SHOWCASING CREATIVITY
Artists turn a house into an arts and culture center that serves as a studio, gallery and gathering space.
A group of local artists called Southeast Art Team have turned a house into an arts and culture center that serves as a studio, gallery and gathering space for artists and community members.
The Kali Artists Konnect Arts and Culture Center in the southeastern San Diego neighborhood of Chollas View recently opened to artists who need space to create, perform and sell their work.
The center used to be a vacant one-story, three-bedroom house until Kim Phillips-Pea, president of the Southeast Art Team, collaborated with the property owner to use it as an arts and culture center.
The center is run by volunteers, and most of the funding for improvements came from community members and local companies. The group has raised about $3,000 since October.
There are few spaces in southeastern San Diego for artists to showcase their work, said PhillipsPea, who lives in Valencia Park. That makes it difficult for artists to get exposure and earn an income to support their families, she said.
“We want to be able to have (a space) available for artists because we definitely can’t create when we are starving or living in our car,” Phillips-Pea said. “This whole location is just a model of what we would like to have in multiple locations.”
Southeast Art Team focuses on amplifying the work of southeastern San Diego artists by organizing art shows.
The group opened an art gallery in partnership with the Jacobs Cen
ter for Neighborhood Innovation last year in Lincoln Park. Local artists such as Raquel Rhone, Ami Young-Hill, JoeNathan Segura and Zig Wharton have showcased art at the gallery.
The new center is near the corner of Market and 45th streets.
What had been its living room is filled with mismatched chairs and walls are covered with artwork by southeastern San Diego artists.
One room is lined with bright yellow bookcases filled with books. The bookcases once belonged to Pyramid Books, a Lincoln Park bookstore that was considered an African-American literature and cultural oasis until it closed in 1993.
Phillips-Pea is looking for a volunteer to find talented local writers and coordinate author readings at the center.
Another room has a violin, electric keyboard and a guitar donated by community members. That room will be dedicated to young students who want to learn about music, she said.
There also is a podcast room and a classroom for students.
The backyard is partially covered with turf but there wasn’t enough money to cover it all, and there’s a small stage Phillips-Pea and a neighbor built with donated wood.
Painted on the backyard walls are images of Breonna Taylor, who Louisville police killed as she slept last year, and City Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, who represents southeastern San Diego neighborhoods.
Southeast Art Team spent months transforming the location, Phillips-Pea said.
“I love every single piece of astroturf and every drip of paint,” Phillips-Pea said. “It takes hard work.”
The center hosts a weekly pop-up market on Wednesdays to support artists and entrepreneurs. There usually are several vendors selling handmade items or art on the front lawn.
Selena Rodriguez, who lives near the center, was selling handmade soap, candles and tea bags from her company Love, Patience and Grace on Wednesday. She sells her items at markets around San Diego but said this center is a good resource that supports vendors.
“I still have to go inside the arts center and check it out,” Rodriguez said.
Phillips-Pea said the community and neighbors have been supportive of the space. Southeast Art Team recently collaborated with students at Lincoln Park High to paint two murals in the center’s backyard.
She said the plan is to collaborate with more schools and to run summer camps at the center for children in Chollas View and surrounding neighborhoods.
Southeast Art Team has not organized a grand opening or a large-scale event because of the pandemic, but there are plans to host poetry readings, art shows, musicians and more as restrictions on gatherings loosen.
The group is fundraising to build a fence around the front of the property and to build a garden in the back. They also are collecting donations for painting supplies and musical instruments.
More information about Southeast Art Team can be found online at http://southeastartteam.info/ or contact kimberlyartshow@gmail.com.