits the nearly quarter-century-old museum with staying “small and nimble” and devoting its exhibition space to a rotating display of diverse cultures and ideological perspectives.

The museum also offers creative outreach programs to students and organizes events, such as the “Tour d’Art,” a bike tour of the city that takes participants by various outdoor and indoor art exhibits.

“We are a collection of ideas,” Carroll said. “Whereas we get some funding from the city for special outreach programs, we mostly look for little grants and do our own fundraising.”

One of those efforts is their unusual yearly event titled “Incognito.”

“We invite a lot of artists, mainly local, to donate a work – all in the same eight inch by 12 inch format, and we hang them on the wall, without identification,” Carroll explained.

“All the pieces are priced at $300, and viewers purchase whatever piece really speaks to them. They won’t know who the artist is until they’ve bought it and it’s taken off the wall. You might get an Ed Ruscha or a John Baldessari for $300!”

But private galleries that don't count on public funding are having a rough time weathering the current economic storm.

Leigh Hamilton has run her gallery in Santa Monica for 16 years – half of them at her space on Ocean Avenue just north of the pier. She feels that the location is perfect to showcase the Southern California artists she represents. But she also says the economic slump has been the worst of her career.

“I have really great artists who are eating potato soup and don’t have health insurance,” Hamilton said. “Emerging artists have a really tough time.”

Hamilton is hoping that the opening of Santa Monica Place will bring a greater influx of tourists to the city (80 percent of her business comes from tourists).

“I have really terrific collectors who have been very faithful to me and our location is perfect,” she said. “Beautiful views, great restaurants. Now all we need is a little economic renaissance and Santa Monica will see an explosion of amazing new art.”

Margaret von Biesen, a Seattle artist who has lived locally since 1985 says she misses the intense art culture she found in New York City but finds Californians’ taste refreshingly unpretentious.

“A lot of people will buy something because the artist is collected by some movie star,” von Biesen said. “Here, people buy what they really love.”

Next month, artists will get a chance to literally glow with the second bi-annual civic art event called “Glow.” Set on the night of September 25 and going into the early morning hours, the event will transform the pier, beach and Palisades Park into an outdoor art forum.

“We have a number of artists, many of them local, contributing to a one-night public installation of art pieces,” Cusick said. “All types of media will be represented – light, sound, color. It’s just wonderful.”

It should also be a boon for businesses and hotels in and near the Downtown that are gearing up to offer Glow specials. Presented by the City and the Santa Monica Arts Foundation in partnership with Bayside District Corporation, Pier Restoration Corporation and the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau, the dusk-to-dawn event drew more than 200,000 in 2008.

“Glow should bring a huge influx of visitors into the city,” she said. “So the hotels and restaurants are happy.”

“Even wealthy artists aren’t making prints these days. The days of great art patrons are gone unless you’re someone like Ed Rusha.”
    Jeff Wasserman

"A lot of people will buy something because the artist is collected by some movie star," von Biesen said. "Here, people buy what they really love."
    Margaret von Biesen

“I have really great artists who are eating potato soup and don’t have health insurance. Emerging artists have a really tough time.”
    Leigh Hamilton