$5.5 Million in Art Offered If Museum Relocates : Thousand Oaks: Santa Barbara man asks that Conejo Valley gallery find a larger facility. That may be costly.

A Santa Barbara art collector has promised to donate $5.5-million worth of paintings, sculptures and carvings to the Conejo Valley Art Museum--but only if the museum can move to a new location, which could cost millions of dollars.

Now located in a cramped storefront in the Janss Mall, the Conejo Valley Art Museum operates as a gallery, displaying new exhibits every few months. From delicate Ukrainian painted eggs to contemporary paintings of the Grand Canyon, the museum sponsors both foreign and local artists, but has no collection of its own.

To help the museum establish permanent displays, donor Charles Craig has offered an eclectic assortment from his renowned personal collection. His gift includes contemporary abstract works--huge painted canvases and glass sculptures--as well as African carvings dating to 500 B.C.

The collection includes modern works by Stanley Boxer, an abstract artist who became known as a sculptor of paint; David Burliuk, founder of Russia’s futurist art movement; Norman Bluhm, an abstract Expressionist; Suzanne Duchamp, another abstract artist; and Max Weber, a Cubist painter. Some of the canvases are just slightly bigger than a notebook, while others are 70 feet long.

Craig’s donation also includes ancient wooden, stone and clay sculptures from Asia, Africa, South America and the Mediterranean.

The collector’s South American holdings came under scrutiny by the U.S. customs office a few years ago. Federal officials raided Craig’s home in 1989 and seized some Peruvian artifacts deemed Peruvian national treasures.

The customs officials also targeted six other Southern California dealers and collectors and sent 123 of the most valuable artifacts back to Peru.

The president of the museum board, Maria E. Dessornes, said she believes the artworks confiscated from Craig were later returned to him.

Craig could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The museum displayed some of Craig’s collection of drawings and watercolors in an exhibit last year, which received positive reviews.

“It’s a well-known collection, with some very important pieces,” said Paul Perrot, director of the Santa Barbara Art Museum, which has received several small donations from Craig in the past. Perrot could not speculate why Craig chose to give so many works to a Thousand Oaks museum, saying only, “It’s an exciting moment for them.”

But Craig’s pledge comes with significant strings attached.

Before the Conejo Valley Art Museum can receive the donation, Dessornes and other board members must find a new facility big enough to house the collection.

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Estimating the space requirements at 25,000 square feet, Dessornes has requested help from the Thousand Oaks City Council. Ideally, she said, a new Conejo Valley Art Museum could become a centerpiece of the Civic Arts Plaza, the $64-million performing arts and government center under construction.

“We already have the performing arts there, so to round it out, we need the visual arts,” Dessornes said.

In theory, city officials agree. They would love to see a museum at the Civic Arts Plaza site, particularly on the eight acres set aside for private development next to the massive public building under construction.

Yet in practice, they doubt they can help.

“I just can’t see where the finances might come from,” Councilman Alex Fiore said. “My initial reaction is, they’re really asking a lot.”

Due to open in September, the Civic Arts Plaza has no room for a large museum.

Although 10,000 square feet of office space in the building remain empty, city officials are counting on raising money by leasing that area to a private group. Originally, they expected the Conejo Recreation and Park District to pay $2 million over several decades to rent the office space. But the park district pulled out because of budget constraints, and officials are scrambling to find a new tenant.

With an annual budget of just $50,000 a year, the museum cannot afford to pay rent, Dessornes said. For the past three years, the museum has occupied its 5,000-square-foot storefront for free, courtesy of the Janss Corp.

And even with that break, the museum owes the city $10,000 in unpaid utility bills, Councilwoman Judy Lazar said.

Dessornes said the museum’s trustees would be prepared to raise money for a new building.

But arts experts estimated that a 25,000-square-foot facility would cost close to $10 million to build. And raising money may be tough, especially because the Thousand Oaks arts community is focused on finding donors to contribute to the Civic Arts Plaza endowment.

“It’s going to be a major job to raise that kind of money,” said Andrew Voth, director of the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard. “A museum is the hardest building in the world to build, because you need special air conditioning, special storage, special lighting and it has to be extra secure.”

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The key to fund-raising, said Perrot of the Santa Barbara Museum, would be to make sure “the collection is good and the community is fired up.” Also, he said, the fund-raisers must have patience “and a few angels willing to make leadership gifts.”

If the Conejo Valley museum manages to build a new facility for Craig’s donation, it could end up with the most valuable art collection in Ventura County.

The Carnegie museum, which draws about 10,000 visitors a year, values its collection of California art at roughly $1 million. The Ventura County Museum of History and Art has a small collection of paintings, but devotes most of its space to historical exhibits.