Storefront galleries transform Santa Cruz streets

The Storefront Gallery program is opportunistic in the sense that Santa Cruz has plenty of vacant storefronts and dozens of talented artists and poets, but few galleries to display their work. “We are trying to use those [three] ingredients to create more gallery space,” says Crystal Birns, arts coordinator for Santa Cruz City Arts.

Thus, when the opportunity presented itself to Birns and Dennis Morton of Poetry Santa Cruz they went for it. A collaborative effort between the City of Santa Cruz Department of Redevelopment and Economic Development, City Arts, and Poetry Santa Cruz, the program seeks to aesthetically enhance the city and showcase the work of local poets including Ellen Bass, Gary Young and Joseph Stroud.

The displays themselves are stark by design, yet their artistic simplicity works in their favor. Passersby get the feeling that this is poetry how it was meant to be—raw, unadulterated, and simply … poetic. It is not uncommon to sit and watch people scurry by the exhibits, pause, and take two steps backward to read the words printed in the windows. And this is exactly the feel that Birns and Morton want for the galleries. “Poetry is such a marginal art,” says Morton, curator of the exhibits. “We want the poems we put up in the windows to turn people on to poetry.”

Birns and Morton intend to make the galleries an ongoing program, changing the locations and displays as new renters occupy the storefronts and vacate others. Right now there are two galleries downtown, each profiling a creative blend of poets from the city, state and world. Soon, poetry will find its way into many city office windows as well. The gallery window at 603 Front St. displays poems by two internationally acclaimed poets—Israeli poet Yehudi Amichai and Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali.

In this particular display, Morton intends to show how art can be used as an expression of peace by showcasing two conflicting nationalities side by side. In the same exhibit, poems by locals Stroud and Young are displayed. Stroud’s poem, “Homage to the Black Walnut in Downtown Santa Cruz” is a tribute to the black walnut on Cedar Street: “Its green canopy of leaves and immense curving limbs.” The other exhibit at 1126 Pacific Ave. next to the Del Mar Theatre, is displaying poems by local poets Bass and Dan Gerber.

Currently, only poetry is displayed in the shop windows, but Santa Cruz City Arts and Poetry Santa Cruz have myriad ideas for future displays and gallery spaces. Morton, who works with youth from the Santa Cruz juvenile hall, is planning to feature some of their poetry alongside the work of established poets in future exhibits. He also anticipates a storefront version of the “Favorite Poem Project,” a program originally started by poet laureate Robert Pinsky, where people have the opportunity to share their favorite poems and poetic experiences with the community. They plan to start displaying visual art in the future as time and space allow.

“Santa Cruz is a small enough town where profiling local artists is another way to get to know the community,” says Birns. And it’s true—displaying art in public places not only aesthetically enriches the environment, but showcases the talent and diversity of the community. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your honour to your heart's content.

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