As The Old Mill celebrates its 200th anniversary, it also marks nearly two decades of operation as an art gallery. Since 1999, “El Molino Viejo” has housed the California Art Club Gallery and showcased works of art created in the rich tradition known as California Impressionism or California Plein Air.
The gallery is operated as a partnership between the City of San Marino, which was bequeathed the property in the 1960s, and the historic California Art Club, founded in 1909.
“The Old Mill has actually been an art gallery for a longer period of time than it was a mill,” noted Cathy Brown, Executive Director of The Old Mill Foundation, the nonprofit entity responsible for the day-to-day operations of the site. “It was the grist mill for Mission San Gabriel for approximately seven years, from 1816 to 1823.”
The idea to convert space in the adobe building to display contemporary-traditional works of art was the brainchild of longtime San Marino resident Jack McQueen, the Old Mill’s former Executive Director, who served in that capacity from 1999 to 2007. A lover of alliteration, McQueen initially dubbed the space ‘The Granary Gallery,’ as the room once served as the granary, or storehouse, for The Mill.
In the summer of 1999, McQueen contacted Elaine Adams, the California Art Club’s Executive Director and CEO since 1993, inquiring if the organization would be interested in using space at The Old Mill as a gallery to display rotating exhibitions of artwork.
Adams recalled the outreach from McQueen, whom she did not know at the time, as being very serendipitous. Just two weeks prior, she and her husband, Peter Adams, the nationally-known artist who serves as president of the club, were talking about the organization’s need for a permanent gallery space to present the work of California Art Club artists.
“In the 1990s, the California Art Club had experienced substantial growth in terms of both membership and awareness, but in order to continue our growth we needed gallery space that would allow us to have an exhibition on view every day of the year,” said Elaine Adams. “So the gracious offer of space at The Old Mill came at the perfect time.”
At their first meeting, held on June 4, 1999, McQueen explained to the Adamses that the space was not being well utilized and just had a few old photographs on display. It was his hope that a gallery would increase public attendance at the historic building and surrounding grounds, as the facility was averaging only one to two visitors a week at the time.
When the agreement for the exhibition partnership was signed in early September, Elaine Adams contacted art and design professionals in the Pasadena area to assist with converting the upper-most room in the building into an appropriate setting for displaying and viewing works of art. Janie Fain, of JF Interiors in South Pasadena, and Pasadena Lighting volunteered their time to transform the space into a gallery with professional art hanging systems, lighting and signage.
On Sept. 30, 1999 – only three weeks after the signed agreement – the California Art Club unveiled its first exhibition at The Old Mill – Visions of the San Gabriels. The exhibition featured 19 works and included the handiwork of Peter Adams, W. Jason Situ, Mian Situ and Tim Solliday, four nationally prominent artists who have continued to exhibit at The Old Mill over the years.
Since that first display, nearly 60 exhibitions have been presented, with a variety of themes, ranging from California Dreamin’ and Missions of California to Legendary Landmarks, The Poetry of Still Life and Monumental Miniatures. The exhibition currently on display pays homage to the long history of the gallery site with The Old Mill: Celebrating Two Centuries.
As the exhibition partnership embarks on its 18th year of operation for the California Art Club Gallery, both parties acknowledge how the gallery had been mutually beneficial.
The gallery attracts a regular stream of new visitors that has bolstered awareness of the two organizations and their various other programs, including the club’s paint/sculpt-outs – special events in which a group of artists converge on the site with the tools of their trade in hand – and The Old Mill’s summer concert series. Each gallery opening is preceded by an artists reception which draws an eclectic audience from throughout Southern California.
In addition, art sales from the gallery have created an ongoing revenue stream that helps support educational programming and operational expenses of both the California Art Club and The Old Mill Foundation.
“The California Art Club Gallery has developed a reputation as a local source for exceptional art, which has encouraged repeat visits to The Old Mill, as some art enthusiasts make it a point to see every exhibit in order to seek out the different works of their favorite artists,” stated Brown.
Adams added that the “Old California” ambiance of The Old Mill, where “time seems to slow down,” makes it an ideal setting for viewing California art. She often refers to the gallery as the “second largest public art venue in San Marino – after the Huntington Library.”
Having the gallery at The Old Mill has also benefited club artists – it has become a favorite painting location for creating new works “en plein air” or “in the open air.”
Through the years, artists have become accustomed to painting at The Old Mill, often drawn to a fleeting moment that captures their eyes of the building, the Pomegranate Courtyard or the lush native plant gardens as they drop off or pick up artwork for exhibitions. In addition, the two organizations have co-sponsored numerous of the paint/sculpt-outs for camaraderie and the creation of artwork.
As a result of these corroborative efforts, both planned and impromptu, a wealth of paintings of The Old Mill now exist, creating a visual history that captures how the structure and its surrounding grounds have evolved since 1999. The current exhibition features a few earlier paintings of The Old Mill, including Tim Solliday’s Old Oak at Old Mill, which depicts a stately tree that no longer provides shade for the patio.
The Old Mill: Celebrating Two Centuries is on view through Sept. 11. The exhibition that will follow is Miniatures En Plein Air, opening Sept.13.
