SJB artist/entrepreneur hopes monthly walk helps turn the
Mission City into an art community
Summer vacations usually meant two things for Jeanie Watson as a
child
– camping with her family at Sunset Beach near Watsonville, and
a stopover at San Juan Bautista to visit the mission, have lunch
and do a little shopping.
SJB artist/entrepreneur hopes monthly walk helps turn the Mission City into an art community
Summer vacations usually meant two things for Jeanie Watson as a child – camping with her family at Sunset Beach near Watsonville, and a stopover at San Juan Bautista to visit the mission, have lunch and do a little shopping.
When Watson was looking for a place to open her first art gallery years later, San Juan seemed the most natural choice.
“I wanted a place that was very low-key and relaxed,” said Watson, owner of Casa Galleria. “I wanted a place where I could help build up an art community, and I see a lot of potential here.”
Casa Galleria is unique. Although Watson displays and sells the work of 26 local artists, including her own, the gallery also features home furnishings, antiques, hand-made jewelry and gifts. Also for sale is the work of her husband, Miles, who designs metal work and furniture and wall sculptures, and her son-in-law, Oscar Garcia, who creates metal wall sculptures.
“Our fine art is all local, and all original, mostly stilllifes and landscapes,” Watson said. “But we also have new furniture and accessories. I am an interior designer by trade, so I kind of have a feel for colors and what will look good in a home. But an art gallery can be a little intimidating. I knew right away that I would need to carry more than just art.”
Watson graduated from the College of the Desert in Palm Desert in 1984 with an associate arts degree in interior design, and opened her first interior design business soon afterwards. She earned her professional status with the American Society of Interior Designers and the California Council for Interior Design.
But even as she worked for her degree in interior design, Watson discovered another passion – painting. She used her artwork to express her love of travel and the outdoors, working with acrylics, oils, watercolors and mixed media to create paintings she describes as “full of light, color and passion.”
Her painting was mostly a hobby at first, and Watson settled in Morgan Hill, opening an interior design business downtown while raising a family. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, which was followed closely by the death of her mother from cancer, Watson closed her business, opting instead to slow her life down a bit.
“Things changed after 9/11. People were different, and they just weren’t shopping much anymore,” she said. “I decided to lay low for a while, and pursue my art.”
Then, in 2006, Watson decided she was ready to start again, this time with a gallery that would give her the opportunity to not only display and sell artwork, but help stimulate the economy around one of her favorite cities as well. She opened Casa Galleria in March 2006.
“My passion now is to get San Juan Bautista known as an art community,” she said.
One of the first, and still the most visible, ways Watson has gone about increasing awareness of the Mission City was to establish a monthly walk, where people can visit the galleries, enjoy light refreshments and meet a featured artist. The walks are sponsored by the four San Juan galleries – Casa Galleria, Mission Gallery, Galeria Tonantzin and Bear Flag Gallery.
“We started the walks right off the bat, but at first they were really, really slow,” she said. “Hardly anyone would come around. But it’s starting to come around. We are trying to get other businesses to participate as well.”
The gallery walk is held on the second Saturday of each month from 5 to7 p.m. The next walk will be Saturday, July 13. Each gallery offers light refreshments, such as cookies, or at Casa Galleria, wine and cheese. An artist reception for a featured artist rotates between the galleries.
“People really enjoy coming in and meeting the artists,” Watson said. “They enjoy getting to know them, and it seems like they purchase more. They feel more of a connection.”
By creating a new motto – “We’re Better Together” – Watson said she and the other gallery owners are hoping to bring more of the local businesses on board with the idea of turning San Juan Bautista into an art community.
“We really want to paint a better picture of San Juan, and the gallery walks help to do that,” she said.
Casa Galleria is located at 107 B The Alameda, San Juan Bautista. It is open Thursday through Sunday. For more information about the Gallery Walk, call 623-4635 or go to www.CasaGalleria-Art.com. Look for the Gallery Walk sign that distinguishes participating galleries.
