CSUF Grand Central Art Center
Encyclopedia
California State University, Fullerton
Grand Central Art Center is a partnership between the university and the city of Santa Ana. Based in the Downtown National Register District
or Artists village it is dedicated to the investigation and promotion of contemporary art and visual culture: regionally, nationally, and internationally through unique collaborations between artists, students, and the community.
spaces for visual arts
graduate students, the Grand Central Gallery, the Project room, the Grand Central Theater, Watermark Printmaking Workshop, the Gypsy Den Café, a Rental and Sales gallery, classrooms and computer lab, Community room and computer lab, and a studio and living space dedicated to the center’s international artist-in-residence program.
The city of Santa Ana spent $7.5 million to purchase and refurbish what was the Grand Central Building—originally built in 1924 the building served as the central market for Orange County up until the 1940s. LA-based architect Steven Ehrlich did the original design for the remodel; Orange County-based Robbins, Jorgensen and Christopher was the executive architectural firm. The project has won three architectural awards.
An innovative fiscal plan allows the center to generate enough income to support basic day-to-day operations. The restaurant, printmaking studio and classroom/computer lab are subleased to third-party operators. The apartments and studios are sub-leased to students.
Twenty-seven apartments are available for students who have been accepted into the university MA or MFA visual and performing arts programs. Currently, the apartments are fully occupied and there is a waiting list of potential residents. Students live and work at the Grand Central. Each resident who rents an apartment is assigned a studio and parking at the twenty-four-hour-guarded parking structure on 3rd Street.
One of the residential apartments is reserved for the art center’s artist-in-residence program. In addition, an 800 square feet (74.3 m²) private studio space is designated for the artist-in-residence. A G3 Macintosh Internet capable computer is available for use in either the studio area or apartment.
The Grand Central Gallery and Project Room feature exhibitions and projects by internationally noted artists. We present four to six exhibitions a year in each space.
The Rental and Sales Gallery offers new exhibitions each month. Currently, we represent more than 200 local artists including CSUF alumni, staff, faculty and students.
Watermark Printmaking Workshop and Gallery is located onsite at GCAC and is the contracted printer for most of the Grand Central Press projects. The Grand Central Press publishes limited edition prints, folio editions and catalogues. The Press project is managed by art center director and supported by the Grand Central Art Forum.
The Grand Central Art Forum is a group of 20 arts supporters who provide professional expertise and sponsor exhibitions, programs and events.
The Theater is centrally located in the building. It is configured in-the-round and seats an audience of eighty-five. We are currently scheduling various performance groups and theater companies to utilize the theater space throughout the year, including productions presented by the university’s nationally recognized dance and theater department. Participating artists in residence also utilize the theatre for performances, film presentations and lectures.
From 1998 until 2008 the Grand Central Art Center was directed by Andrea Lee Harris. The Art Center features between 18 and 22 exhibitions each year.
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
Grand Central Art Center is a partnership between the university and the city of Santa Ana. Based in the Downtown National Register District
Downtown National Register District
The Historic Downtown District in Santa Ana, California is roughly bounded by Ross to French streets and First to Civic Center streets.This district is characterized by a number of buildings in the Art Deco style as well as three old movie houses . Orange County's first Courthouse is also located...
or Artists village it is dedicated to the investigation and promotion of contemporary art and visual culture: regionally, nationally, and internationally through unique collaborations between artists, students, and the community.
Facilities
The art center is located ten miles (16 km) south of the main campus in the heart of downtown Santa Ana in a mixed residential, commercial and educational complex. The art center is a 45000 square feet (4,180.6 m²), half-city block deep and full city-block long, three-level structure and houses: live/studioStudio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
spaces for visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
graduate students, the Grand Central Gallery, the Project room, the Grand Central Theater, Watermark Printmaking Workshop, the Gypsy Den Café, a Rental and Sales gallery, classrooms and computer lab, Community room and computer lab, and a studio and living space dedicated to the center’s international artist-in-residence program.
History
Santa Ana community activist and visionary Don Cribb and Cal State Fullerton Gallery Director Mike McGee originally conceived the Grand Central Art Center in 1994 as the anchor and catalyst for a ten-square block area in the heart of downtown designated as the Artists Village. The subsequent success of the Artists Village has helped spawn a cultural and economic renewal in a city once burdened with a reputation as a crime ridden, fiscally depressed and undesirable urban environment.The city of Santa Ana spent $7.5 million to purchase and refurbish what was the Grand Central Building—originally built in 1924 the building served as the central market for Orange County up until the 1940s. LA-based architect Steven Ehrlich did the original design for the remodel; Orange County-based Robbins, Jorgensen and Christopher was the executive architectural firm. The project has won three architectural awards.
An innovative fiscal plan allows the center to generate enough income to support basic day-to-day operations. The restaurant, printmaking studio and classroom/computer lab are subleased to third-party operators. The apartments and studios are sub-leased to students.
Twenty-seven apartments are available for students who have been accepted into the university MA or MFA visual and performing arts programs. Currently, the apartments are fully occupied and there is a waiting list of potential residents. Students live and work at the Grand Central. Each resident who rents an apartment is assigned a studio and parking at the twenty-four-hour-guarded parking structure on 3rd Street.
One of the residential apartments is reserved for the art center’s artist-in-residence program. In addition, an 800 square feet (74.3 m²) private studio space is designated for the artist-in-residence. A G3 Macintosh Internet capable computer is available for use in either the studio area or apartment.
The Grand Central Gallery and Project Room feature exhibitions and projects by internationally noted artists. We present four to six exhibitions a year in each space.
The Rental and Sales Gallery offers new exhibitions each month. Currently, we represent more than 200 local artists including CSUF alumni, staff, faculty and students.
Watermark Printmaking Workshop and Gallery is located onsite at GCAC and is the contracted printer for most of the Grand Central Press projects. The Grand Central Press publishes limited edition prints, folio editions and catalogues. The Press project is managed by art center director and supported by the Grand Central Art Forum.
The Grand Central Art Forum is a group of 20 arts supporters who provide professional expertise and sponsor exhibitions, programs and events.
The Theater is centrally located in the building. It is configured in-the-round and seats an audience of eighty-five. We are currently scheduling various performance groups and theater companies to utilize the theater space throughout the year, including productions presented by the university’s nationally recognized dance and theater department. Participating artists in residence also utilize the theatre for performances, film presentations and lectures.
From 1998 until 2008 the Grand Central Art Center was directed by Andrea Lee Harris. The Art Center features between 18 and 22 exhibitions each year.