Endangered Art Studio's Airport Hopes Put on Hold

By Teresa Rochester

When Yossi Govrin signed the lease on a rundown warehouse on Franklin Street blue sky poked through the roof.

Today, 15 years and $80,000 later, thick wood beams support a high ceiling. False walls -- decorated with abstract and still life paintings -- carve out spaces in the bright airy warehouse that houses the Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios.

"It's a tiny little piece of heaven for artists," Govrin says pointing to the leafy entrance to the studio tucked away in Santa Monica's rapidly changing industrial corridor.

But if Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios is heaven then Govrin and the 35 artists who rent work spaces in the warehouse are stuck in limbo.

In February the Israeli-born sculptor's lease expires and Govrin is faced with a 60 percent rent hike he can't afford. If he moves out, Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios will become the latest casualty of soaring rents that have claimed half of the city's 156 studios in the past four months.

One of the last studio spaces in a city that once boasted more than 600 painters, sculptors and performers, Govrin is running out of time and possibilities. One option - an abandoned hanger at the Santa Monica Airport - is fading quickly.

"If we don't find a location soon we will have to close and dismantle the place," said Govrin.

Faced with having to shut his studios' doors, Govrin was delighted in May when he saw an advertisement in a local newspaper requesting proposals for an abandoned hanger at the Santa Monica Airport. Govrin quickly put together a proposal calling for the hanger to be transformed into day studios for his community of 35 artists, keeping alive Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios as "a self-sustaining, self-supporting environment."

Govrin wasn't the only one who saw the hanger's potential. Officials at the 18th Street Arts Complex, a non-profit art studio that offers residency programs for artists, also submitted a proposal. While not in danger of losing their present home, located across the street from Crossroads School, 18th Street viewed the hanger as offering an opportunity to expand.

"We're trying to convince the city they should turn the hanger into artists studios," said Clayton Campbell, co-director of 18th Street Arts Complex. "We're trying to bring back some of the artists we've lost."

The proposal for the expansion of the 18th Street Arts Complex calls for the City to spend approximately $1 million to build out the space for the organization. As a non-profit, 18th Street Arts Complex is slated to receive $15,700 from the City this fiscal year and its Highways Performance Space another $8,400.

Along with the two art studios, a dot.com company also applied for the available space. But last week all three applicants received unwelcome news: The City had put any decision on hold pending the Airport Commission's, and then City Council's, approval of an overall leasing program for non-aviation space at the airport.

"We decided to defer further consideration of the RFP (request for proposals)," said Airport Director Jeff Mathieu. "No work is being done on those proposals… We're not proceeding on any individual lease proposal until we have completed the non-aviation lease program."

Last week the City's Airport Commission held off on approving an overall lease program that would have more than doubled rents on non-aviation spaces over the next two years. Bolstered by the cries of artists who have rented space at the airport for years the commission voted unanimously to form a task force that will explore ways to retain the current tenants. The commission also decided to reconsider the leasing rates proposed by staff.

Meanwhile, Govrin is running out of time.

"The people at the airport seem very open to the issue of artists," Govrin said. "We hope they make the right decision."

Govrin, whose sculpture of assassinated Isreali Prime Minister Izak Rabin graces the plaza of Tel Aviv City Hall, knows that artists are not high on the city's list of priorities. Govrin reckons that a change in the way artists are viewed would change that.

"We bring revenue to the city," Govrin said. "If they look at artists as a business and not a needy group they'd get a different picture."

Faded paper-thin flowers from a bougainvillea plant blow into the vast warehouse from outside. They settle at the base of Govrin's bronze sculptures as a calico cat that adopted the artists glides slowly past rows of canvases stacked against walls.

After working in artists communities on the East Coast and Europe Govrin couldn't find a similar place when he moved to California so he decided to create his own.

Currently Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios' 35 artists pay from $150 for part of a wall to $800 for a studio. But it's not only the space they're getting, Govrin says. It's a sense of belonging to a special community. All of the artists are interviewed before they can move in. Then they and their art are nurtured through classes and input from other artists.

"We believe in openness of the mind and openness of space - shared space, shared creativity," Govrin said. "We select the person, watch over their paintings. It's really a strong type of community. We look for potential. Beginners and those with master degrees stand right next to each other. You really grow much faster in an environment like this."

Diana Kunce was a beginner when she moved into Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios eight years ago.

"I didn't know how to paint yet," Kunce said, adding that since then, "I've been to graduate school and back."

A mother of a young child, Kunce was drawn to the studios because of its flexible hours and supportive environment. When asked if she's started looking for a studio on her own she shakes her head.

"I have faith in my friends. I'll go where they go," she said. "We've been together so long it's like family."