area. Art aficionados sipped wine and helped themselves to plates of appetizers and sweets. Would-be buyers drifted around the odd assemblage, checking bid sheets, hoping no one else would snag that coveted tile-encrusted chair, the whimsical bookshelf, or the bright red table painted with a woman’s face. Another eagerly-awaited annual event is the Artists Studio Tour which invites visitors to tour the studios and work spaces of 40 artists for a free behind-the-scenes view of art in the process of creation. The success of the Carpinteria Art Center is a lesson in the power of a dedicated core of volunteers. “Their longterm commitment is essential to achieving our mission,” Frazer states. Nearly 150 volunteers, many of them with a decade or more of history with the organization, work as gallery hosts, lend a hand with events planning and marketing, and serve on committees. Last year, gallery hosts alone amassed a total of 1,056 volunteer hours. Niels Johnson-Lameijer, board co-chair along with Powdrell, is passionate about the need to spread the art net wide. “The Art Center fills a need in Carpinteria,” he says. “People need a place to come together and express their art, all kinds of art, not just with a brush.” The building proposed as the Arts Center ’s new home, he adds, will be both a “place for art and an expression of art as well.” The bold design of the proposed new building created a buzz when it was first unveiled. The face of the two-story structure, a graceful glass-fronted curve, “is an abstract reference to the beach, ocean and water,” according to TOP TO BOTTOM, architectural renderings of the proposed art center include the Linden Avenue street view, a bird’s-eye view and a sectional perspective.
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