Huntington Beach Art Center takes visitors on a trip via ‘Surf City ART’
Huntington Beach Art Center executive director Dan Faltz is excited about the future of his new place of employment.
Near the entrance to the building, an area that used to be a store is being set up as a new gallery space, which will allow for several more shows a year at the art center.
The first show Faltz has shepherded through the center also has helped him learn a lot about Huntington Beach in a short period of time.
“Surf City ART” will run through Aug. 17 and features more than 60 pieces.
Faltz, who started at the center in March, has had a varied career in the art world. Most recently, he was an assistant curator at the Ontario Museum of History & Art.
“I think the through line for me is how art and culture is really essential for individual and community health,” he said. “It’s how we express, it’s how we interpret, it’s how we celebrate. … This show has been a great opportunity for me to better get to know Huntington Beach. The different parts of the city, our creative community.”
“Surf City ART” features local artist and former Huntington Beach Mayor Lyn Semeta, as well as local author and surfer Mark Zambrano, as jurists. They pared the selections down from more than 200 entries received. Types of art include sculptures and paintings of oil, acrylic and watercolor.
Faltz and his staff displayed the artwork in different rooms geographically, as well as thematically. Visually speaking, the center’s visitors start downtown before walking to the pier, experiencing surfing and other water themes before checking out the harbor and skate culture and car culture, as well as the wetlands.
In fact, water is a key theme of the exhibition that sticks in Semeta’s mind.
“Whether it’s the ocean or the harbors or the wetlands, it’s depicted pretty much in every piece of art in a different way,” Semeta said. “The exhibit kind of flows through the museum and really showcases different aspects of our city. The beauty of the beaches, the friendliness of the people, just the energy of the ocean and its waves and how people interact with that.”
Zambrano, a member of the Huntington Beach Historic Resources Board, is in tune with that message. He compiled a picture book that details the history of surfing in Surf City.
Orange County Poet Laureate Gustavo Hernandez contributed a poem for the exhibit, titled “I Can’t Settle on One Figure for a Sunset,” which is on display in the galleries. To Hernandez, a Santa Ana native, thinking of Huntington Beach evokes memories of his late father.
“Living in Santa Ana, you get this cool breeze, and I just remember my dad always saying, ‘That’s the sea breeze,’” Hernandez said. “Every time he said that, the place I pictured was always Huntington, so that was my authority. That was my way in. The second component of it was, how do I honor the place through the poem? That came with taking a little bit of a dive into the land’s history, going as far back as the 1800s.”
The jurists had a conversation with Hernandez during a June 25 event at the center. Zambrano said they hadn’t met prior to that but that they all clicked upon introduction.
“Our different views of art came together well here, and through the guiding hand of Dan and the art center team, I hope we brought something together,” Zambrano said. “People have mentioned that it feels special and unique. It’s just a broad representation of our city, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
As part of the “Surf City ART” exhibition, an Art For Lunch event will be held on Thursday, July 11 at 11:30 a.m. An Artist Spotlight event is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3.
The art center opens at noon on Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours on Tuesdays until 8 p.m. to coincide with Surf City Nights.
“I think that’s a great addition to that night,” Semeta said, adding that she considers the art center the crown jewel of the city.
“I take art classes there myself, and a lot of wonderful artists have taught there over the years,” she said. “My kids went to art camp there when they were little, 20-some years ago. It has a lot to offer. We just need to get the word out more.”
Admission to the “Surf City ART” exhibition is free. Huntington Beach Art Center is located at 538 Main St., Huntington Beach. For more information, call (714) 374-1650 or email artcenterstaff@surfcity-hb.org.
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