Artist Restoring Fire-Ravaged Studios

Nearly three years after two back-to-back fires ravaged Art City, the sculptors’ studio complex on the western edge of Ventura is rising out of the ruins.

Instead of dwelling on the thousands of lost art pieces, Paul Lindhard, the Santa Barbara sculptor who established the artisans enclave, saw it as an opportunity to clean house.

The collective’s founder is working with city building and fire officials to improve safety conditions at the one-acre site at 197 Dubbers St., next to an auto salvage yard.

City fire inspectors have identified dozens of code violations and are helping Lindhard devise a plan to improve his operations in the next year.

Adhering to city codes was not a high priority in the past for the artists who lived, worked and displayed their work at Art City.

“I had to decide if I was going to make a commitment to this location and clean it up,” said Lindhard, 55, who must determine which studios can be salvaged and what new structures and permits are required to meet city codes. Whatever can’t be brought up to code will have to be torn down and rebuilt, Lindhard said.

“They have cleaned up some stuff already and we want to work with them. They have some code violations that need to be corrected,” said city Fire Marshal Bob Prodoehl. “When people start to do work to bring things into compliance, we work with them.”

The makeshift open-air studios, set among rosebushes and eucalyptus trees, will become permanent, anchored work spaces. The fiberglass roofing and walls contributed to the devastation of the December 1998 fires. A new corrugated material will be substituted.

New plumbing and wiring and a new compressor will be added within the next year. Refurbished studio space, a new gallery area and a facade facing Dubbers Street are planned.

The collection of studios has matured into a more commercially viable space and is not so funky, Lindhard said. “We really want to present a new image to the city.”

He established Art City 16 years ago as a communal space where sculptors could come to work and share ideas. The collective hosts carving seminars and sells stone to carvers throughout the Western states.

Lindhard expanded the studio complex in 1990 to create Art City II on nearby Peking Street with a gallery space that hosts 12 shows a year showcasing local artists’ work.

The first fire on Dec. 16, 1998, which burned 4,000 square feet of art studios and a kitchenette at Dubbers Street, was ignited by a pilot light leaking propane, fire officials said. In addition to lost artwork, the group’s dog, Luna, died in the blaze.

Twelve days later, a second fire engulfed seven other studios, including Lindhard’s. That blaze was started by youths playing with matches on a nearby park trail, fire investigators said. Lindhard estimates he lost $200,000 worth of artwork.

Disheartened by the loss, many of the collective’s artists salvaged what they could and left. Others relocated while the cleanup began. It took six months to haul out the charred remains and sift through the ash for anything that might be rescued.

JoAnne Duby, 50, is the only other artist who has remained from that time. The changes at Art City since the fires are for the better, she said.

“The fire cleaned up a big mess, to tell you the truth. The buildings were beginning to deteriorate; they were just quick fixes we put up for the time being, but everyone moved into them. The fires cleaned up the lot, and I think it’s better,” said Duby, who teaches stone carving at her studio and sells her work to private collectors.