Lankershim Center Makes Room for Arts : Galleries: One San Fernando Valley artist said of the new exhibition space: ‘We won’t have to go over the hill to get things on display.’

Candice Ocampo calls her work eccentric--she turns lead, steel and copper into art. Shirley Shabazian paints mainstream portraits with water colors, oils and pastels.

Soon, each will have a new home for the creations--the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood, which opens June 15.

“I think it has a chance to be a place for a lot of avant-garde people,” said Ocampo. “It’s a great space.”

Said Shabazian: “It’s open to everyone, which makes it so feasible for those who live in the Valley. We won’t have to go over the hill to get things on display.”

According to Earl Sherburn, the center’s director, that’s exactly what the city of Los Angeles had in mind--an outlet for unconventional and mainstream artists, away from the pockets of galleries and centers downtown and on the Westside. The Lankershim center becomes only the second such facility in the San Fernando Valley; the other is the McGroarty Cultural Arts Center in Tujunga.

“We want to have a presence in the neighborhoods,” Sherburn said. “Eventually, we’d like to have a center like this in every one of the council members’ districts.”

The center will feature classes in visual and performing arts, and 2,800 square feet of gallery space. The main floor, Sherburn said, will be used primarily for art exhibitions, but can be easily converted for music, dance and theater performances.

The center will be housed in the two-story former city Department of Water and Power building at 5108 Lankershim Blvd., which, by virtue of its 1930s Art Deco architecture, was declared a cultural monument by the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission in 1980. The building has been vacant since 1985.

“Where McGroarty has been used more for visual arts,” said Sherburn, “we think this area lends itself more to performing arts.” He said he already has been contacted by theater and dance companies eager to display their work at the center, and he expects to hold small film festivals in the near future.

Plans are also under way to find about 25 part-time instructors and one full-time teacher for classes in painting, drawing and other visual arts. The classes will cost $1.50 per hour for senior citizens and children, $2 for others.

In the second phase of remodeling, the city hopes to open a 99-seat theater, office space and extra classrooms on the building’s second floor. Sherburn said the Cultural Affairs Department will probably ask for $200,000 from the city’s Capital Improvements Fund for the top-floor renovation.

If approved, the second phase would begin in July, and could be finished by the end of 1990. Sherburn said he is waiting for a final estimate from an architect before requesting the new funds. The city allocated $175,000 for work on the main floor.

The center was scheduled to open last winter, but remodeling problems forced delays. Sherburn said a public support group, the Friends of Lankershim Arts Center, will help bring exhibits to the facility, and do a lot of volunteer work. Already, 500 names appear on the group’s mailing list.

The center, which is close to a senior citizens apartment complex and an elementary school, will serve as a neighborhood information center. “We’ll help people with how to get grants, where to go set up exhibits, everything,” Sherburn said.

Artists aren’t wasting any time.

“I just requested a monthlong show,” said B. Lorraine Strieby, president of the 175-member San Fernando Valley Art Club. “This is a great opportunity for people in the Valley. I know a lot of people in the club are going to love this.”

Leona Rhodef, who works with graphics, oil, and acrylics, sees the center as much more than gallery space. “It will be great to exchange ideas with other artists,” Rhodef said. “That can only help our art.”

To celebrate the center’s opening, a weekend of entertainment has been scheduled, including performances by the Whirling Winds Trio, the Azuma Sumako School of Japanese Classical Dance, and the Dolcian Singers. A new version of “Frankenstein” will be presented June 15 by Frankly Speaking Productions.

An international art exhibition, opening June 17 and continuing through July 20, will feature artists from Los Angeles and Mexico City. Artwork by selected Mexican artists will also be on loan to the center from the Lodi Gallery in Pasadena.