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One of a kind

by Jocelyn Dong

A virtual "love fest" surrounds a unique Pepper Avenue art gallery at a time when residents throughout the city complain that nearby businesses draw too much traffic and noise.

The Smith Anderson Editions studio and gallery specializes in the creation and exhibition of monotypes, a one-of-a-kind print made on a manual printing press. The art form, largely unrecognized in the 1960s, has gained widespread acceptance nationwide. One reason for that, said art lovers, is the Smith Andersen Editions studio and gallery on Pepper Avenue in Palo Alto.

In a way, it's fitting that Smith Andersen specializes in the creation and exhibition of unique works. "One-of-a-kind" is how art collectors and gallery neighbors describe the 2,200-square-foot artists' studio that is located smack-dab in the middle of a residential block.

At a City Council meeting last month, and at a Planning and Transportation Committee meeting in April, the gallery's neighbors showed up to request permission for the gallery to stay in the neighborhood for another 15 years.

The council unanimously agreed. In technical terms, the council approved an amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow the studio's "non-conforming use" -- an unusual exception.

Pepper Avenue is one block southeast of Page Mill Road at El Camino Real.

"There are times when an area that is zoned for all one kind of thing ... benefits from a little bit of eclecticism and it makes the whole neighborhood just that much more interesting and a better place to live," said commissioner Bonnie Packer at the hearing in April.

The studio is owned by Paula and Phillip Kirkeby, who've been in the art business for more than 30 years. Every year, Smith Andersen invites seven professional artists, often world class, to make art on the press. The artists stay for as little as three days and as long as two weeks. A list of visiting artists reads like a who's who in the art world: Nathan Oliviera, Enrique Chagoya, and Gustavo Rivera, among others.

Called "a wonderful cultural gem" by commissioner Annette Bialson, the studio's also been praised for contributing to the city's recreational life. The Arts & Recreation Division uses the studio for two-day print-making workshops, open to the public, during the year. The 30-year-old studio is the only monotype studio on the Peninsula available for classes and workshops, according to a city report. The studio has also worked with Palo Alto schools to teach children about art.

With all the gallery's contributions on the art scene, it's understandable that residents on Pepper Avenue take a little pride in the place.

"I don't know how much culture I attract to the neighborhood," Butch Colyear said to the City Council, "but they certainly do."

Residents also say they support the gallery because it's been a good neighbor.

Paula Kirkeby "has a great deal of affection for this neighborhood," said Natasha Moiseyev, who lives across the street. Before Kirkeby moved the studio from Homer Avenue in downtown Palo Alto, the art collector lived on Pepper -- in the house next door to the gallery.

Part of what prompted the Kirkebys to buy the studio was a developer's interest in building a condominium complex on the street. He offered to buy both the Kirkebys' home and the space next door at 440 Pepper that is now the studio. Kirkeby refused to sell her home, because she didn't think a large condominium complex belonged in the middle of the block.

Instead, the Kirkebys bought the property next door.

"She protected the neighborhood," Moiseyev said.

Paula Kirkeby's also been described by neighbors as "the keeper of the street's history." Kirkeby recalled how it used to be a favorite with Japanese-American residents. In the 1950s, six houses out of 19 were owned or rented by Japanese Americans. Reminders of their heritage remain on the street; one neighbor still tends to a bonsai garden planted by a former resident.

Neighbors love the singularity that the studio represents on the block.

"At a time when Palo Alto was becoming dot-com mania -- it was young people with big money -- we were retaining a way Palo Alto used to be. It's neat to have the gallery. We thought it was so unique," Moiseyev said.

Colyear has his own way to support the gallery throughout the year: He brings over roses from his garden, and the studio's master printer, Kathleen Kain, uses them as subjects for prints.

"We need things like that -- beauty, art, written word," said Colyear, a medical illustrator. "Your soul needs nurturing."

Smith Andersen, with its dark gray awnings, vine-covered walls, discreet cast-iron plaque with the gallery's name, and paved parking lot out front, doesn't quite look like a home. But it doesn't stick out either among the modest homes with porches and well-kept lawns.

The studio location has always been the site for businesses, beginning as a Hewlett-Packard laboratory, then owned by other electronics firms, an auto garage and more recently a landscape gardener and door and window business.

Children have started populating the block, and Kirkeby has hopes the studio can reach out to them as well as the art elite.

"We hope the children will start walking in. We look forward to seeing if that will happen, " said Kirkeby, 70, who wears red shoes, large black glasses and gestures exuberantly with her hands.

Because of her contributions to Palo Alto, the city is hosting a special exhibit celebrating Paula Kirkeby's life in the arts, called "For the Love of It," at the Palo Alto Art Center through January 4, 2004. The show will feature works that were acquired from the gallery and are now in private collections.

"This (gallery) is a very valuable resource. It's a world leader," Colyear told the City Council. "It's small and it's important. It's always the small things that make a difference." E-mail Jocelyn Dong at jdong@paweekly.com.