The heart of Santa Rosa's South A Street arts district will be restored this weekend with the reopening of a combined gallery and work space that helped transform the quiet block near Juilliard Park into a thriving, creative scene.
Becoming Independent, a service agency for the developmentally disabled that now manages the building, will celebrate with a Saturday evening "Grand Re-Opening" reception kicking off an eight-week exhibit.
But the longer view for 312 South A — a converted transmission shop shut down 18 months ago because of structural deficiencies and building code violations — is to revive the creative, collaborative energy that fostered the local arts colony in the first place.
"That synergy is imperative," said Maggie Gallimore, who, with her son, plans to resume her framing business in the building, as well other artistic pursuits under the name Max DuBois.
Becoming Independent, which took over what's now The Gallery of Sea and Heaven a year before the building closed in an effort to expand and integrate artistic opportunities for its clients, also hopes to continue that mission, in part by claiming one of the work spaces, said Barbara Harris, gallery manager and coordinator of the agency's art program.
"They're a wonderful group, and everybody in this neighborhood seems to be so invested in this neighborhood," long-time building owner Lee Montgomery said.
"And this," he said, gazing around the slick new interior at 312 A as workers finished up detailed work, "seems to be the heart and soul of it."
Close to 20 artists, as well as a photography studio and the Imaginists Theatre Collective, have set up shop in the neighborhood since artist Andrea Speer Hibbard first leased what was a vacant transmission shop and partitioned the rear of the building into separate studios where an assortment of emerging artists worked.
Though the mix of people changed over the decade, there was a vibrant synergism that prevailed, attracting other working artists to the area and inspiring a variety of events that have increased awareness of the district.
So the disappointment was widespread when city building and fire inspectors identified a long list of deficiencies, code violations and seismic upgrade needs that shuttered the building.
Montgomery, who has owned the building with his wife, Carolanne, for some 40 years, said he's spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on improvements since.
But he and his wife have also become emotionally invested in its success as they've come to learn about Becoming Independent and the neighborhood scene.
"You can't help but be involved when you're around it," he said.
A variety of supporters also have pitched in with help, including Winzler & Kelly, which provided structural engineering plans and is sponsoring the opening exhibit in the front gallery.
What was once a cluttered if colorful warren of paint-smeared studios in the back with areas of improvised wiring and walls is now mostly stark white with new sheetrock, paint and unblemished metal electrical conduits.
Harris and Gallimore laughed as they recalled the old days of leaky roofs and power that wavered when both the microwave and electric teapot were used.
Gallimore, whose monthly studio rent will rise by $50 after the opening, is the only one of the six previous artist-tenants returning to the new space.
But she and Harris said they're thrilled to finally have the building done and are excited about the mix of artists interested in renting space.
"It's going to be wonderful," said Hibbard, who now has a studio in Sebastopol but, as a member of the Becoming Independent arts advisory board, has a continuing interest in 312 South A.
"It's just one of those wild things that happened, but happened for a reason, and is going to come back bigger and stronger."
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