Optical Reality
Visual aid: Museum District eye doctor's office doubles as an art gallery
A look inside the Museum District Eye doctor's office.Photo by Steven Thomson
On the outside, it looks like any other eye doctor's office.Photo by Steven Thomson
Once you're inside, the art pops off the walls however.Photo by Steven Thomson
Photo by Steven Thomson
High-end hangs near the sinks ...Photo by Steven Thomson
... and in the hallways.Photo by Steven Thomson
Photo by Steven Thomson
Only on the roller coaster of no-zoning inner Loop real estate can a posh eatery become a neo-rave hotspot, and then an eye doctor office-cum-art gallery. Such is the story of 4704 Montrose Blvd.
Once the home of chef Charles Watkins' New American-style Sierra Grill, the building was reinterpreted as the house of house music and glow necklaces under the moniker The Lounge on Montrose (later renamed Fame). Now, shelves of optical equipment and designer frames sit below canvases by talented local artists — all part of the visual experience at Museum District Eye Center.
The art initiative is the brainchild of Carolyn Garcia, whose husband, Dr. Charles Garcia, serves as the firm's principal opthamologist. An artist herself, Carolyn oversaw the reinvention of the 1930s structure into an art gallery with high ceilings and stark white walls.
"My deal with my husband was, 'I'll design this if you let me have the walls' " she says. Incidentally, for over three decades, the couple has owned a fourplex around the corner, next to Banks Street's Grand Prize Bar.
Describing the design process as "a test of the marriage," Carolyn explains how she had to persist for her artistic license in the office-gallery's design: "Aesthetically, I wanted to take it to the next level. A lot of the contractors said to lower all the ceilings to eight feet because it would be cheaper for air conditioning. But I knew it wouldn't look as good for the artwork."
Among those works of art are framed pieces by artists that Carolyn knows personally. For example, she became acquainted with artist Arthur Turner during her eight-years-plus of taking classes at the Glassell School of Art. "I went with Arthur to Austria when I started doing watercolor and we became close friends," Carolyn says.
A testament to their artistic connection, a 35-foot watercolor scroll by Turner covers the south wall of one of the office's primary galleries.
Whitney Museum-exhibited, abstract landscape artist Roberta Harris and photographer Mary Riggs Ramain are among the nine other artists who have also contributed to the gallery. Carolyn has created a stunning eight-feet-squared charcoal and ink drawing that is currently on view.
The work at Montrose Eye Center is all for sale, but the Garcias have infused the art trade with a righteous appeal. Proceeds from the gallery show benefit the American Diabetes Association. Since the current exhibition opened in March, the eye center has hosted a breakfast with the Women's City Club, which featured a talk with Fredericksburg-based documentary photographer Rhonda Lashley.
"My hope is that we can continue to give these folks a space to hang their art," Garcia says. "It's very difficult to find a gallery to take an emerging artist that has talent but is not yet in the big time. It's perfect for this area — and the patients love it."
The current Montrose Eye Center exhibition is on view through the end of May.
