ARTS WATCH : ENTIRE DR. SEUSS SHOW BECOMES ‘SCARY’ TASK

Bob Walker was a little shaken at the thought of being responsible for preparing the entire San Diego Museum of Art exhibition of “Dr. Seuss, From Then to Now,” in his workshops at The Gallery Store, a downtown art gallery, boutique and picture-framing operation.

“It was really scary,” said Walker, a co-owner of The Gallery Store, 724 Broadway. “Here was this man’s life’s work, all in one place.” Walker said The Gallery Store was involved with each step of the exhibition, from “the design stage to the completion,” in preparing the exhibits for viewing and for transportation.

“Dr. Seuss, From Then to Now,” which opens Saturday, isn’t the first museum show Walker has worked on, but it is the first one of such a size--300 items--and it will go on tour nationally.

Walker, his wife, Frances Mooney, and sister-in-law Katherine Mooney, opened the Gallery Store in February after running Gallery Graphics in Hillcrest for several years.

Architect David Singer, who also designed the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park, managed to ingeniously cram maximum storage, retail and gallery space--and two framing workshops--into 3,500 square feet on two floors. Although Walker loves the chance to offer local artists gallery space, it is the framing business, he says, that makes it all possible.

The eye-catching thing about The Gallery Store is the permanent neon artwork. This spectrum of colors beckons passers-by outside, then flows through the wall, becoming a single strand of red that curves near the ceiling from the front to the rear of the split-level boutique, before exiting through a skyloft.

“All light comes from the sun,” Walker said. “So we start the light outside in front. It comes through here and then returns out the roof to the sun.” Indeed, a six-foot shaft of neon casts an eerie red glow through the window of the second-floor workshop.

STARS AT SYMPHONY: We may all rest easy now. The off-again, on-again three weeks of previously unscheduled San Diego Symphony concerts are definitely on again--or at least 2 1/2 weeks are. The staid orchestra will complete just about all of its 45-week season by going pop.

Composers-conductors Henry Mancini and John Williams will each conduct a week of concerts between the winter season and the summer pops season. Mancini will conduct a program of his music, including themes from “The Thorn Birds,” “The Pink Panther” and “Victor/Victoria,” at 8 p.m. May 30 and 31 and at 2:30 p.m. June 1 at Symphony Hall.

The Spinners, known for such R&B; hits as “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” will perform in a single concert with the orchestra at 8 p.m. June 6 in the San Diego State University Open Air Theatre. The orchestra also has a scheduled noon concert June 8 at the Centro Cultural in Tijuana.

Williams, who conducts the Boston Pops, will direct the orchestra at the Civic Theatre in a concert featuring his film scores, such as “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” along with a tribute to Judy Garland and other music. The Williams concerts are scheduled for 8 p.m. June 20 and 21 and 2:30 p.m. June 22.

BORDER ART: Artist David Avalos, whose “San Diego Donkey Cart” was banned by a federal judge this year from the U.S. District Courthouse plaza here, has no problems finding showings for his socially conscious art. Avalos’ constructions, including a scale model of “Donkey Cart,” which shows a border patrolman apprehending an illegal immigrant, were selected for a show running through June 1 at the Grand Rapids Museum of Art in Grand Rapids, Mich. Ironically, the museum is in a former federal courthouse.

The Grand Rapids connection is Dennis Komac, formerly director of the San Diego State Art Gallery. While Avalos attended the exhibition opening, Komac was promoted from chief curator to museum director.

Avalos had some advice for San Diego artists when he returned: “You’ve got to keep those contacts alive. I think Dennis would be interested in knowing what’s going on in San Diego.”

Avalos is also featured in a concurrent solo exhibit at the Robert Else Gallery at California State University, Sacramento, through May 22.

The Centro Cultural de la Raza’s Border Art Workshop has received a $4,275 National Endowment for the Arts grant. The workshop was one of six Southern California recipients and the only one of 13 San Diego applicants to receive a grant through Los Angeles Contemporary Arts Exhibitions.

STAGE LINES: Old Globe Theatre artistic chief Jack O’Brien again shows up as director for the PBS series “American Playhouse,” when the acclaimed program airs “Painting Churches” at 9 p.m. Monday on Channel 15. O’Brien directed “The Skin of Our Teeth” for “American Playhouse” in 1983.

O’Brien has had a busy spring, having staged “The Lighthouse” at the Globe for the San Diego Opera. Peter Maxwell Davies’ chamber opera continues tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Later this month, the peripatetic O’Brien zips back to New York to audition singers for “Porgy and Bess,” which he’ll stage in December at the Houston Grand Opera. This summer, O’Brien will direct the world premiere of Stephen Metcalfe’s play, “Emily,” at the Globe.

Meanwhile, La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff is back in town directing “Shout Up a Morning” a world-premiere musical and the playhouse’s season opener. It’s about John Henry, the legendary railroad spike driver. Besides casting the playhouse’s five-play season, McAnuff has helped cast and stage a national tour of the musical “Big River,” which has played Chicago and is now in Washington.

ARTBEATS: Violinist Frank Almond Jr. has won the prized solo competition at Juilliard. A Patrick Henry High graduate, Almond is a junior at the prestigious performing arts training school, where he is co-concertmaster with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra. Frank Sr. has taught music for years at SDSU and directs the San Diego Master Chorale. . . .

The San Diego Arts Resource Center is compiling a directory and needs assistance. Those interested in being included in this free listing and those wishing to help in such a worthy cause may call the center at 696-9011. . . .

American Express has partially underwritten the La Jolla Playhouse’s “Shout Up a Morning” with a $25,000 grant. . . . A news conference billed as “of national importance” involving AT&T; is scheduled for Thursday morning at the Playhouse.