Lux Art Institute isn’t your run-of-the-mill artists’ colony. It’s a state-of-the-art, innovative approach to bringing art—and how artists work—into the public eye.

The Institute, located in the coastal southern California town of Encinitas, will open its much-anticipated Artist Pavilion in November, allowing visitors a unique vision of the artistic process. Visitors will take guided tours through the Institute, and observe as an established artist creates a commissioned work of art.

“We’re turning the classic museum model upside down—our mission is the living artist,” says Institute Director Reesey Shaw. But Lux is unique in more ways than one. As the first LEED-certified “green” museum in California, Lux’s mission is also to create an educational and inspiring space for both visitors and artists.

Taking up residence in November is Chilean sculptor Tomas Rivas, who will live and work in the space as he creates one of his acclaimed three-dimensional installations. Rivas carves reliefs into drywall, mimicking a specific period of art history and examining space, transformation, and disintegration through the rediscovery of classical architecture in a contemporary environment.

“It seemed a very fitting collaboration and comment on the building to have Tomas doing his sculpture,” says Shaw. Since the design of the Institute’s building itself has been a very important element in the museum’s mission, Shaw wanted their first artist’s work to relate to themes of architecture.

Rivas, who will have an exhibition of earlier work on display in another gallery, will live on the second floor of the Institute during his stay at Lux. “It’s hopefully an interesting and very inspiring environment. We want the artists to feel like a part of the Lux community,” says Shaw, who says that they chose this particular site to provide artists with a real dose of the natural southern California landscape.

The unique part of the Lux experience is that visitors will get a chance to talk to Rivas about his creative process even as he creates his commissioned work. Rivas will supervise several assistants who will continue carving as the artist speaks with guests, who are guided by trained “liaisons.” The finished piece will take up residence at Lux for future visitors to enjoy, as subsequent artists from around the world come to create their own new works at the Institute.

“I think the creative process is a very hard thing to put your finger on,” says Shaw. “One of the ways our education systems are the most challenged is knowing how to teach creativity.” Shaw adds that Lux’s idea is to make visuals arts a visible process. “When you watch a child watching that happen, it’s like watching their wheels turning. There’s something very profound about that.”

In 1998, a group of art patrons and philanthropists began a conversation with Shaw about creating a new museum experience that would encourage a better understanding of visual art. With the aid of a significant donation, the group began planning a project that would bring artists to San Diego to realize a commissioned work on-site. Now, nine years later, the Artist Pavilion is the first in an ambitious building project that furthers not only an understanding of art, but also of the natural world.

The Pavilion was designed by renowned architect Renzo Zecchetto, and is slated to be the first “green” museum in California. The LEED-certified building, perched amidst a wildlife preserve above the San Elijo lagoon, was built using sustainable building practices and recycled materials. Other green practices include using renewable-energy sources (making up more than a third of the Institute’s energy use), as well as using green cleaning products, bike racks, recycle bins, and the use of natural sunlight.

“Certainly the environment is a very important part of what people—artists included—are thinking about right now,” says Shaw, in reference to why the environmental component has taken a front seat to the Institute’s mission.

Eventually a series of native gardens outside the building will help the Pavilion blend seamlessly into the landscape, as indoor paths wander through vaulted exhibition spaces, public lecture areas, a library, and an event plaza at the top of the hill. Future artists, who will come from all over the world, will also have exhibitions of previous work running while they work, and later expansion of the gallery space will provide for exhibitions of other artists as well.

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