Grand Central Art Center

Just a heads up on driving directions. I would use Ace Parking as the end point and walk the block and a half to the Grand Central Art Center as there is no access from Broadway and there is no property-​adjacent parking.
Ace Parking
201 W 3^rd St
Santa Ana, CA 92 701

Who: Staff is friendly. This is a nice little place to check out while exploring the DTSA area.
What: Small museum/​gallery with three viewing exhibit rooms, all on the first floor. When I went, they were showing a local artist/​CSUF professor’s work, the ceramics of Nobihito Nishigawara. Fascinating and slightly creepy statues with holes for eyes, I recommend you check it out! It is on until April 17, 2015.
Where: DTSA, right next to Gypsy Den. If you’re in the area for an afternoon or a stroll or something, and you’re just looking to kill some time or explore for a bit, stop by the gallery. It’s a cool way to spend 15 – 20 minutes. And then make your way to the rest of DTSA for some awesome foods and drinks!
Why: Because why not?

Gallery
fine art gallery, art walk

Very interesting place, usually a good time if you ignore the rude staff.
The staff is purely the reason for the low rating.

I’ve seen a few shows here, mostly during the Santa Ana Art Walk on first Saturdays, and enjoyed them. This last weekend my friend Loriann Hernandez opened her RIDE show honoring the different ways we traverse the streets without cars… skateboards, bikes, rollerskates/​blades… There even were two quarter pipes in there for live demo, or live art I guess you could say?
Overall it’s a great space, very unassuming, and the gift shop is legit. At capacity it can be hard to move around and see the works up close, not for long anyway, but that to me is a good problem and I’m happy to be a part of it.
My only complaint is NO WINE. Not even no-​host – I’d kick down for a coupla fancy dixie cups. In my book opening receptions are not opening receptions without wine or maybe energy vodka drinks. Flask is so coming with next time!!!

All of the Artists’ Village in Santa Ana is a must-​see. I love this gallery. Lots of non-​boring art! Camille Rose Garcia up in her’!! I would definitely like to see my art here. :) GO! Every first Saturday of the month is the art walk.

Grand Central is my favorite gallery to hit up during the monthly art walks in DTSA. There’s always interesting exhibits, and they have everything from student work to well known artists.
They also host events here [like the first elite event I ever went to last year], and a group even hosts dance classes. It’s a multipurpose building.
I love being able to walk by, or sit on one of the various restaurant’s patios in the courtyard, and enjoy the art they have displayed. This place brings a lot of interesting art, culture, and life to DTSA.

The current exhibit of contemporary Iranian art isn’t too exciting, but they’ve had some really interesting shows in the past. The Crumb exhibit over the summer was great (way better than the crappy Crumb exhibit at the Hammer in Westwood), as was the Mel’s Hole exhibit from last year. It’s a small space so you don’t need to set aside more than an hour to get through the exhibits. Best of all, it’s always free.

The Best of Santa Ana! GCAC has always seemed to keep my a.d.d at bay. Always interesting and bringing in some of the biggest names in the contemporary art world, from Mark Ryden to Robert Williams.
Nearly every show has been accompanied by live bands: Jazz, trance, punk and ska. I have even seen OC’s Japanese Motors play there.
The staff is very helpful and always thrilled to show me the newest works and give me a brief synopsis of the given showcased artist (s).
The nice thing about a sales gallery is that you can view the work and purchase it too.
Also, they run their own press. Information of the books can be found on their website.

i hated coming here to watch plays.
everyone who «works» here is extremely rude, pretentious and acts if everything is a fucking inconvenience.
i’m never giving money to these people ever again and that sucks because the productions here were amazing.

3.05.09: I always love going to art galleries, I have to admit majority of the time I don’t understand most art but I guess that’s what make art, art. The piece that really caught my eyes were the the purse made out of seat belts. I couldn’t stop staring at it. There were other pieces there but that was the only thing I can remember from it.
The belt purse was about $ 200. I would have bought it but the most I ever spent on a purse was $ 25. Yeah I’m not very materialistic. What I like best about it was the characters on it, mickey mouse and others! Yeah very cute. After staring at the purse for 30 minutes I finally dragged and convince myself I can’t afford it.
The different rooms was awesome, I really liked the green room, there were no art present but the room itself was the art I believe. The green room was these fake grass all around the walls, ceilings, and floors. The fake grass looked like the same type of material made for poms poms. Awesome!
I really enjoyed the atmosphere. So if you want to look for a place to just wonder for good art, I think you have found it.

During the OC Unilocal Elite Event here in March, a fascinating piece of artwork caught my eye.
And no, for those who were there, it was not the Hitler Head teapot.
Yes, I agree. W.T.F.
Anyways, the husband and I saw a really cool piece of art and inquired about it a few days after the event. The price was right but we had some difficulty actually buying it. Let’s just say there was a lack of communication with the curator and it took both my husband and I multiple attempts to buy the piece… over a month later. Whatever. But I would like to add that Alyssa, the curatorial assistant, was very helpful once we were able to finally pick it up.
The experience of buying the art was a headache, but I actually really like the gallery. They show very eclectic genres of art and a wide range of contemporary artists — from cult artist «Dark Vomit» (scary!) to Thomas Kinkade (even scarier!). But the stuff in between is really cool.
Take an afternoon and go check it out. The Artists Village in Santa Ana is one of the cooler neighborhoods of OC and Grand Central Art Center is, by far, one of the better art centers.

Been here a few times now — first time was for the elite event, and then, subsequent visits were for shows displayed. The last time was for the April artist walk which featured clowns. Not the ones you see at the circus, but the scary ones.
I had the young man with me but had him stay with some friends because I didn’t want him to have nightmares!
Grand Central is a great space. The green room is always a hit with everyone wanting to snap a cool photo looking like they’re laying in a field of grass. Bathrooms are clean. My only complaint with this place is that when a huge crowd gathers, the ventilation is awful and it gets stuffy and very hot inside.

This place is awesome.
I had no idea such greatness was hidden in Santa Anna. I have been to Santa Ana many times but apparently not to the right parts.
I loved the Art gallery. I am not sure if its a museum or a sales floor — but its lovely. I enjoyed the art.
This place also has some great restaurants, bars, and coffee shops.
One must also factor in that their is a parking garage within about a 2 minute walk.
I say if you have not been — get up and run:) You will thank me later.

Happy Birthday, Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana!!! March 7^th was your birthday!
I attended the Art Walk and 10-year-old’s birthday party of the GCAC today. March 7^th was the birthday kid’s party. Artists, families, and hip cats came out to celebrate the 10-​year anniversary of the GCAC. The local galleries around also celebrated by offering an art walk, inviting the public to enjoy the art and potentially buy. The event was packed but righteous. Local artist like Patrick Strand, who does amazing work with color and theme was their. I had the chance to meet this talented artist, who is well on his way to success.
Santa Ana’s art center and the GCAC is a fantastic gallery that offers provocative and ingenious art.

I’ve been going to the Santa Ana Artwalk consistently every month for over a year. It’s usually a hit or miss at most of the galleries. The Grand Central Art Center usually has something worthwhile to see. Currently they are celebrating their 10^th anniversary and will have their official 10^th anniversary reception next month (March). Currently on display is a retrospective of the various exhibits they’ve had over the past 10 years.
I got to see some Mark Ryden works and a Camille Rose Garcia piece. That in itself made me happy. But if you’ve never been here, I think this month or next month is a good time to check it out because it’s an overview of what they’ve shown in the past.

You know, I’ve worked at two different art museums, and I’m still not what you’d call an «art buff,» …I’m more of what’s you’d call «a lot buff!» *rimshot* Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week. Take my wife, please. Boy are my arms tired.
I’m pretty sure Grand Central Art Center is my new fave part of downtown Santa Ana. It’s part grad student studios/​other exhibitions/​sales galleries. And, let me tell you, this is one top notch art gallery. Coming from a non-​art buff, that means a whole helluva lot, doesn’t it? Well, it should — because if I, a person who thinks Damien Hirst is just complete bullshit, then it should mean something to you.
I’d say 85% of the works in this gallery caught my attention — a much higher ratio that the rest of the galleries around here. They’ve got some cutting edge stuff, a lot of trendy stuff and a dash of traditional sorta stuff. The space is top notch too. I love the way the different galleries are setup.
But wait… there’s more. On this particular art walk night that I went, they had posters of their upcoming exhibitions. Don’t you roll your eyes and say «so what.» These posters were the best free posters I’ve ever seen. Printed on fine quality paper with awesome designs. Oh, and FREE. Duh.
Thumbs Up:
–Non boring art.
–If you’re lookin’ to buy, there is art here you can actually afford. Well, not you, but you over there… you can afford it.
–Next to just about everything cool in Downtown Santa Ana.
–Free food and drink during art walk!
Thumbs Down:
–It may end up being my second favorite thing after I finally visit Lola Gaspar across the way.

So after brunch today we stopped in here. I have been here before and the exhibits in the past have been rad… Today was no different. Minimal but good. I ended up looking at the jewelry as i always do. I have possibly too much jewelry but there can never be enough. I ended up buying some dope glass earrings. They are «F…NG» rad… and cheap. In fact I wore them out after we left. Hence many complements. Don’t think that this gallery only sells jewelry. They have amazing exhibits here. I officially completed my Camille Rose Garcia doll set here recently

GCAC hosts some great exhibitions. If you’re in to art at all (or just drinking free wine and snacking on gallery fare) this is the place to be on the first Saturday of every month. The whole downtown area comes alive. Its programming focuses upon contemporary art and its publications are second to none. Stop in, see a show, buy a book or some art in the sales gallery, and then stumble over to Memphis, Proof, Pangea, Bistro 400, or the Crosby for some debauchery.

Grand Central Art Center is run by CSU Fullerton’s Art Department and is located in the heart of the Artists Village in Downtown Santa Ana. A mixture of working graduate student artists studios, sales and exhibition galleries, theater, and graduate student housing. They have amazing art shown in both the sales and exhibition galleries. On First Saturday Art Walks, the students’ working studios are open for tours.
I work close by so I walk over and check out the art. Its also one of the places I bring all of my friends and family visiting OC.