They’re truly Lux accommodations

Now that the last California gnatcatcher has migrated over the coastal bluffs of Encinitas, the fledgling Lux Art Institute has broken ground for a permanent facility. Construction was delayed to accommodate the birds, but now it’s full speed ahead on the first of two buildings that will allow the institute to “reframe the natural world through art,” as the mission statement puts it.

Conceived as an amalgam of a nature-conscious artists’ residency program, exhibition space and educational facility, the institute will invite artists “to use the landscape as both inspiration and material,” says Lux director Reesey Shaw. Visitors will be encouraged to interact with the artists and to develop fresh points of view by looking at their work, she says.

Founded in 1998, the nonprofit institute is on a 4.2-acre hillside overlooking a wildlife sanctuary and the San Elijo Lagoon. Lux purchased the property from the Encinitas Elks Lodge in 1999 with a $1-million gift from Ramona Sahm, board president emeritus, and her family foundation.

Santa Monica architect Renzo Zecchetto has designed a pair of buildings that hug the sloping site, Shaw says. The first, to be completed in spring 2004, will contain an apartment and studio for a visiting artist along with administrative offices. The second will hold a gallery, lecture areas and a library. A bridge gallery will link the two structures, which will be surrounded by gardens.

The institute has raised half of the $4 million to $5 million needed to construct the two buildings, Shaw says. Plans call for raising an additional $3 million to $4 million for an endowment.

-- Suzanne Muchnic