Eviction, Quarrels May Close Art Museum : Thousand Oaks: Officials say the gallery is unresponsive to the needs of community artists. Its president blames the city for not being supportive.

The Conejo Valley Art Museum is in danger of closing unless supporters find a new home for the tiny community gallery.

A move by the city of Thousand Oaks to transfer the property to a local dentist at the end of the month will force the museum to find new quarters.

The site of a former library, the 5,400-square-foot building at 191 Wilbur Road was sold last month to Dr. Walter Buckley for $820,000.

Museum President Maria Dessornes said she contacted officials at the Janss Mall in search of donated commercial space. But she has not received a response. Unless Buckley agrees to extend the museum’s lease, it will have to cancel exhibits planned for 1991.

Dessornes said the lack of funds to pay rent has limited her options to find space. Instead of a bright new year, the future of the museum looks grim, she said.

“I asked for an extension, but I haven’t heard back,” Dessornes said.

City officials say Dessornes has stubbornly refused to find an alternative location for the museum, despite repeated warnings that the building would be sold.

The museum has become unresponsive to the needs of community artists, city officials said, while Dessornes has criticized the city for failing to support the arts.

“If the city had been interested in keeping the museum, then they would have found a place before they sold” the building, she said.

The museum has been housed at the Wilbur Road building since 1985, but never paid rent to the city. Instead, it was required to pay $400 to $800 a month in utility bills, but could not scrape up the money, said Joe Hinsberg, community services manager for the city.

“People have said we never supported them, but we gave them rent-free space,” Hinsberg said.

In fact, the city in April asked for about $12,000 in accumulated utility bills.

“They probably consider us a liability instead of an asset because of the utility bills,” Dessornes said. “I don’t think they realize what an important job we’ve done.”

The art museum has not fulfilled a promise to open exhibit space to artists, city officials said.

Five years ago, when it first moved into the building, the museum was supposed to house works by local artists. But some community artists were never able to get enough time and space in the gallery.

“We’ve been able to show there, but not as often as we’d like and not as much space as we’d like,” said Connie Tunick, president of the Thousand Oaks Art Assn., which represents about 30 local artists. “The space was always limited.”

Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo, a longtime museum donor and supporter, said other art groups also complained of limited space at the museum.

Schillo said that nearly 10 months ago, when museum officials were warned of the city’s plans to sell the Wilbur Road building, the city gave museum directors a clear deadline: Find a new location by the end of the year.

Dessornes turned down the opportunity to relocate to the newly constructed city library on Borchard Road in Newbury Park, Schillo said. Instead, that space has been turned over to community arts organizations that have been clamoring for exhibit space.

City officials also contacted the Janss Mall to negotiate a less expensive lease for the museum, Schillo said. He criticized Dessornes and other museum officials for doing little to find a new home.

“It’s about time they do something for themselves. The city is not going to be in the arts business,” he said. “They think they won’t have to do that work, and the city will be doing it. Well, that’s not going to happen.”

Dessornes said she ruled out space at the library because conflicts in scheduling would mean that the museum could only operate two months out of the year and “for us, it’s not enough.”

The library also lacks the proper security requirements and climate-controlled conditions that the museum requires when hosting traveling art exhibits, Dessornes added.

One volunteer said he is angry that the city has turned its back on the museum.

“It’s bad taste and bad judgment to take a community effort of this kind and just consign it to limbo because they can make a buck,” said Leonard Field of Westlake, a former art gallery director who works at the museum.

Field said he believes that the city should continue to subsidize the museum at all costs. So do other supporters.

“I don’t think it’s up to the museum board of directors to go around with cup in hand,” said Elaine Herzog, another longtime museum supporter. “The city owes it to its constituents to give something back in the way of cultural arts. . . . It’s hard to imagine the city wouldn’t want something like that.”

Meanwhile, the museum is gearing up for what could be its final show, an exhibit of kinetic art by sculptor David Quick, which is scheduled to open Saturday.

Despite her criticism of the Conejo Valley Art Museum, Tunick said the facility is needed in Thousand Oaks. Lack of gallery space has forced local artists to search as far away as Ojai to find places to exhibit, she said.

“From a purely selfish point of view, the loss of the museum is a loss to the entire community,” she said. “It’s difficult to go into L. A. to see shows. I think we need to have a gallery here too.”