CALB Rocks New Gallery Space

by Noella Noelophile®

entrance sign

Long Beach is full of gifted artists.

Cultural Alliance of Long Beach now has another venue in which to showcase them.

This afternoon, CALB welcomed guests to their new twelve-hundred-square-foot gallery space, above Shenanigans Restaurant in Shoreline Village for their inaugural group art exhibit, “Shades of Long Beach”.  The exhibition featured sixteen local artists’ perspectives on the theme of living and working in Long Beach.

photographer keith lilly 1

Photographer Keith Lilly’s work reflects his love of his vocation: sports.  (Keith is a professional athletics coach whose proteges have included both NFL and NBA luminaries.  As a student athlete, he won the Moore League title three times!)

photographer keith lilly with tony gwynn photo1

Keith said he wanted to be certain to share this photograph: the late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn was a classmate.  Here, Keith captured him in action, the way Padres fans remember him. photographer denise dube

Meanwhile, photographer Denise C. Dube’s work emphasized the warmth and beauty of locations.  Her pictures included the stunning colors of a Long Beach sunset, the Queen Mary at night and a warm-looking downtown clock tower. mixed media artist deborah alvarez1

“Life at the Beach” is the name of mixed-media artist Deborah Alvarez’s composition on the right.  She creates her intricately-detailed three-story houses out of paper!

dimensions artist victor ladd1

Photographer Victor Ladd added extra dimension to a breathtaking nighttime photograph.  Unexpected colors, textures and contrasts spotlight the bridge.tom with paintingPainter and show curator Tom Scherschel uses color and shape in a dramatic contrast.  Notice how the water, under the pier, seems to be lapping at the shore!

painter tom scherschel1

Something else to notice?  The poem on the wall, to the left.

poet laurie zupan1

Professional writer Laurie Zupan is the poet–and she and Tom collaborated on this project: an illustrated poetry chapbook!  They’ll be doing a poetry reading tomorrow, and will be signing copies of their new book.stage again

CALB‘s new exhibit space includes a performance area–and when we were there, the musicians were just starting.  Open mic, spoken word and poetry will be continuing throughout the weekend.

Tom says CALB will be occupying their new space at Shoreline Village for several months, and that they’ll definitely be there through Christmas.   Which is excellent news, not only because their new “CALB at the Shore” program promises to be interesting and a lot of fun, but…

for next gen artists

…because their new space includes this.  Tom says they’ll be hosting art classes for kids, starting on Sundays.  And what better way to keep excited next-generation artists busy at Christmastime–and happily occupied once Santa has come and gone?

Cultural Alliance of Long Beach’s “Shades of Long Beach” exhibit continues through Sunday, November 30th.   “CALB at the Shore” hours are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 3 to 8 pm at their new gallery space, just upstairs from Shenanigans Irish Pub and Grille, 423 Shoreline Village Drive.  The new gallery has a full bar, and food is available for order from Shenanigans downstairs.  “Starving artists” may become a thing of the past.

This entry was posted in Artists We Like and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *