The 35-year tradition of having an art gallery at Portola Valley Town Center will end August 1, but a new tradition may start after the gallery relocates to the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park. Opening day is set for early September.
The new but smaller gallery at the Guild at 75 Arbor Road will open on to a flower garden and display the works of eight artists: a photographer and seven painters, said gallery manager Julia Seelos. The gallery is also looking for a sculptor or a potter and two more painters, she said.
Visitors can expect to see plenty of representational plein air art — works painted outside amid the real-life complications of a changing scene and ever-changing light.
As a co-op gallery, member artists will share staffing duties as they did in Portola Valley. “When you go into our gallery, you’re always talking to an artist,” said Ms. Seelos.
In the new gallery, visitors will be able to observe artists at work at an easel — perhaps painting scenes from the garden — and converse with them while they paint, said Ms. Seelos.
The artists may be instructing visitors as well. Ms. Seelos said she has high hopes for the gallery hosting workshops for three or four would-be artists learning to use such mediums as pastels, oils and watercolors.
The gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and on Sundays during December.
The gallery is smaller at 650 square feet, about 50 percent smaller than the longtime Portola Valley gallery. Unlike its current location, however, the new gallery is embedded in a residential neighborhood. “We’ll have foot traffic, which we haven’t had out in Portola Valley,” said Ms. Seelos.
The people at Allied Arts “are just wonderful to work with,” she said. “I’ve been going over there for years just to paint anyway. To be going over there on a daily basis is really exciting.”
Saying goodbye
“We’re going to miss Portola Valley,” she said. “It’s kind of a shame, but hopefully a lot of our clients and collectors will come with us. … We’re hoping this is going to be a good move.”The gallery had little choice but to move. It and the studios of eight artists in residence, all housed in a group of 1950s-era one-story school buildings, are about to be torn down.
The town of Portola Valley is in the midst of executing a plan for the 11.2-acre site at Town Center, which includes demolishing the school buildings this fall. In their place, but away from an earthquake fault that runs under them, will be a $20 million complex expected to include a library, Town Hall and community hall/activity building.
In looking for a new home, the gallery considered the Spur Projects gallery in Portola Valley and sites in Ladera, Los Altos and Palo Alto before settling on the Allied Arts Guild, said Ms. Seelos.
Reflecting its history with the town, the new gallery will be named Portola Gallery, said Ms. Seelos.
New blood
Of the 14 artists now showing at the Portola Valley gallery, six will make the move to Menlo Park: Ms. Seelos, Kim Fancher Lordier, Karen Barone, Barbara von Haunalter, Gladys Robinson and Linda Patterson. The rest either have other priorities or other options for displaying their work, said Ms. Seelos.New to the Portola Gallery will be photographer John Gravritis and painter Waif Mullins, said Ms. Seelos.
INFORMATION
A final reception at the Portola Valley gallery at 765 Portola Road is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, said Ms. Seelos. The gallery will close for good on Sunday, July 31.
