Susan Spiritus Gallery Moving to Crystal Court

After 11 years in Newport Beach, Orange County’s premiere photography gallery will move to South Coast Plaza’s Crystal Court in Costa Mesa in late October.

“We’re shooting for Nov. 1 (to open),” Susan Spiritus said Friday about relocating the gallery that bears her name.

“We felt we would like to get a whole lot more exposure. All of the art we will show in the new location will be matted and framed and ready to go out the door. It’s a new marketing technique for introducing art to many more people.’

But the attempt to introduce fine photography to a larger audience won’t involve tampering with the gallery’s standards, she said.

“I promised all my clients I was not going to change,” Spiritus said. “All of the (artists) I normally handle, with very few exceptions, will be moving over with me. . . . We will still do shows. . . . We’ll still do our receptions once a month.’

The new 1,200-square-foot gallery--on the third level of Crystal Court, next to Scribner’s bookstore and The North Face sporting goods store--is significantly smaller than the 3,300 square feet of combined floor space of the upstairs and downstairs galleries at the present building, which is up for lease.

But Spiritus said the new location will have the same amount of wall space as the downstairs gallery at the present Newport Avenue location. Moveable walls will duplicate the additional space offered by the current upstairs gallery.

The custom framing portion of Spiritus’ business, now housed on the premises, will move to a separate location on 17th Street in Costa Mesa.

An exhibit of photographs of nudes by Ronald Wohlauer and three-dimensional environments by Sharon Boysell, opening Sept. 12 and running through Oct. 17, will be the last show in the Newport Beach gallery.

For Spiritus, who started her gallery in a $600-a-month rental on Via Lido in 1976, the South Coast Plaza site represents “the cream of the crop.” She wouldn’t say what the rent will be for the Crystal Court space, but of mall owner C. J. Segerstrom & Sons, a company known for its arts patronage, she said, “They really want us there.”